“Words of the Living Prophet,” Liahona, June 2000, 16
Words of the Living Prophet
Anger
“Brethren, let us, each of us, watch ourselves. Whenever we have within us a little temper, go outside, breathe some fresh air, and come in with a smile and throw your arms around your wife and tell her you love her. Look to your children and let them know that you love them. Live with them kindly and graciously, as Latter-day Saints should do.”1
Assisting Converts
“Those who have come into the Church made a great sacrifice, many of them, when they were baptized. They are precious. They are the same kind of people that you are, and their generations will become the same kind of people as will your generations if they are nurtured and brought along in the Church. I don’t know how to say it more strongly. This is a matter about which I feel so deeply as I go about this Church across the world.”2
Baptism for the Dead
“The Savior made it very clear that baptism was incumbent upon everyone, baptism of the water and of the Spirit, and that a man or woman could not enter into the kingdom of God without it. There are no exceptions made. What about all of those who lived upon the earth for generations of time without baptism? What a glorious doctrine it is! What a marvelous revelation it is, that we should have the opportunity of going into the house of the Lord to be baptized for those who had not this saving ordinance during their lifetime.”3
Do the Lord’s Work and Know
“If we do the work for the Lord, we shall know of Him. We should know God our Eternal Father. How grateful I am for the knowledge which I carry in my heart through the gift of the Holy Ghost, and for the assurance that you carry that same knowledge in your hearts that God is our Eternal Father.”4
Learning
“This great volume of truth [the Book of Mormon] encompasses everything that is true and good, and we know only a fraction of it. We’re constantly learning, and our knowledge is increasing, but we have much to learn.”5
Love at Home
“To you parents, you fathers and mothers, rear your children in light and truth. Let your children grow in homes where there is love and peace. Pray with your children. Teach them to be humble. Have your family home evenings. Live the gospel. Be men and women of integrity and faith and honesty and truth, and the Lord will bless you and you will see your children grow up in honor before you with a love and respect for you. The time will come when with gratitude in your hearts you’ll get on your knees and thank the Lord for His marvelous blessings upon you.”6
Sons and Daughters of God
“Believe in God our Eternal Father, the Father of us all. He is our Father. We are His children. Therefore, we are all brothers and sisters, and we ought to treat one another as brothers and sisters. It matters not the color of our skin. It matters not the land from which we come. We are all sons and daughters of God who have within us something of a divine birthright, something of divinity that speaks in brotherhood and sisterhood with all throughout the world. To me it is a miraculous and wonderful thing that I can get on my knees and lift my voice to the God of heaven with the assurance in my heart that He, the great Governor of the universe, will hear and listen and answer.”7
Work of the Lord
“God bless you, my dear friends and associates and brothers and sisters, in this great work. It is true! It is the work of the Lord. He stands at the head. It is the culmination of His work through all the generations of time. This great age becomes the culmination of the establishment of the work from when the Savior was upon the earth, and of the time of the Apostles, and of the rocky years that followed, the centuries that followed through the Dark Ages, and the work of the Reformers in trying to bring some light to the Reformation and understanding to the Christian world, down to this, the dispensation of the fulness of times, when there has been restored in one everything of all past dispensations. This is the glory time of the work of the Lord, and you and I are fortunate enough to be a part of it. May we perform our part well and serve Him in truth and righteousness and faithfulness so that when it is all over He can say, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant; … enter thou into the joy of thy lord’ (Matt. 25:23).”8
Photograph by Jed Clark
Right: Christus, by Bertel Thorvaldsen; Above, right: Photograph by Steve Bunderson