President Gordon B. Hinckley
If we are to [be] an ensign to the nations and a light to the world,
we must take on more of the luster of the life of Christ.
My beloved brethren and sisters, I wish to acknowledge my
gratitude for your sustaining faith and prayers. The Lord has
imposed upon the leadership of this Church a great and serious
trust, and you have supported us in that responsibility. We know
that you pray for us, and we wish you to know that we pray for
you.
Not a day passes that I do not thank the Lord for faithful Latter-day
Saints. No day passes that I do not pray that He will bless you
wherever you are and whatever your needs.
I wish to remind you that we are all in this together. It is not a
matter of the General Authorities on one hand and the membership
of the Church on the other. We are all working as one in a great
cause. We are all members of the Church of Jesus Christ.
Within your sphere of responsibility you have as serious an
obligation as do I within my sphere of responsibility. Each of us
should be determined to build the kingdom of God on the earth and
to further the work of righteousness.
I think I can honestly say that we have no selfish desires with
reference to this work other than that it succeed.
We of the First Presidency are constantly dealing with a great
variety of problems. They come before us every day.
At the close of one particularly difficult day,
I looked up at a
portrait of Brigham Young that hangs on my wall. I asked, "Brother Brigham, what should we do?" I thought I saw him smile
a little, and then he seemed to say: "In my day, I had problems
enough of my own. Don't ask me what to do. This is your watch.
Ask the Lord, whose work this really is." And this, I assure you, is
what we do and must always do.
As I reflected on these matters that recent difficult day, I opened
my Bible to the first chapter of Joshua and read these words:
"Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be
not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with
thee" (Joshua 1:9).
I said to myself: "There is never reason to despair.
This is the work of God. Notwithstanding the efforts of all who oppose it,
it will go
forward as the God of heaven has designed it should do."
I turned the pages of the Old Testament to the second chapter of
Isaiah and read these words:
"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that
the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains,
and
shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.
"And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to
the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he
will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of
Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from
Jerusalem" (Isaiah 2:2–3).
Ever since the Salt Lake Temple was dedicated,
we have
interpreted that scripture from Isaiah, repeated again in Micah (see
Micah 4:1–2), as applying to this sacred house of the Lord. And of
this place, since the day of its dedication, an ever-increasing
number from across the world have said in effect, "Come ye, and
let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of
Jacob, that He might teach us of His ways, that we might walk in
His paths."
I believe and testify that it is the mission of this Church to stand as
an ensign to the nations and a light to the world. We have had
placed upon us a great, all-encompassing mandate from which we
cannot shrink nor turn aside. We accept that mandate and are
determined to fulfill it, and with the help of God we shall do it.
There are forces all around us that would deter us from that effort.
The world is constantly crowding in on us. From all sides we feel
the pressure to soften our stance, to give in here a little and there a
little.
We must never lose sight of our objective. We must ever keep
before us the goal which the Lord has set for us.
To quote Paul:
"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and
in the power of
his might.
"Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be
able to stand
against the wiles of the devil.
"For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of
this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Ephesians
6:10–12).
We must stand firm. We must hold back the world. If we do so, the
Almighty will be our strength and our protector, our guide and our
revelator. We shall have the comfort of knowing that we are doing
what He would have us do. Others may not agree with us, but I am
confident that they will respect us. We will not be left alone. There
are many not of our faith but who feel as we do. They will support
us. They will sustain us in our efforts.
We cannot be arrogant. We cannot be self-righteous. The very
situation in which the Lord has placed us requires that we be
humble as the beneficiaries of His direction.
While we cannot agree with others on certain matters, we must
never be disagreeable. We must be friendly, soft-spoken,
neighborly, and understanding.
Now I emphasize a theme already treated in this conference. To
our young people, the glorious youth of this generation, I say, be
true. Hold to the faith. Stand firmly for what you know to be right.
You face tremendous temptation. It comes at you
in the halls of popular entertainment, on the Internet, in the movies, on
television,
in cheap literature, and in other ways—subtle, titillating, and
difficult to resist. Peer pressure may be almost overpowering. But,
my dear young friends, you must not give in. You must be strong.
You must take the long look ahead rather than succumbing to the
present seductive temptation.
Uncouth-looking entertainers draw big crowds of our youth. They
grow rich from high admission prices. Their songs, so many of
them, are suggestive in nature.
Pornography is everywhere with its seductive invitation.
You must
turn away from it. It can enslave you. It can destroy you.
Recognize it for what it is—tawdry and sleazy stuff created and
distributed by those who grow rich at the expense of those who see
it.
The sanctity of sex is utterly destroyed in its salacious portrayal in
the media. That which by its nature is inherently beautiful is
corrupted in its popular presentation. I was pleased to note that our
Church-owned television station here in Salt Lake City refused to
carry a network program of a salacious nature. It was also
interesting to note that the only other station belonging to this
network to cancel the broadcast was one in South Bend, Indiana,
the location of the University of Notre Dame. It is comforting to
know that there are others who feel as strongly as we feel and are
willing to do something about it.
Life is better than that which is so frequently portrayed. Nature is
better than that. Love is better than that. This kind of entertainment
is only an evil caricature of the good and the beautiful.
You young men and women who are hearing me today, you
university students on many campuses realize that one of the great
problems on these campuses is binge drinking. It diminishes
abilities. It destroys lives. It wastes money and time and
constructive effort. What a sorry sight it is to see bright young
people damage themselves and ruin their opportunities with
excessive drinking.
It was a great tribute to the students of Brigham Young University
when the Princeton Review found them to be the most "stone-cold
sober" student body in America. Most of you, of course, cannot
attend BYU, but wherever you are you can live by the same
standards required on the BYU campus.
I recently read in our New Era magazine
an article on young Latter-day Saints in Memphis, Tennessee. In some instances,
they
are the only Latter-day Saints on campus. One of them is quoted as
saying, "I may be the only member in my school, but . . . even
when I'm physically alone, I'm never spiritually alone" (in Arianne
B. Cope, "Smiling
in Memphis," New Era, Oct. 2003, 23–24).
Another is quoted: "I know a lot of teens wonder if they really
know if the gospel is true. But . . . here you have to know one way
or the other because people are asking you about it every day.
Every time you answer a question, you share your testimony" (New
Era, Oct. 2003, 25).
These young people, scattered through that big city, have learned
to stand together, to bolster one another.
God bless you, my dear young friends. You are the best generation
we have ever had. You know the gospel better. You are more
faithful in your duties. You are stronger to face the temptations
which come your way. Live by your standards. Pray for the
guidance and protection of the Lord. He will never leave you
alone. He will comfort you. He will sustain you. He will bless and
magnify you and make your reward sweet and beautiful. And you
will discover that your example will attract others who will take
courage from your strength.
As it is with the youth, so it is with you adults. If we are to hold up
this Church as an ensign to the nations and a light to the world, we
must take on more of the luster of the life of Christ individually
and in our own personal circumstances. In standing for the right,
we must not be fearful of the consequences. We must never be
afraid. Said Paul to Timothy:
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear;
but of power, and of
love, and of a sound mind.
"Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord" (2
Timothy 1:7–8).
This Church, I submit, is far more than a social organization where
we gather together to enjoy one another's company. It is more than
Sunday School and Relief Society and priesthood meeting. It is
more than sacrament meeting, more even than temple service. It is
the kingdom of God in the earth. It behooves us to act in a manner
befitting membership in that kingdom.
You men who hold the priesthood have such a tremendous
responsibility. You must avoid the sultry siren voice of the world.
You must rise above it. You must stand in the stature of the
priesthood of God. You must eschew evil in all of its forms and
take on the nature of goodness and decency, letting the light, the
divine light, shine through your actions.
There is no way that a home can be a place of refuge
and peace if
the man who resides there is not an understanding and helpful
husband and father. The strength to be gained from our homes will
make us better able to face the world, more acceptable to the
society in which we move, more valuable to those who employ us—better men.
I know many such men. It is evident that they love their wives and
their children. They are proud of them. And the marvelous thing is,
they are tremendously successful in their chosen professions. They
are magnified and honored and respected.
And to you women. I spoke at length to the women of the Relief
Society a week ago. That talk represented my heartfelt views
concerning you. You too can take on the luster of Christ. You too
can be strong and encouraging and beautiful and helpful.
I remind all of us that we are Latter-day Saints. We have made
covenants with our Heavenly Father, sacred and binding. Those
covenants, if we keep them, will make us better fathers and
mothers, better sons and daughters.
I believe that others will rally around us if we will do so. We can
stand for truth and goodness, and we will not stand alone.
Moreover, we shall have the unseen forces of heaven to assist us.
I take you back to the Old Testament:
"And when the servant of the man of God was risen
early, and
gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses
and chariots. And his servant said unto him, Alas, my master! how
shall we do?
"And he answered, Fear not: for they that be with
us are more than
they that be with them.
"And Elisha prayed, and said, Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that
he may see. And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and
he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots
of fire round about Elisha" (2
Kings 6:15–17).
The Lord has said to us:
"Therefore, fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell
combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot
prevail. . . .
"Look unto me in every thought; doubt not, fear not" (D&C
6:34,
36). In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
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