Francis M. Gibbons

First Quorum of the Seventy (April 6, 1986 – April 1, 1989)
Second Quorum of the Seventy (April 1, 1989 – October 5, 1991)

General Conference Addresses

• October 1991 General Conference
  • The Dual Aspects of Prayer
    • “All this suggests that we should be wise in what we say and do. We should also be wise in the way we guard precious things that are revealed to us through the Spirit. For example, when President Heber J. Grant was a young man, presiding in the Tooele Stake, Patriarch John Rowberry gave him a special blessing. Afterward, the patriarch said to President Grant, “I saw something that I dared not mention.” President Grant later recorded it was made known to him at that moment that he would one day be the President of the Church. He never discussed this revelation with anyone, never recorded it, and revealed it only after it was an accomplished fact. (See Francis M. Gibbons, Heber J. Grant: Man of Steel, Prophet of God, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1979, p. viii.) How wise he was, for had he revealed it to others, his enemy, Satan, would have known and, with that knowledge, could have created unimaginable difficulties for him.”
• April 1991 General Conference
  • The Savior and Joseph Smith—Alike Yet Unlike
    • “While the Savior and Joseph Smith shared these and many other qualities, they were very different in basic ways. The main difference lay in the Savior’s unusual nature and identity. He functioned on a plane which was beyond the Prophet Joseph Smith’s comprehension. Jesus is a member of the Godhead, chosen before the creation of the world to become the Savior and the Redeemer of mankind. He was the active force in the Creation, and he is the head of the Church. Through the Atonement, he has, in a sense, purchased us so that we are his children. And by becoming members of the Church, we have taken his name upon us.”
    • “While we honor and revere Joseph Smith as the Prophet of the Restoration and seek to emulate his qualities of character, we adore and worship the Savior.”
• April 1986 General Conference
  • Sixteen Years as a Witness
    • “As you can appreciate, I accept this assignment with trepidation. I accept it with humility. I accept it without qualification. I desire to serve faithfully and with diligence. I pledge to President Benson and his Counselors that they will never make a call upon me but that I will strive to fill it to the very best of my ability.”

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