“There is a natural aristocracy among men.  The grounds of this are virtue and talents...There is also an artificial aristocracy, founded on wealth and birth, without either virtue or talents.”

         Book:  The Life and Selected Writings of Thomas Jefferson,  Quoted in BYU Speeches, 1994-95, p. 113

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President David O. McKay, speaking in the Oct. Gen. Conf. of 1949, said there would come a time

“when nobility of character (would) be recognized as being greater than intellect.”

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         “Our moral environment is far more polluted than our physical environment.  It seems as though good and evil are being homogenized out of existence by a generation largely led by ‘foolish and blind guides’ (Hel. 13:29).  What was once whispered in shame is now electronically shouted from the housetops as the famous and the foolish appear on television to parade their sins, like so many medals, before laughing, applauding audiences.  Every aspect of modern communication seems to have been appropriated by Satan to legitimize the everlastingly illegitimate.  It is imperative that Latter-day Saints view these times from a gospel perspective and follow the counsel of our prophet by taking warning from the teachings—and the fate—of an earlier generation of Americans, the Nephites.”

 Rodney Turner,  4th Annual Book of Mormon Symposium—BYU.
 Quoted in Speeches 1994-95, p. 115.

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There are ways to protect ourselves.  Bruce Hafen asked the following question:

         “Have we really comprehended how the devil operates?  Lehi’s vision of the great and spacious building, for example, tells us graphically that the one main weapon used by the wicked is mocking and derision....When you know your opponent’s play book, it’s a lot easier to plan your defense.”

 BYU Today,  Sept. 1988,  p. 22
 Quoted in Speeches 1994-95, p. 116

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President Ezra Taft Benson gave us great insight  when he told us that  “the Book of Mormon was written for us today”  (CR, April 1975, p. 94).

 Each time you read the Book of Mormon, why don’t you say to yourself,   “Why did the Lord have Mormon put that particular information in the book?”

 --L. Alden Porter—
  Speeches 1994-95, p. 116

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         “The wicked heap scorn when they have no other weapons to use—and too often the righteous run for cover—especially if the mocker can run fast or jump high or sing well or has high-profile degrees or a great deal of money, even if each or all have nothing to do with the subject at hand.”

L. Aldin Porter
BYU Speeches, 1994-95, p. 117

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         “The Lord has placed prophets in the land.  They speak the truth.  On whatever subject the prophets choose to speak,  LISTEN.

        "Listen with your ears, with your minds, and with your hearts.  Do not analyze their mortal preparation to speak upon the subject.  That’s not where their strength comes from.  It is the power of God coupled with his call to them that qualifies them to speak—on any subject.  The united voice of the First Presidency and the Twelve will never, never, never lead  us astray.”

L. Aldin Porter
BYU  Speeches, 1994-95, p. 118

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        “Follow the prophets as they lead us in God’s plan of happiness!  In the process expect the scorn of the world.  Decide in advance how you are going to handle it, for it most surely will come.  Now, beware of those whom the world loves and showers with fame and fortune.  They are often unreliable guides in your quest for virtue.”

L. Aldin Porter
BYU Speeches, 1994-95, 119

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         “You see, we don’t proselyte in this Church just to make the Church larger.  We proselyte to make the person larger—more whole, more complete, more certain in the knowledge that there are eternal things.  We bring the power of the atoning blood of Jesus Christ through the ordinances so that eternal blessings can come and also that ‘there might not be more sorrow upon all the face of the earth.’  We err when we count this Church’s progress through numbers only.”

L. Aldin Porter
BYU Speeches, 1994-95, p. 119

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Brigham Young:

         “You that have not passed through the trials, and persecutions, and drivings, with this people, from the beginning, but have only read of them, or heard some of them related, may think how awful they were to endure, and wonder that the Saints survived them at all.  The thought of it makes your hearts sink within you, your brains reel, and your bodies tremble, and you are ready to exclaim,  ‘I could not have endured it.’

        "I have  been in the heat of it, and I never felt better in all my life; I never felt the peace and power of the Almighty more copiously poured upon me than in the keenest part of our trials.  They appeared (as) nothing to me.”

J.D. 1:313
Quoted  in  BYU Speeches, 1994-95, p. 120

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