Hugh W. Pinnock

Presidency of the Seventy (October 4, 1986 – October 1, 1989)
First Quorum of the Seventy (October 1, 1977 – December 16, 2000)

General Conference Addresses

• October 1993 General Conference
  • Your Personal Checklist for a Successful Eternal Flight
    • “Because each of you is more important than any aircraft, you would be wise to contemplate and go through your own personal checklist before you take off into the balance of your lives.”
    • “What started out as a curiosity is now a problem, and sin is much the same. An indiscretion can begin a process that can make a mess of a whole life. Remember, if you don’t start feeding the foxes, they will never tear up your yard. If you avoid making the seemingly small and harmless mistakes, your life will be free of many larger problems later on. Be a courageous young man by living straight. Create happy memories for yourselves and those around you.”
• April 1989 General Conference
  • Now Is the Time
    • “Of course, heartache and pain can be spilled upon us by dishonest, manipulative, or unkind people. Accidents happen that can inflict terrible pain and sometimes lifetime disability. But to judge, blame, and not forgive always intensifies the problem. It pushes healing further into the future. It is not responsible.”
• April 1987 General Conference
  • The Blessings of Being Unified
    • “How do we glorify Jesus? How do we say thank you for the Atonement? How do we state gratitude for the ordinances and the covenants? How do we express appreciation for his teachings? Of course, we do it by loving God, by loving our neighbor, by living the commandments, and also by being one. We adapt to the Master’s teachings. We place him and others with us into one: “One Lord, one faith, one baptism,” as Paul taught (Eph. 4:5). We accept those called over us as our leaders without creating a fuss. Our leaders know of our loyalty because we do what they call us to do.”
• October 1984 General Conference
  • Learning Our Father’s Will
    • “Too often we forget our teachings and doctrine and, by so doing, err to our own injury and those we love the most. Within the teachings of God are found the answers to the dilemmas and challenges of life. The examples are endless, while the solution is fixed; it does not vary.”
    • “Children certainly become more committed to doctrinal learning when they see their parents with scriptures in hand going to Church meetings and studying God’s word together.”
• April 1982 General Conference
  • Beginning Again
    • “The Lord explained to Jeremiah that when we make mistakes, as ancient Israel was making, we can take what we have marred and begin again. The potter did not give up and throw the clay away, just because he had made a mistake. And we are not to feel hopeless and reject ourselves. Yes, our task is to overcome our problems, take what we have and are, and start again.”
    • “Is now a time for a trophy in your life? In the battles you are fighting, should you erect a monument to show that you have turned, that your life will be different now?”
    • “Repentance means to find a better way and to follow it.”
    • “Many people live the gospel according to themselves. That is self-deception. There is only one true gospel. We may alter it or tint it with our own notions. But if we will adhere to the pure teachings of Jesus Christ, we will eliminate many of the rationalizations that lead to problems. The menu has only one entree. To pick and choose which of God’s precepts to live is satanic self-centeredness. Integrity is the foundation of our life-style.”
• April 1980 General Conference
  • The Gospel Restored
    • “However, the more deeply one wonders what makes us different from our nonmember friends and neighbors, the more certain is the answer: the Redeemer and other heavenly messengers personally restored the everlasting gospel to the earth. That is why we are here.”
    • “First, utilize in personally helpful ways the advice and counsel of our prophet. One of our unique characteristics, as a people, is the fact that we have a divinely appointed leader, a heavenly designee, whose authoritative responsibility has persisted for 150 years, beginning at this very spot with the first elder of the Church, Joseph Smith. A prophet’s words are designed to provide joy for us and for those we love, to include direction that will intensify our eternal effectiveness.”
    • “The most significant sermons we will ever preach will be through the acts we perform.”
• October 1979 General Conference
  • We Will Go with Our Young and with Our Old
    • “Life is not stationary. Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years all tick away at the same clip for everyone. No age-group can be isolated. None of us can settle into infancy, youth, middle age, or old age. We all grow older, and, incidentally, it is an exciting thought if the accent is on growing.”
    • “First, take time with the Savior. If you feel you do not know him yet, then think of him often. Read about him. Invite him in. It is never too late to make a friend, and he is the best friend you will ever have.”
    • “Second, tell of past decades when life was different. Keep alive the recollection of your struggles and achievements. Take time to share the truths that never change. Show how solutions to problems sixty, seventy, and eighty years ago are just as valid and helpful now as they were then. We need to learn from you.”
    • “Third, look to your ancestors. Temple doors stand open bidding you welcome. So many need you to perform their earthly ordinances. The extra time you often have enables you to bless those who need you to do their earthly work for them. They are waiting for you.”
    • “Fourth, there is so much for you to do in the mission field, either as a couple or, if you do not have a mate, as an elder or sister missionary. It is true, you will not be tracting quite like the younger missionaries, or at least not as long, but you will be influencing the inactive, providing welfare service instruction, serving in our visitors centers, meeting the town fathers, and helping those that need your leadership example, your judgment, and your ability to teach. Investigators in Stuttgart, West Germany; Hermosillo, Mexico; Williamsport, Pennsylvania; and Rocky Ford, Colorado, will listen and, yes, be baptized because of you.”
    • “Fifth, realize that you are needed and loved and that you can be useful to many in so many positive ways. Only too often an elderly person will retreat into a state of feeling unneeded, left out, or even passed by or rejected. Usually nothing could be further from the truth. Please communicate openly so we will know of your feelings.”
    • “Sixth, hold family home evening. If you are now alone, invite friends to stop by each Monday night. If you feel lonely, others probably do, too. Loneliness can only be dispelled by helping others feel less lonely. Family home evening is an ideal opportunity to share, to worship, and to heal.”
    • “Seventh, whenever possible, walk each day. Enjoy this lovely world that the Savior has provided, and invite others to walk with you, sharing the beauties and miracles of nature together. “Add life to your years, not just years to life” (“The Problem of Old Age,” Time, 23 July 1966).”
    • “Eighth, for heaven’s sake, forget your regrets. The many years you have lived have been filled both with success and with experiences you might change if you could. But you can’t, so stop any self-inflicted sadness or despair. When the Savior said, “Judge not,” he was speaking, in part, about your relationship with yourself (see Matt. 7:1). Live the repentant life happily. The scripture “Men are, that they might have joy” (2 Ne. 2:25) applies to you right now.”
• October 1977 General Conference
  • Three Things to Share
    • “First, I know the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and that only by carefully listening to the words of our Prophet, by reading the scriptures for additional insight, and by living the commandments and suggestions of our Brethren can we find happiness of an eternal nature.”
    • “Second, I must communicate to you openly about the reality of my own inadequacies. Accepting a call to serve as a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, I pray that the Lord, our Church leaders who sit before us, and you with whom I will be called to work will all exert untiring patience with me.”
    • “Lastly, I must communicate to you the awesome level of gratitude that I feel at this time: towards you who have so kindly instructed me through word and deed and action; to a lovely wife and children who have always supported their husband and father both here and in the mission field.”

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