Truth Will Prevail

By President Gordon B. Hinckley

From “Be Not Afraid, Only Believe,” Ensign, Feb. 1996, 2–5.

President Hinckley teaches us to have courage and faith so that we can overcome evil and fear.

I am optimistic [positive] concerning the work of the Lord. I cannot believe that God has established His work in the earth to have it fail. I know that it is getting stronger. I realize, of course, that we are beset [faced] in the world with many tragic problems.

And yet I am optimistic. I have a simple and solemn faith that right will triumph and that truth will prevail. I believe that “truth crushed to earth will rise again.”

When I left for a mission, my good father handed me a card on which were written five words. They were the words of the Lord to the ruler of the synagogue who had received news of his daughter’s death: “Be not afraid, only believe” (Mark 5:36).

If ever your faith is inclined to weaken as you see the onward march of evil and oppression, read again the story of Daniel who, putting his trust in the “God in heaven that revealeth secrets” (Daniel 2:28), interpreted Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. He said concerning our day that the God of heaven shall “set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these [other] kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever” (Daniel 2:44).

Yes, this work requires sacrifice, it requires effort, it requires courage to speak out and faith to try. This cause does not need critics; it does not need doubters. It needs men and women of solemn purpose. As Paul wrote to Timothy: “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord” (2 Timothy 1:7–8).

I wish that every member of this Church would put those words where he or she might see them every morning as he or she begins the day. They would give us the courage to speak up; they would give us the faith to try; they would strengthen our conviction of the Lord Jesus Christ. I believe that more miracles would happen over the earth.

I know that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, that this is Their holy work, and I plead with you and with the God of heaven that we shall have the power and faith and the devotion to roll it forward to its great destiny.

Detail from Daniel Interprets Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream, by Grant Romney Clawson