Mark E. Petersen

Mark E. Petersen

Quorum of the But knowing who he is, what shall we do about him? Shall we fully accept him, or brush him aside, or take some middle-of-the-road attitude and compromise our beliefs according to existing pressures?”
Twelve Apostles (April 20, 1944 – January 11, 1984)

General Conference Addresses

October 1983 General Conference
- The Angel Moroni Came!
  - “So, again, we testify that the Book of Mormon is true. It is the word of Almighty God, restored in this day by angelic ministry and by the direction of God himself. We testify that Moroni came as an angel on September 21, 1823, revealing his ancient record and that he did so as a servant of Jesus Christ. Before its publication, he allowed twelve modern American citizens of good repute to examine the golden record so that they could bear witness of having seen or handled it.”
April 1983 General Conference
- Creator and Savior
  - “Probably the greatest challenge to belief in Christ today is the fast-spreading denial that He is the Creator, coming from men who would supplant the revealed truth with the very tenuous and fragile theory that the universe and all life came about in some mysterious, spontaneous, accidental manner.”
  - “Jesus is a God of light and life, not a symbol of death and doubt. He lives, and will save everyone who is willing to serve Him.”
October 1982 General Conference
- Believers and Doers
  - “To be Christlike also is to be kind. Was He ever unkind? If we lack in kindness and mercy, can we say that we resemble Him?”
April 1982 General Conference
- “We Believe in Being Honest”
  - “Without God there would be no gospel, no salvation, no resurrection, no light or intelligence, not even life itself. Without God there would be no galaxies in the heavens, no sun, no moon, no stars, no earth, and none of the things this earth can produce. In other words, if there were no God there would not be anything else either.”
  - “In its seductive dress, sin always seems to be attractive at first. It was so with Cain, who thought he could sin and get gain. Many today delude themselves into thinking the same thing.”
  - “These are His laws. They are not mental exercises. They are commandments, and He will hold us personally accountable for our obedience or disobedience.”
  - “If we receive these commandments with a doubtful heart and obey them with slothfulness, we can expect only condemnation.”
  - “Do we suppose that we can enter His presence if we are offensive to Him? And what will make us offensive? It will be our own stubbornness which has kept us from following His plan. It will be our own refusal to put Him first in our lives. It will be because we love darkness better than light.”
  - “Half obedience will be rejected as readily as full violation, and maybe quicker, for half rejection and half acceptance is but a sham, an admission of lack of character, a lack of love for Him. It is actually an effort to live on both sides of the line.”
  - “We need not suppose that we can serve two masters. If we try, we may be sure of one thing—that our master will not be the Christ, for He will not accept us on those terms.”
  - “We are commanded to become like Christ. We are commanded to develop both grace and truth in our lives. If we are to be like Him, and He is a God of grace and truth, we must begin right now to build grace and truth into our own lives.”
  - “Shall we not seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first, last, and always? We must never allow our religion to slip into second place in our lives.”
  - “Humble obedience is the thing. It alone can save us.”
- “Even As I Am”
  - “He asks us to honor chastity, as He did. He asks us to be kind, as He was. He asks us to be honest, as He was. He asks us to shun all evil, as He did.”
October 1981 General Conference
- Follow the Prophets
  - “The Saints today need instruction from God through his prophets just as did the members of the ancient church. We of this dispensation also must depend upon inspired direction in the work of the ministry and upon constant divine guidance on our way to perfection.”
  - “The Lord will honor his prophets throughout eternity, for he will make them heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. The Lord expects us, his people, to honor them also, to sustain them and to follow them.”
April 1981 General Conference
- Blessings in Self-Reliance
  - “To prepare for the future is part of God’s eternal plan, both spiritually and temporally. To protect ourselves against reversals and hardships is only good sense.”
  - “He loves us. He will watch over us, and—even in hard times He will prosper us—if we are not of little faith. He may try us, but He will not forsake us.”
October 1980 General Conference
- Adam, the Archangel
  - “Adam was not our God, nor was he our Savior. But he was the humble servant of both in his status as an angel.”
  - “Then who is Adam? He is Michael the archangel, appointed by God and Christ to be the mortal progenitor of the race. At this very moment, in the year 1980, he is still in his position as the archangel whose trumpet in the final days will herald the resurrection and who will be the captain of the Lord’s hosts in the final defeat of Lucifer.”
April 1980 General Conference
- Where Do We Stand?
  - “The scriptures warn that the devil will make war with the Saints of God, but he never can and he never will overcome them. He will attack them with all the wicked devices his pornographic mind can devise, but he never will stop God’s work.”
  - “Seduction is the greatest weapon of the devil. It is alluring; it falsely appears to be advantageous and desirable. He would have us think that bitter is sweet, that black is white, that sin is acceptable, that virtue is obsolete, archaic, and prudish.”
  - “Is not sin our worst enemy? It can destroy both body and spirit. Are we not fighting for eternal life as well as for a peaceful mortal existence?”
  - “There is no reward for half-hearted obedience. We must become vigorous and enthusiastic about living our religion, for God commands that we serve him with all our heart, with all our might, with all our strength, and with the very best of our intelligence.”
October 1979 General Conference
- O America, America
  - “He despises lip service! No one objects more strenuously to hypocrisy than does the Almighty. And so, do our Christian nations really accept and obey him? What is the evidence?”
  - “We are under covenant to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, and to observe his holy ordinances. Such obedience must include chastity, sobriety, integrity, honesty, purity, charity, temperance, faithfulness, diligence in his service, brotherly kindness, patience, and devotion. And it must include a full acceptance of his prescribed ordinances.”
  - “His commandments are clearly set forth. His standards of morality, honesty, and the other virtues are well known. But sadly enough, they are noted more for their rejection than for their acceptance.”
April 1979 General Conference
- Signs of the True Church
  - “The Archontics, who believed in seven heavens, each one presided over by a prince; they also believed in the Supreme Mother of Heaven, a faith condemned in Jeremiah, chapters seven and forty-four.”
  - “If we seek the divine church we must find in it all of these infallible marks of identification. If these signs are lacking, it is fair notice that we must look elsewhere.”
  - “God is no longer a remote being; he is here among us by his Holy Spirit. The Savior is no mythical person. He is a great reality and he lives. He too is here among us by his ordained representatives, the apostles and prophets.”
October 1978 General Conference
- The Last Words of Moroni
  - “It should be remembered that these men wrote to us out of the desperation of the event they were passing through as the Nephites were being wiped off the face of the earth. They knew that we live here now under the same conditions that were given to them.”
April 1978 General Conference
- “Evidence of Things Not Seen”
  - “There was no prophet in all Christendom at the time the new revelation was to be given. So God raised up a new prophet to receive that revelation, to publish the Book of Mormon, and to direct the preaching of the true gospel in every nation.”
October 1977 General Conference
- It Was a Miracle!
  - “The Book of Mormon is a literary and a religious masterpiece, and is far beyond even the fondest hopes or abilities of any farm boy. It is a modern revelation from end to end. It is God-given.”
  - “From cover to cover the Book of Mormon is a revelation, an inspired translation, the work of God and not of any man. From cover to cover it is true.”
April 1977 General Conference
- Do Unto Others
  - “But knowing who he is, what shall we do about him? Shall we fully accept him, or brush him aside, or take some middle-of-the-road attitude and compromise our beliefs according to existing pressures?”
October 1976 General Conference
- The Savor of Men
  - “That principle held true in the days of ancient Israel, it held true with the Jaredites and the Nephites, and it holds true today: only those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord!”
  - “Freedom can only be found in righteousness. Filth and wickedness bring only slavery, degradation, and death.”
  - “Every nation is made up of its individual citizens. When its citizens are evil, the nation is evil. When they are righteous we have an upright nation.”
April 1976 General Conference
- The Message of Elijah
  - “He has but one gospel; and since both living and dead are alike unto him, both living and dead must be saved by the same gospel principles. The Lord is no respecter of persons.”
  - “We must disabuse our minds of the idea that merely “going to the temple” discharges our full responsibility, because it does not. That is not enough. We must get down to specifics and do the work for our own dead progenitors.”
October 1975 General Conference
- “Hear Ye Him!”
  - “Our message is solemn. Our message is true. Our people are substantial citizens, law-abiding, intelligent, and progressive, as all who know us will agree. Our pattern of life, as you can see, is adequate and ample evidence of the credibility of the divinity of our mission and message. It is out of a background such as I have described that we do issue our great religious message to the world.”
  - “In this day of darkness, sin, and confusion, would you not welcome a new revelation from God, reaffirming his existence, showing anew the way to salvation, and providing a beacon as a light upon a hill?”
April 1975 General Conference
- The Sabbath Day
  - “But in spite of all the Lord has said, mankind still trifles with his word, and either by neglect or outright disobedience they set aside his word with impunity and go on their merry way.”
  - “One of the most glaring of our inconsistencies is our attitude toward the Sabbath day. It is a sacred day. It is holy, and we should not trifle with it.”
  - “No law in all scripture has been more clearly defined than that of the Sabbath. From the time of Genesis to our own day, there has been no subject spoken of more directly or repeatedly than the Sabbath. It is one of the laws most dear to the heart of God. Yet it is noted far more in its desecration than in its acceptance and proper observance.”
  - “The Lord does know what he is talking about. Sabbath observance will help us to more fully remain unspotted from the world.”
  - “If we are to do none other thing on Sunday but to devote the day to holy purposes, what is our situation if we willfully choose to operate our businesses on the Sabbath, or if we patronize such Sunday businesses, or if we go to places of recreation on Sunday?”
  - “If we violate his holy day—willingly and willfully—to that extent do we not become enemies of God? We do most certainly become covenant breakers, for he gave us his Sabbath by covenant—a perpetual covenant throughout all generations.”
October 1974 General Conference
- Eternal Togetherness
  - “I think that we must all accept the fact that whereas God is a most merciful Father—infinitely so—he also is a just God.”
  - “He has his own plan for us to follow, and it alone will assure us the desired results. It is a formula for success both in this life and the life to come. Unless we follow it, we restrict ourselves.”
  - “We must serve him with all our heart, might, mind, and soul. And we must remember too that being active in the Church is a part of his gospel.”
April 1974 General Conference
- The People Say “Amen”
  - “He has accepted this high position in deep humility. But although humble and unassuming, he is nevertheless a tower of strength, a man of great initiative and foresight, a doer in every sense.”
October 1973 General Conference
- “What Will a Man Give?”
  - “We must not be blinded by the glitter of gold or the allurement of position or pleasure or even the false excitement of sin. We must open our eyes to the fact that to serve God is the greatest career in the world.”
  - “We must understand that salvation is not a free gift. The offer is free indeed, through the atonement of the Savior. But its enjoyment must be earned, not with any halfhearted effort, but with wholesouled, undivided, concentrated application to a program of development which is called the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
  - “Who in his right mind would prefer the corruptions of the flesh, the sensual pleasures, and the false excitement of sin, rather than the opportunity of becoming like God; rather than having inspired intelligence, or of some day wielding some of the powers that God uses as he walks in his majesty?”
  - “The only way to save our souls is to put God first in our lives. If we reverse the process and relegate him to second, third, or fourth place, we make an exchange that we will rue throughout the eternities.”
  - “To become Christlike we must do the works of Christ. The Lord does not take any free agency away from us in giving us this commandment. He gives us unlimited and unrestricted freedom of choice. But he makes it abundantly clear that if we do not serve him, we shall not receive his reward.”
April 1973 General Conference
- Salvation Comes through the Church
  - “If persons separate themselves from the Lord’s church, they thereby separate themselves from his means of salvation, for salvation is through the Church.”
  - “The language of the Lord is simple and easily understood. If any have apostatized from the Church or have been cut off by the duly appointed courts provided by the Lord, they shall not find an inheritance among the Saints of the Most High unless they repent.”
  - “How wonderful is repentance. The Lord has said that if we will repent of our sins and from then on keep all of his statutes, forgiveness will result and reformation is made possible. What greater promise can the wayward expect?”
October 1972 General Conference
- Another Prophet Now Has Come!
  - “Contrary to the general belief, the Lord is a God of communication, a God of revelation. He is a God of light and intelligence, of knowledge and information. He does not deal in darkness, neither does he save anyone in ignorance. His entire plan of salvation rests upon communication with an enlightened people.”
  - “Human beings are slow to learn the ways of the Lord, and particularly are they dilatory in accepting the fact that although he is willing to communicate with them, his method of doing so is through inspired living men whom he designates as prophets.”
April 1972 General Conference
- A People of Sound Judgment
  - “Every one of you may have the full benefit of his heavenly guidance if you will but accept it. You can know God’s will pertaining to your own self, given now—not two thousand years ago, but here and now.”
  - “It is past time to become realistic about our condition and to recognize that only through a return to God and his recently restored gospel can we ever achieve world happiness and peace.”
October 1971 General Conference
- Honesty, a Principle of Salvation
  - “We do not believe in honesty merely as a matter of policy. It is far more important than that. Honesty is a principle of salvation in the kingdom of God. Without it there can be no salvation. Just as no man or woman can be saved without baptism, so no one can be saved without honesty.”
  - “Christians must learn that there is nothing Christlike in deception. There is no righteousness in hypocrisy. There is nothing good about a lie.”
April 1971 General Conference
- Warnings from the Past
  - “Because of promiscuity, the dreaded social diseases have reached the epidemic stage. One health official said that actually they have surpassed epidemic proportions, and he called the condition a plague. These social diseases now affect more people than any communicable disease except the common cold.”
  - “We do not say that sin in other parts of the world is less reprehensible or to be excused in the least degree, for sin is always sin regardless of the philosophies of men and no matter where it appears.”
  - “How long will the Almighty be patient as we ignore or defy him? Shall we comfort ourselves by accepting the philosophy which says that there is no God, that the Bible is but a myth, that the Book of Mormon is not true, and that therefore repentance is unnecessary? We testify to you that God does live, that he is the eternal judge of all mankind, and that each one of us must face the record of our own deeds on his judgment day.”
October 1970 General Conference
- Who Was the Great White God?
  - “It is a new witness to the divinity of Christ and bears testimony that he is truly and in fact the Son of God, the Savior of the Christians, the Messiah of the Jews, the White God of ancient America, and the Redeemer of all mankind. “
April 1970 General Conference
- The Role of a Prophet
  - “But this was more than a century ago, and Joseph Smith has passed to the great beyond. Others have taken his place. Each of his legal successors, however, was likewise appointed by the Lord as a prophet, a seer, and a revelator to carry on the work.”
  - “It is all a great reality. The gospel has been restored in our day, and it is now offered freely and without price to all mankind; and it is given through the instrumentality of prophets of God, prophets who have received the revelation of God and who walk under his guidance and inspiration.”
October 1969 General Conference
- A Divided Christianity
  - “If we are to accept Christ, then we must accept what he taught. Pretenses accomplish nothing. He himself said that we cannot serve two masters.”
  - “If we are to discover him, we must discover the kind of Christianity that he established and be willing to accept it as it is, whether or not it upsets old traditions that have become dear to our hearts.”
April 1969 General Conference
- The Dangers of the So-called Sex Revolution
  - “Humanity will rise or fall through its attitude toward the law of chastity. If the world will honor virtue, it can expect to receive God’s blessings; but if it persists in the practice of sodomy, adultery, and other perversions, it can expect only destruction, for the wage of sin is death.”
  - “Of what good are national days of prayer if we do not support our prayers by our good works?”
  - “No amount of rationalizing can change God’s laws. No amount of fashion designing can turn immodesty into virtue, and no amount of popularity can change sin into righteousness.”
October 1968 General Conference
- Man’s Relationship to God
  - “If man understood his true purpose in life as it is revealed in the gospel, and if he knew the secret of his origin, he could begin to free himself from the shackles of this ignorance.”
  - “Since we can become like him, we should—therefore measure all our acts in terms of whether they are Christlike or not. That which helps us to become like him we should accept. All which tends to remove us from him we must reject.”
  - “Since we are the children of God, we should deport ourselves as such. We should maintain the honor and dignity that relationship with the Almighty demands of us. We should be willing to follow the Christ into that perfection which only consistent righteous living can bring.”
April 1968 General Conference
- America and God
  - “Because of our love of wealth and prestige and our insatiable passion for ease and pleasure, we fail to take the essential spiritual steps which could and would preserve us.”
  - “Prayer is powerful indeed when accompanied by works of righteousness, but prayer alone is but lip service. The Almighty spurns lip service. Empty words are but symptoms of hypocrisy to him. He is a God of action—a God of works as well as of faith. He demands obedience to him if we are to receive help from him.”
October 1967 General Conference
- The American Travail
  - “The abandonment of Christian principles has brought this nation to its present unfortunate plight. Only a return to Christ can correct our condition. Politics cannot do it. Higher taxes will not do it. New laws cannot do it. We have tried all these and they have failed.”
  - “All mankind should remember that hate begets hate, violence begets violence, and that love and understanding—cooperation and brotherhood—will reproduce themselves in the hearts of others when given willingly and sincerely.”
  - “Christianity works when it is applied. It is the one and only solution to our personal and national ills.”
April 1967 General Conference
- America Testifies of Christ
  - “America is a land chosen of God for a great and divinely appointed work. Essential to the performance of that task is an unerring testimony that God lives.”
  - “That testimony is here. It comes from the ancient world; it comes from today. It comes from our national leaders, and it comes from modern prophets raised up for God’s special work in these last days.”
October 1966 General Conference
- We Believe in Being Honest
  - “If we allow dishonesty to weave itself into the fabric of our lives, we invite moral suicide.”
  - “There is no salvation without true charity, and true charity embraces the spirit of brotherly love to the point that it permits no injustice on the part of any one of us toward our fellowmen—no deceptions, no dishonesty, and no predatory designs.”
  - “Dishonesty is uncleanness. It is a form of filth that must be shunned by every true follower of the Savior.”
April 1966 General Conference
- Otherwise, Of What Value is Christianity?
  - “It was not his intention that we merely have a mental acceptance of him and then conduct our personal affairs to suit our own selfish purposes. His way of life provides that we shall rearrange our habits and readjust our standards in harmony with his teachings. Otherwise, of what value is Christianity?”
  - “Are we truly Christians? Do we really follow him? Are we willing to adopt his principles and live them? The peace of Christ is attainable in the world. He does not command the impossible.”
  - “There is no true Christianity without good feelings toward our fellowmen.”
October 1965 General Conference
- Their Greatest Tragedy
  - “Where in a high mountain area has God thus erected his temple as he built his latter-day kingdom? Look for it. It is one of the signs of the times. Will we who live today be willing to accept these signs as we see them, or will we reject them in a spiritual and temporal tragedy like that of nearly two thousand years ago? Will the marvels of our so-called enlightened age blind us to the events foretold in prophecy or convince us that they are unreal or that they are but myths and superstitions as some already say? Will mankind once again deny their Lord?”
April 1965 General Conference
- No True Worship without Chastity
  - “Personal sin is as real an apostasy as any effort to change the law or break the everlasting covenant.”
  - “To reject or try to change the moral law of God is to reject God. To leave the path of virtue as set forth by Christ is an apostasy from Christ.”
  - “Chastity is as vital to us as the law and the prophets. The work of God cannot abide in the midst of iniquity. His people must not partake of the sins of Babylon or they will cease to be his people. Although we are in the world we cannot indulge in its corruption.”
April 1964 General Conference
- The Christian Reformation
  - “Much as we love it, sincerely as we believe it, can we in all truth say that the Bible is complete, that it contains all of God’s word, or even the full text of the Savior’s instructions?”
October 1963 General Conference
- Raise the Voice of Testimony
  - “There is only one cure for the evils of this world, and for the broken hearts of men and women, and that is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the living of that faith by obedience to the commandments of the Lord our God. There is nothing that can compare with it. There is no other answer. It is obedience to Christ, or it is dissolution.”
  - “How strong a testimony can you bear? Your testimony is no stronger than your obedience.”
October 1962 General Conference
- One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism
  - “There is only one way to combat error, and that is with the truth. If men lost the truth, they could only find it by receiving it again from the Lord, and that would entail new revelation from the heavens.”
  - “Can a misunderstanding of the truth bring salvation? The Savior taught there is but one straight and narrow way.”
April 1962 General Conference
- Polynesia
  - “They believed that the glory of God was intelligence and therefore named him so. This is noted in both pre-Inca and Polynesian religions.”
October 1961 General Conference
- The Pure Love of Christ
  - “Is quarreling among nations any worse than quarreling among members of a family, except as to the number of people involved?”
  - “Can we suppose that any of us can do the work of Christ if we have the spirit of contention in our hearts or in our homes? Can we do the work of God by the spirit of the devil?”
  - “No one needs to be grouchy. No one needs to be unpleasant. Everyone can control his emotions if he wants to, just as he can control his appetites.”
  - “People can be kind if they want to be kind. They can be considerate if they want to be. They can be peaceful if they would but try. They can be thoughtful and considerate of others if they but have the desire.”
  - “Eliminate unkindness from the homes of America and we will pretty well eliminate divorce from this land.”
April 1961 General Conference
- Extend the Hand of Fellowship
  - “I have often thought that instruction in the gospel without fellowship in the Church is as incomplete as baptism without confirmation. It is utter folly for us to avoid or ignore the responsibility we have of properly fellowshipping those who are brought into the Church.”
- Our Need for Better Parents
  - “There can be no doubt that children learn most of their moral behavior within the family and that behavior patterns are fixed at an early age. To change them later in life is such a slow and difficult task that many consider it almost impossible. Hence, the only way to build good adults for the future is to provide children with better parents now.”
  - “Let us be willing to face the fact that we really are the custodians and the guardians of our little ones, and that if we neglect that guardianship we do them irreparable harm.”
October 1960 General Conference
- Godlessness
  - “As Communism is a threat to America, so is crime. But they both grow out of Godlessness.”
  - “Now what shall we plan for? We must plan to stay with the Church first, last, and always. We will plan to understand the doctrines of the Church and the proceedings of the Church so that we will understand our true destiny. We will study the gospel and be informed. We cannot leave ourselves in darkness or ignorance about our principal assignment in life. We will plan also to go to school and make the most of our educational opportunities, but we will not allow worldly theories to upset our faith.”
  - “We will be honest with all other people. We will be honest with ourselves and never try to kid ourselves into thinking that we can get away with evil and still make the grade.”
April 1960 General Conference
- Teach Honor
  - “America needs honor more than it needs wealth and prosperity. Put wealth in the hands of dishonorable men, and what have you?”
  - “There is no happiness without honor. There is little success without doing one’s best.”
  - “When we look at the life and teachings of the Savior, it was the hypocrite, the pretentious hypocrite, who received his most scathing criticism.”
October 1959 General Conference
- Going Steady
  - “What are some of the remedies for this situation? First and foremost I believe that it lies in large part in the parents’ assuming their proper role as guardians of their children. Parents need not forever be slaves to the philosophy that they must obey their children in every whim. Parents must assume the position of leadership in the family. They must make the basic decisions of family life and not leave these decisions to the spoiled children of the household.”
  - “You as parents hold the key to the situation. You are the custodians and the guardians of your own children. If you do not guard and protect and rear them, who will?”
October 1958 General Conference
- What Makes A Man?
  - “What makes a man? What makes a woman? Is it the cigaret or the cocktail, or is it the clean life, the development of good character, faith in God, and keeping his commandments?”
April 1958 General Conference
- Except They Be Agreed
  - “Christianity of today is so divided that if we bring its conflicting philosophies into our homes, they can and do become a source of discord which may jeopardize the very foundations of our family life.”
  - “If they will be united, if they will come and participate in the great saving blessing of a temple marriage, if they then will live the gospel and keep sacred their marriage covenant, they need never worry about divorce because of religious or other serious differences in the home, nor need they ever fear that death itself will serve as a divorce court, and break the bonds which were made for time only.”
April 1957 General Conference
- Ancient Records and the Book of Mormon
  - “Then I remembered that we do not receive a testimony from scientific research, nor from argument. I remembered that the only way we get a testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon is in the way President Grant received it, in a way that I received it, and as a million other Latter-day Saints have received it—the way explained by Mormon.”
October 1956 General Conference
- Think, then Act Safely
  - “Oh, youth of the Church, oh, parents, oh, bishops, who have charge of the youth, and you MIA workers and Sunday School and Primary, you Relief Society mothers, will you all use the intelligence God has given you, will you think, act safely, and live your religion?”
- Posters
  - “We cannot be too clean in the work of the Lord.”
April 1956 General Conference
- Teaching Children
  - “If we properly teach our children to do what is right, the allurements of the world need not have any great effect upon them. We need not have such great fears if we teach them properly and convert them and help them to obtain a testimony of the Gospel, because that testimony will be a fortification for them, a great defense against the temptations and the allurements of the world.”
October 1955 General Conference
- I Am not Ashamed of the Gospel of Christ
  - “I testify to you, and I testify to all men, that God has made known to me that he lives, and I know it as well as I know that I live. He has given me a testimony that Jesus of Nazareth was his literal Son in the flesh, and that he is our Savior, and our Redeemer.”
April 1955 General Conference
- Every Good Tree
  - “Have you that kind of home? In your home are you setting up the circumstances and the surroundings whereby those children can get the most out of this golden age? Are you doing all you can while you do not have the interference of Satan to train those children? Or, on the other hand, are you careless enough so that you tempt your own children, so that you will lead them into paths of sin, so that you teach them by your own bad example how to do things of the world?”
October 1954 General Conference
- Companionship in the Home
  - “Where is that companionship now? Are you, as husbands and wives, real companions today? Do you have fun together? Do you ever go out together and really have a good time? Do you work together? Do you worship God together? Do you maintain that his respect for each other that you once had, remembering that there can be no real love at home unless there is respect for each other, and that there is precious little respect unless we are respectable?”
  - “Any married man who pays attention to any woman other than his wife, to that extent is in rebellion against Almighty God, and any woman who is married and receives attention from any other man is flying in the face of Providence and violating the law of heaven.”
  - “There is only one answer to a broken law, and that is repentance, and if you have broken the law which says, “Thou shalt love thy wife with all thy heart, and shalt cleave unto her and none else,” is the answer divorce, or is it repentance with a broken heart and a contrite spirit?”
April 1954 General Conference
- Be Instructed Young
  - “And every boy in the Church truly might be envied by a king because he himself is kingly by reason of the righteousness, the cleanliness, the faithfulness of his life.”
October 1953 General Conference
- A Parable
  - “May we have the wisdom, to accept the Lord’s program as it is given to us. May we be willing to undertake this work of prevention in saving our girls and our boys from the onslaught of the destroyer. May we be willing to be awake to our responsibilities. May we be willing to follow the leadership of the great nobleman who stands at the head of the vineyard.”
April 1953 General Conference
- A Work of Conversion
  - “Every teacher and every preacher therefore is duty-bound, upon accepting such a call, to represent the official views and doctrines of the Church, and to teach those official doctrines in his class or from the pulpit, with the one thought in mind that conversion is to come about in the hearts of those who listen to him. I do not believe that conversion to the truth comes through the teaching of half-truths or untruths.”
  - “I do not believe my eternal salvation will be affected in any way if I eat white bread or white sugar. I do not believe the doctrines of the Church are in any way involved in whether my whole wheat is stoneground or steel-cut.”
October 1952 General Conference
- Suffer the Little Children
  - “What chance did the boy have of becoming converted to the gospel when the father was teaching the son how to break the law of God?”
  - “Parents, you can encourage or discourage your child’s faith and religious activity. By your own acts, you can either promote faith or you can destroy faith. Which will it be?”
April 1952 General Conference
- Know for Yourself
  - “When those temptations or those persecutions or those false teachings come, will you have the courage to be real Latter-day Saints, to have a purpose firm, and to stand by it?”
  - “Faith comes by revelation. No matter what science might do to promote religious faith, it can never save a man. Salvation comes through revelation and the power of God restored to men in these last days. And that revelation is available. That revelation has come. The power of God and his priesthood are now here among men and salvation comes through them.”
October 1951 General Conference
- A True Servant of God
  - “I thought that was a beautiful testimony she bore to one of the servants of God. I have loved Brother McKay ever since I first became acquainted with him some years ago. I can testify to you along with this good sister from California that indeed Thomas E. McKay through his life has been a true servant of God, and I am glad that he stood here today and bore that fervent testimony that he knows that God lives; that he knows that Jesus is the Christ; that he knows that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God; and that all the men who have succeeded him in the presidency of this Church likewise are prophets of the Lord.”
April 1951 General Conference
- How oft would I have Gathered You
  - “There are some in some in the Church who ought to know better, who have the commandments of God, but will not repent, but are wilful and stubborn. Even though the blessings of God are offered to them, they turn their faces, and each one goes in his own way. We reject God as we refuse to obey him.”
October 1950 General Conference
- Smoking is Slavery
  - “And God bless all other men like him in the wonderful struggle they are making for the right.”
April 1950 General Conference
- Be Ye Therefore Perfect
  - “I would like to say that I believe with all my heart that if the Lord had any idea that we could not begin in mortality on the march toward perfection, he would never have given us that commandment: neither would he have given us a Church organization for the perfecting of the Saints.”
October 1949 General Conference
- Sustain the Authorities
  - “Are we in a position of consistency if we try to choose one part of the program of the Church and turn our backs upon the others? Every phase of the program is worthy of our support, whether it be priesthood or Church welfare, whether it be the Church publications or whether it be the auxiliary organizations, or any of the commandments in the gospel.”
  - “We are the Saints. Our Church makes up the body of Christ. We need the edification and the perfection that come to us through participating in the program of the Church. We have the prophets of God who give us the program of the Church. Let us follow that program so that we may get the blessings God proffers to us.”
  - “Instead of going off on a tangent this way or a tangent some other way, let us be willing to follow the prophets of God who stand here at the head of the Church and who receive the divine guidance of the Almighty.”
April 1949 General Conference
- My Testimony
  - “This is a great Church. It is indeed the kingdom of God. We have a great man at the head of the Church. He is the revelator, the seer, and the prophet of God in this day. It is a reality that we walk in the presence of a living prophet of God. Let us be willing to accept him as such. And these others who uphold his hands and sustain him, likewise are the prophets of the Lord.”
October 1948 General Conference
- Church Publications
  - “To be good Latter-day Saints means that we work out our salvation here in the earth, through the facihties of the Church, and teach our children to do likewise.”
  - “Every day we must make decisions affecting our lives. Some of those decisions may seem small, but nevertheless they affect our thinking and either bring us nearer to God or help to remove us farther away.”
April 1948 General Conference
- The Lowly Cigarette
  - “I wonder, young people of the Church, if you have ever seriously thought about what a cigarette means to a Latter-day Saint. It means more to us than it does to other people. I know that some of you will say that you do not see why, that you have friends in other churches who smoke, and they seem to get along all right, and their churches do not criticize them for it, and you do not see why our Church takes the attitude it does on this subject. Just remember, if you will, that the Lord has not spoken to your young friends in the other churches, nor to the heads of their churches, giving them any divine revelation directing them to abstain from these harmful things. In their churches they do not even accept the principle of modern revelation.”
  - “Choose for yourself: Do you want to live a life without God? The cigarette would like you to. But remember, you can never live successfully without the Lord. So many have tried, and all have failed.”
October 1947 General Conference
- A Strong America
  - “We often speak of our freedoms. There is no freedom like the freedom of righteousness. The penalty of sin is slavery and death. He who is the victim of his own evil conduct is in reality much more a slave than the cowering subjects of the most dictatorial despot.”
  - “If America would remain mighty, she must have the strength of sobriety, of chastity and virtue, of honesty and integrity, and the power of true spirituality. If she would be strong, America must enjoy—in addition to her political freedoms, indeed one might say, as a condition to the perpetuation of her political freedoms—those other freedoms which are as essential to her welfare as any of the liberties listed in the Bill of Rights.”
  - “The strength of the nation is measured in a large degree by the home life of the individual citizens. What makes a home strong? It is character, and good character mean integrity, honesty, morality, the spirit of fair play, self-reliance, and an abiding faith in God. As we speak of the great men in history, we frequently refer to their home life, with a fireside about which the family met, a saintly mother, a period of devotion, the reading of the Sacred Word, a family prayer. Out of such an atmosphere our great men acquired an attitude of self-reliance, an enterprising spirit, a willingness to work, with honesty and integrity as guiding stars, and a due regard for the teachings of the Almighty. Is each American family today contributing in this manner to our national greatness? Are we strengthening the sinews of our country with homes like this, or are we content to settle back into conditions which lead to disruption of these foundation stones of a strong democracy?”
  - “That we should work for what we get is a divine principle.”
  - “Let us remember too, that faith in God is inseparably connected with sincere repentance from sin, and that as a people, to enjoy the fruits of faith—including continued freedom—we must live in keeping with the principles of revealed religion.”
April 1947 General Conference
- Love of Neighbor
  - “There are too many among us who do not live the way we pray.”
  - “Well, some people say: “I would like to help the poor in my own way.” I think we all should help the poor in our own way, but I think likewise we should help the poor in the Lord’s way.”
  - “We need the faith and prayers of the Saints. But remember that you have a responsibility to live the way you pray, and when you ask that the leaders of this Church may be guided by inspiration, then you be willing to live by the inspiration that comes from those Authorities.”
  - “Yes, we are in a testing ground, testing whether or not we are worthy to be called Saints, whether we love the Lord our God with all our hearts and our neighbors as ourselves. We are being tried to see if we are willing, even in a time of extremity, to share, if it is our last crust of bread, with another who is hungry.”
October 1946 General Conference
- Train Up a Child
  - “I do not in any way wish to minimize the responsibility of the parents with regard to their children, but if Bishop Brown had read further into the reports of these national experts, he would have discovered that these same authorities declare that a large part of the responsibility for the juvenile delinquency in America must also be borne by the local leaders of various churches; that the religious leaders of our communities must shoulder a good part of the responsibility. Some of the young people who had gone astray came from that bishop’s own ward. Did he ever connect their delinquency with his own work as a bishop? Did he connect it at all with the work being done by his Sunday School, Primary, Mutual Improvement Associations, or Aaronic Priesthood leaders? Did he trace the difficulty in which these young people found themselves to any failure on the part of the leadership of the various organizations in his ward to carry out successfully the youth program of the Church?”
  - “When our young people fall, can you count the cost of it? Remember there is a price tag attached to every evil deed, and that price tag is a big one. The cost of sin is so great that it can hardly be measured by mortal men, but it must be counted in remorse, broken hearts, lost opportunities, and lost souls. Compare that price with the price of well-supervised, Church-sponsored recreation. Compare that price with the expenditure of time and effort required to conduct good M Men and Cleaner activity, or a good Boy Scout, Aaronic Priesthood, Junior girl, or Bee Hive program. Which price would you rather pay?”
April 1946 General Conference
- In Defense of Liberty
  - “Latter-day Saints, of all people, should stand firm in defense of freedom. Free agency has a special meaning to us. We know that without free agency there would be no progress. We all know that the gospel itself is based upon the principle of free agency. Yet there are some among us who have allowed themselves to slip to one side or the other, and they need to reorient themselves in line with the divine revelations we have received concerning the principle of freedom.”
  - “I appeal to every Latter-day Saint to accept the divine principle of free agency and to adopt it in his life. I appeal to you to remember this principle when you are confronted by organizations and groups and movements in this country, which are now arising and assuming great power. Before you become engulfed in them, measure their practices and their purposes by the measuring rod of free agency, and you remember that God said it is not right that any man should be in bondage one to another.”
October 1945 General Conference
- Be Ye Not Deceived
  - “We have always felt that that merchant was an extremely wise man, because he was willing to give up all that he possessed in order to acquire the pearl of great price. But let me ask you, what would you have thought of that merchant had the parable been reversed and he had given up the pearl of great price in exchange for something of little or no value?”
  - “We have some among us who are doing that very thing. In their own lives they reverse the parable of the Lord and they give up the pearl of great price for a fleeting fancy. They actually sell their birthright in the kingdom of God for less than a mess of pottage.”
  - “From time to time in the Church section of The Deseret News—which section I do recommend to all of you as one of the finest publications that you can have in your home from time to time that publication carries a list of names of individuals who have been excommunicated from this Church. These excommunicants at one time were all members of the kingdom of God, and at one time they all possessed the pearl of great price. But each one of them has reversed that parable in his own life and has given up the pearl of great price with all its values and with all its blessings. What a pity! What a tragedy!”
  - “One of the reasons people apostatize from this Church is that they have failed to heed the warning of the scriptures against listening to false teachers who raise their voices in our midst. In spite of the fact that these warnings of the scriptures are crystal clear, many of our people fail to heed them.”
  - “How do these false teachers lead people astray? They do so by attacking the fundamental doctrines of the Church. They attack the Authorities of the Church. They attack the teachings of the Authorities. They seek to develop doctrinal disputes among the people to undermine their faith, and they lead people into apostasy when they do such things as that. Very often false teachers who have come among us endeavor to justify their position by claiming to have received some revelation or dream directing them, they say, in the paths which they tread.”
  - “There were disputes anciently among the Jews, over the doctrines of the church, and these disputes led people to apostasy. There were disputes among the ancient Nephites likewise, just as there are disputes among some of our people today, disputes, let me remind you, which lead to apostasy and excommunication from the Church.”
  - “Salvation comes not by being tossed about by every wind of doctrine but by learning the truth as it is taught by the inspired, authorized leaders of the Church, and then having learned that truth, by living up to it and enduring in faithfulness unto the very end.”
April 1945 General Conference
- On Sustaining Authority
  - “So with the Lord we take sides. We are either for him or we are against him. We are strengthening his work or we are weakening his work. Every Latter-day Saint should ask himself whether he is for the Lord or whether he is against the Lord; whether his deeds are sustaining and strengthening the work of God or whether his deeds, even his indifference, are weakening the work of the Lord.”
  - “I ask you again, my brethren, and my sisters on the air, are you for the Lord and his program or are you against them? Are you for the authorities of the Church or are you against them? Are you gathering with them, or are you scattering abroad? Are you on the Lord’s side?”
October 1944 General Conference
- Watchmen of the Vineyard
  - “The gospel plan has many fields of activity. Each one of those fields is vital and essential. We have the work of the priesthood quorums for men and for boys; we have the Church welfare plan; we have our financial system of tithing, and fast, and other offerings; we have the work of the auxiliaries: we have the plan of clean living, known as the Word of Wisdom, and many other fields of activity. Each one is positively essential in its place; each one was set there by the Lord himself as part of the plan of salvation. It is not for us to say that any part of the plan of God is not essential. It is not for us to say that any part is unimportant, to be disregarded with impunity.”
  - “The Lord expects us to live the gospel by participating in the program of the Church. Every part of that program may be likened unto the trees and the tower in the parable I have read to you. Each tree was planted by commandment of the Lord; the tower was to be erected likewise by the commandment of the Lord, who clearly explained to his servants the purpose of the construction of such a tower.”
  - “That is so much like human nature. When we regard our work in the Church, let us remember that we are working in the vineyard of the Lord, and that we are his servants, just as the servants who worked in the planting of those olive-trees. And remember, too, that if we esteem lightly the word of the Lord in the day of our prosperity, in the day of our trouble he may be slow to hearken unto our prayers, to answer us and provide for our needs.”
April 1944 General Conference
- Gratitude for Blessings
  - “I am indeed grateful for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am most happy that the Lord permitted me to be born in a Latter-day Saint home, where my parents taught me to believe in the message which they had received in a foreign land, the message which I shall bear to all the world through the rest of my life.”
  - “I know that God lives. I know that Jesus is the Christ and the Son of God. I know it as well as if I had seen him, and I shall take great pleasure in declaring His word for the remainder of my life.”
  - “I am thankful for my testimony of the divinity of the mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith. I love him. I have read all I could find about him. I know that God spoke to him and appeared to him, and I know that his testimony, for which he died, is true.”

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Mark E. Petersen

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