Come Listen to a Prophet’s Voice:

We Bear Witness of Him

By President Gordon B. Hinckley

From an April 1998 general conference address.

President Gordon B. Hinckley explains how we can testify of the Restoration without belittling the faith of others.

We worship the Lord, declare His divinity and His living reality. We reaffirm our love for Him and our knowledge of His love for us.

There are some who do not regard us as Christians. That is not important. How we regard ourselves is what is important. We acknowledge that there are differences between us. Were this not so, there would have been no need for a restoration of the gospel.

I hope we do not argue over this. We simply, quietly, and without apology testify that God has revealed Himself and His Beloved Son in opening this full and final dispensation of His work.

We must not become disagreeable as we talk of doctrinal differences. But we can never surrender that knowledge which has come to us through revelation. Let us never forget that this is a restoration of [the Savior’s Church].

We can respect other religions, and we must do so. We must recognize the great good they accomplish. We must be tolerant and friendly toward those not of our faith.

I am in receipt of a letter from a man who is not a member of the Church. He says that his little daughter has been [purposely left out of things] by her schoolmates who are Latter-day Saints. He sets forth another instance of a child who had a religious medal ripped from his neck by a Latter-day Saint child. I hope this is not true. If it is, I apologize to those who have been offended.

Let us rise above all such conduct. Let us be true disciples of the Christ, observing the Golden Rule, doing unto others as we would have them do unto us.

How grateful I am for the testimony with which God has blessed me of the divine calling of Joseph Smith, of the reality of the First Vision, of the restoration of the priesthood, of the truth of this, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Left: Christ Appearing in the Western Hemisphere, by Arnold Friberg; Right: Christ and the Book of Mormon Children, by Del Parson; photograph by Steve Bunderson, posed by models