President Gordon B. Hinckley:
"This work stands as an anchor of stability, an anchor of values, in a world whose values are shifting. We stand for something. Our values find their roots in the teachings of the gospel of Jesus Christ. These are unchanging. They are today as they were when Jesus walked the roads of Palestine. They are as applicable now as they were then. They have been tested in the cauldron of human history, and they have not been found wanting. We expect great things of our people. This religion is demanding. It requires self-discipline. It requires study and courage and faith. People are responding to this as they feel the ground under them shake with uncertainties in a world of crumbling values."
President Gordon B. Hinckley From Salt Lake Institute Fireside, Jan. 21, 1996.
"The Church is the great teacher and builder of values. Its precepts are designed to lead men and women along the way of immortality and eternal life, to make their lives more complete, more rich and happy while moving through this veil of tears, and in preparing them for the beauties and wonders of that which lies ahead. Keep faith with the Church. It is true. It is divine. He who stands at its head is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the world. It is the Church of the Almighty which carries the name of His Divine Son. Its earthly leaders are those who are called of God under a plan which He put in place."
PresidentGordon B. Hinkley - BYU Devotional, Oct. 17, 1995.
One day for church, six for fun; odds on going to heaven, six to one.
"This latter day work is
spiritual.
It takes spirituality to
comprehend
it, to love it, to discern it.
Therefore, seek the spirit in
all you do.
Keep it with you continually.
That is our challenge."
Ezra Taft Benson
"I think our people know a lot about the Word of Wisdom, they know a lot about paying their tithing, they know a lot about MIA, and they know a lot about seminary and they know a lot about the mechanics of our meetings. But I worry and am deeply concerned about whether they are being fed spiritually. That's my deepest concern."
President Gordon B.
Hinckley From
priesthood
Leadership session, Corpus
Christi
Texas Regional Conference, Jan. 6, 1996.
"Brothers and sisters, we have the richest blessings that God can give to His children. We have the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We ought to be the most open, friendly, happy, kind, considerate, thoughtful, loving people in the whole world. Now, we do pretty well at fulfilling callings, at going to meetings, at paying our tithing; but have we learned to truly live the second great commandment: "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself"? (Matt. 22:39).
Elder Carl B. Pratt, CR October 1997, "Care For New Converts"
''Let us be good people. Let us be friendly people. Let us be neighborly people. Let us be what members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ought to be.''
President Gordon B. Hinckley (March 9, 1998):
"My brothers and sisters, we are a chosen generation. This is the greatest season in the history of the world and we have been blessed to come forward at this time, this greatest of times, of discovery. This is the grandest age of all. During my lifetime, there have been more scientific discoveries than in all the generations that preceded it, and you and I are upon the earth at this time.
"Beyond all this, we live in a time when the gospel of Jesus Christ has been restored. This is the dispensation of the fullness of times, when all that the Lord placed upon the earth in prior generations has come forth in this generation, to bless those of us who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. How thankful we ought to be! How anxious we ought to be to do that which the Lord would have us do. Out of the gratitude which we have in our hearts, we ought to be willing to do anything that He asks us--to live the Word of Wisdom, to pay our tithes and offerings to be active in the Church, to carry responsibilities, to reach out to those who come into the Church and help them and friendship them that they may remain true and faithful. My brothers and sisters, "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood."
(From Ciudad Obregon, Mexico, member meeting. Church News May 9, 1998)
"This church does not belong to its President. Its head is the Lord Jesus Christ, whose name each of us has taken upon ourselves. We are all in this great endeavor together."
President Gordon B. Hinckley (L.D.S. Historical Calendar - 1999)
"The Gospel of Jesus Christ makes bad men good, and good men better."
David O. McKay
"The Church is like a
great
caravan--organized, prepared, following an appointed course, with its
captains
of tens and captains of hundreds all in place. What does it
matter
if a few barking dogs snap at the heels of the weary travelers? Or that
predators claim those few who fall by the way? The caravan moves
on.
Is there a ravine to cross, a miry mud hole to pull through, a steep
grade
to climb? So be it. The oxen are strong and the teamsters
wise.
The caravan moves on. Are there storms that rage along the way,
floods
that wash away the bridges, deserts to cross, and rivers to ford?
Such is life in this fallen sphere. The caravan moves on.
Ahead
is the celestial city, the eternal Zion of our God, where all who
maintain
their position in the caravan shall find food and drink and rest.
Thank God that the
caravan
moves on!"
"Learning the gospel from the written word, however, is not enough. It must also be lived. As a matter of fact, getting a knowledge of the gospel and living it are interdependent. They go hand in hand. One cannot fully learn the gospel without living it. A knowledge of the gospel comes by degrees: one learns a little, obeys what he learns; learns a little more and obeys that. This cycle continues in an endless round. Such is the pattern by which one can move on to a full knowledge of the gospel.""Records of Great Worth," Ensign, September 1980, p. 4
"I hope that every day of my life I might be able to do some good and to encourage somebody to live a better life and to understand what has been restored to the earth."
Elder David B. Haight Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (April 1998 168th
Annual General Conference Saturday Morning Session)
"Some men are willing to die for their faith, but they are not willing to fully live for it."
Ezra Taft Benson (Ensign, December 1988, page 2)
"No man can be a true Latter-day Saint who is unneighborly, who does not reach out to assist and help others. It is inherent in the very nature of the gospel that we do so. My brothers and sisters, we cannot live unto ourselves. The more we forget ourselves and lose ourselves in the service of others, the closer we draw to the Lord and His great work and kingdom. We have an obligation and are trying to fulfill it as a Church and, hopefully, as individuals."
President Gordon B. Hinckley -- Columbus, Ohio, member meeting, April 25, 1998
"The greatest blessing one can have is that of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Do you realize that if you are a member of the Church and you were in a room of 5,000 people, you would be the only person with the gospel of Jesus Christ. How blessed we are! How many people desire to know what most of us have known our whole life."
Michael D. Christensen, p. 48 of his book: Just Be Yourself, 1997
Some of you might be saying, "Yeah, but I am a member of the Church and I haven't noticed that big a difference in my life." Well, there is a definite difference between being a member of the church of Jesus Christ and living the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ can affect our lives only to the degree that we are willing to live it!
Michael D. Christensen, p. 50 of his book: Just Be Yourself, 1997
"I suggest that you place the highest priority on your membership in the Church of Jesus Christ. Measure whatever anyone else asks you to do, whether it be from your family, loved ones, your cultural heritage, or traditions you have inherited -- measure everything against the teachings of the Savior. Where you find a variance from those teachings, set that matter aside and do not pursue it. It will not bring you happiness."
"While it may be said, and it is in a measure true, that we are but a handful in comparison to our fellow men in the world, yet we may be compared with the leaven of which the Savior spoke, that will eventually leaven the whole world."
"The religion of which you are a part is 7 days a week. It isn't just Sunday, it isn't the block plan, it isn't just 3 hours in church, it isn't just the time you spend in Seminary -- it's all the time, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year."
"An enterprising turkey gathered the flock together and, following instructions and demonstrations, taught them how to fly. All afternoon they enjoyed soaring and flying and the thrill of seeing new vistas. After the meeting, all of the turkeys walked home. -- It is not our understanding of the principles of the gospel that brings the blessings of heaven. But the living of them."
"The gospel might be likened to the keyboard of a piano-a full keyboard with a selection of keys on which one who is trained can play a variety without limits; a ballad to express love, a march to rally, a melody to soothe, and a hymn to inspire; an endless variety to suit every mood and satisfy every need. How shortsighted it is, then, to choose a single key and endlessly tap out the monotony of a single note, or even two or three notes, when the full keyboard of limitless harmony can be played."
"We are all in this together. Every man, woman and child who belongs to this Church is a part of this movement. Every man and woman has a responsibility just as serious in terms of their responsibility as is mine in terms of my responsibility to move this work forward. Now, let us go to it, roll up our sleeves and work and accomplish it and become as a city set upon a hill whose light cannot be hid from this world."
"The gospel as restored by Joseph Smith is either true or it is not. To receive all of the promised blessings we must accept the gospel in faith and in full. However, this certain faith does not usually come all at once. We learn spiritually line upon line and precept upon precept."
"People are reaching out in all directions in their attempt to escape from the seen world to the unseen world. There is a deep desire for spiritual moorings - a hunger for God."
"Under the sacred and compelling trust we have as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, ours is a work of redemption, of lifting and saving those who need help. Ours is a task of raising the sights of those of our people who fail to realize the great potential that lies within them."
Topic: D&C 18:10, 15-16
"This is our first interest as a church-to save and exalt the souls of the children of men. There is no richer program anywhere in the world than we have in the Church today for the building of men and women and providing the answers to the problems that face parents, families, and individuals. It is a program that is needed today as never before."
President Charles W. Penrose declared at a general conference memorializing the death of President Joseph F. Smith:
"Why waste your time, your talents, your means, your influence in following something that will perish and pass away, when you could devote yourselves to a thing that will stand forever? For this Church and kingdom, to which you belong, will abide and continue in time, in eternity, while endless ages roll along, and you with it will become mightier and more powerful; while the things of this world will pass away and perish, and will not abide in nor after the resurrection, saith the Lord our God.
"Under the sacred and compelling trust we have as members of the Church of Jesus Christ, ours is a work of redemption, of lifting and saving those who need help. Ours is a task of raising the sights of those of our people who fail to realize the great potential that lies within them. Ours is the responsibility of building self-reliance, of encouraging and cultivating happy homes where fathers and mothers love and respect one another and children grow in an atmosphere of peace and affection and appreciation."