Area Leadership Message
Nothing Will Ever Be the Same Again!
On a special weekend, I had the privilege of assisting Elder Jorge M. Alvarado of the Quorum of the Seventy in the wonderful reorganization of a stake in the Dominican Republic. After stake conference, we decided to counsel with the families of the newly called leaders. Elder Alvarado looked at the young couples who had just been given this enormous responsibility and asked, speaking especially to the sisters: “Sisters, what are your feelings, what are your impressions?”
One of the sisters replied, “Elder Alvarado, after all I have just heard and felt, nothing will ever be the same again. For me, there is a before and an after this conference. Nothing will be as it was before!”
Later in the afternoon, we had the honor of visiting a couple of families in their respective homes. The same question was addressed to a couple who had been married for several decades. The sister replied with a big smile: “My husband and I have been married for several years; it may sound strange for many to hear, but after what we just went through and felt at the conference, our married life has just begun.”
What happened? Why do these sisters say that nothing will be the same as it was before?
My brothers and sisters, teachings given under the influence of the Holy Spirit and received by that same Spirit can change the behavior of people more profoundly than by any other means. The Holy Spirit is the primary instrument of this change.
In the spring of 1820, after the heavens had been opened and God had filled the Sacred Grove with His magnificence, the Prophet Joseph Smith said this of this sacred event, “It no sooner appeared than I found myself delivered from the enemy which held me bound,” and, despite the denial of others, “I have actually seen a vision; and who am I that I can withstand God?”1
Who can resist the power of Him who knoweth all things? Through the power of the Comforter, we receive the knowledge that delivers us from the enemy who often traps us so easily.
Once again, our God has kept His promise and continues to communicate to the whole world through His servants, the prophets. I testify to you of the veracity of these declarations. I know He speaks! I have seen the fulfillment of it.
“Wherefore, I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant[s] … [the prophets], and spake unto [them] from heaven, and gave [them] commandments.”2
On September 23, 1995, at the Relief Society meeting of general conference, mere mortals experienced the magnificence of divinity. Indeed, on September 23, 1995, the world experienced a new era. From that moment on, nothing will ever be the same again! The will of the Father, in clear and precise terms, was revealed. No one can escape it!
On that day, the whole world watched, many with admiration, and others with amazement, as the floodgates of heaven opened through a living prophet. The voice of an omniscient and omnipotent Father could be heard speaking to His sons and daughters about what is to come and what He expects of them.
Indeed, knowing the moral tribulations that were going to befall the families of the earth, on this beautiful day in autumn, our God spoke to the daughters of Zion, and to the whole world. At the general Relief Society meeting, through his servant Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008), the will of the Father concerning all the families of the earth was clearly revealed. In a final cry of love, “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” was revealed to us.
In this solemn declaration, the seers and revelators of the kingdom of God on earth have unanimously declared that the family is not a mere cell, or merely a basic unit of society, but that it is divinely designed to enable children of heavenly parents to benefit from His plan of happiness. The family is the very essence of this plan.
However, “happiness in family life is most likely to be achieved when founded upon the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities.”3
I reaffirm that “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” is irremovable. I testify to the whole world that this declaration has indeed taken place. That since then, we have been warned so that we will warn our neighbors. “If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin,” Jesus told His disciples.4
I testify that we are the offspring of a living God, and that for us a sacrifice has taken place. For us, blood was shed to grant grace whenever forgiveness is asked. Above all, a loving Father has prepared a way through an obedient Son, that all who will follow Him may have eternal life.