“Words of the Living Prophet,” Liahona, Apr. 1996, 10
Words of the Living Prophet
The Greatest Miracle of All
“I have seen miracles in my time, my brothers and sisters. The greatest miracle of all, I believe, is the transformation that comes into the life of a man or a woman who accepts the restored gospel of Jesus Christ and tries to live it in his or her life. How thankful I am for the wonders of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It is indeed a marvelous work and a wonder, which has been brought to pass by the power of the Almighty in behalf of His sons and daughters.” 1
Becoming Acquainted With the Savior
“Bring into the lives of our young people something more of spirituality. … Cultivate in the heart of every [young person] a sense of his relationship to the Lord as he becomes acquainted with the Savior of the world by knowing some elements of the atonement of the Redeemer through which eternal life is made possible for each of us.” 2
Worthiness and Righteousness
“One of my concerns is that not enough of our people are making the efforts to get a temple recommend, which becomes a symbol of their worthiness and the righteousness of their desires. …
“The Sabbath is a great opportunity to teach your family to stay dressed up a little. It is also very important to read the scriptures. …
“Stay away from pornography! Avoid it as you would a terrible disease. It is a consuming disease. It is addictive. It gets hold of men and grasps them until they can scarcely let go. … These magazines, these videotapes, these late-night programs—you don’t need them. They will just hurt you; they won’t help you. They will destroy you if you persist in looking at them.” 3
Counsel to Youth
“You are great young people. I have said again and again, we have the finest generation of young people ever in the history of this church. I believe it. You know the gospel better. You come to seminary, and you learn about the things of the Lord here. You know more about the gospel than those of my generation at your age did without any question. I am satisfied of that. …
“You can determine the kind of life you will have in your thirties or forties by what you do in your teens.” 4
After Marriage
“When you are married, be fiercely loyal one to another. Selfishness is the great destroyer of happy family life. If you will make your first concern the comfort, the well-being, and the happiness of your companion, sublimating any personal concern to that loftier goal, you will be happy, and your marriage will go on throughout eternity.” 5
Motherhood
“In this age when more and more women are turning to daily work, how tremendous it is, once in a while, to stop and recognize that the greatest service that any woman will ever perform will be in nurturing, teaching, lifting, encouraging, and rearing her children in righteousness and truth. There is no other thing that will compare with that regardless of what she does.
“I hope that the women of the Church will not slight their greatest responsibility in favor of a lesser responsibility. To the mothers of this church, every mother who is here this day, I want to say that, as the years pass, you will become increasingly grateful for that which you did in molding the lives of your children in the direction of righteousness and goodness and integrity and faith. …
“I think I can share this with you. As I sat in the Tabernacle at the last conference and was sustained by the people of this church, there came before me in my mind’s eye, the picture of my mother when I was a little boy. And I’m sure she must have thought then that I wouldn’t amount to much because I was not an easy little boy to deal with. I am grateful that I have the opportunity in my old age to bring honor to her name. …
“It’s been the mothers who have been the great carriers and purveyors of faith throughout the history of this church. I believe that with all my heart.” 6
President Hinckley portrait by Jed Clark
Christ in Gethsemane, by Heinrich Hofmann