I hope you enjoy this second installment of quotes from my studies of the General Conference Archives (If you want to read prior installments click HERE). For the first installment and an explanation of the Conference Archives see “55+ Powerful Quotes From My Study of the Oct. 1970 General Conference” To read this conference report PDF from the Church History Catalog click HERE, for the Archive.org PDF (with speech-to-text, click here) I hope you enjoy these quotes from my studies. But more than enjoy them, I hope they serve as a starting point for your own study of the Apr. 1969 General Conference! Use the page number and the above links to access the full talks.
An important note about the April 1970 General Conference, the longtime prophet, David O. McKay had just passed away it was also the Solemn Assembly where Joseph Fielding Smith was sustained as the prophet. He served as the prophet for just 2.5 years before passing away in 1972 after 62 years of service as an apostle. With that introduction, and without further ado, here are the quotes from my studies:
40+ Stirring Quotes From My Study of the Apr. 1970 General Conference Archives:
“If all men knew and understood who they are, and were aware of the divine source from whence they came, and of the infinite potential that is part of their inheritance, they would have feelings of kindness and kinship for each other that would change their whole way of living and bring peace on earth.”
Joseph Fielding Smith
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 4
“We believe in the dignity and divine origin of man. Our faith is founded on the fact that God is our Father, and that we are his children, and that all men are brothers and sisters in the same eternal family.”
Joseph Fielding Smith
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 4
“Because God is our Father, we have a natural desire to love and serve him and to be worthy members of his family. We feel an obligation to do what he would have us do, to keep his commandments and live in harmony with the standards of his gospel—all of which are essential parts of true worship.”
Joseph Fielding Smith
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 4-5
“Everything we do in the Church centers around the divine law that we are to love and worship God and serve our fellowmen.”
Joseph Fielding Smith
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 5
“We have little sympathy, however, with the spirit of disruption and dissidence that is sometimes found on the campuses of the land. We urge our youth to avoid these displays of intemperate conduct and rather to be found on the side of law and order and circumspect action.”
Joseph Fielding Smith
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 5
“When a man has found God and understands his ways, he learns that nothing in the universe came by chance, but all things resulted from a divinely prearranged plan. What a rich meaning comes into his life!”
Howard W. Hunter
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 10
“Everything we have in the Church centers around celestial marriage.”
Bruce R. McConkie
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 27
“From the moment of birth into mortality to the time we are married in the temple, everything we have in the whole gospel system is to prepare and qualify us to enter that holy order of matrimony which makes us husband and wife in this life and in the world to come.”
Bruce R. McConkie
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 27
“From the moment we are sealed together by the power and authority of the holy priesthood—the power to bind on earth and have it sealed eternally in the heavens—from that moment everything connected with revealed religion is designed to help us keep the terms and conditions of our marriage covenant, so that this covenant will have efficacy, virtue, and force in the life to come.”
Bruce R. McConkie
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 27
“Celestial marriage is the crowning ordinance of the gospel, the crowning ordinance of the house of the Lord. Thus the family unit is the most important organization in time or in eternity.”
Bruce R. McConkie
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 27
“We should have more interest in and concern for our families than for anything else in life.”
Bruce R. McConkie
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 27
“Our courtship, schooling, and choice of friends; our employment, hobbies, and place of residence; our social life, the organizations we join, and the service we render mankind; and above all, our obedience or the lack of it to the standards of revealed truth—all these things should be decided on the basis of their effect on the family unit.”
Bruce R. McConkie
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 27
“There is nothing in this world as important as the creation and perfection of family units of the kind contemplated in the gospel of Jesus Christ.”
Bruce R. McConkie
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 27
“It is written that neither is the man without the woman nor the woman without the man in the Lord (1 Cor. 11:11) In the perfected church family it might also be said that neither are the parents without the children nor the children without the parents in the Lord’s type of family.”
Bruce R. McConkie
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 27
“The true gospel is family centered. Full salvation consists of the continuation of the family unit in celestial glory. Those for whom the family unit continues have eternal life; those for whom it does not continue do not have eternal life, for heaven itself is but the projection of a Latter-day Saint family into eternity.”
Bruce R. McConkie
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 27
“The term “elder,” which is applied to all holders of the Melchizedek Priesthood, means a defender of the faith. That is our prime responsibility and calling. Every holder of the Melchizedek Priesthood is to be a defender of the faith.”
Harold B. Lee
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 54
“It never ceases to amaze me how gullible some of our Church members are in broadcasting sensational stories, or dreams, or visions, or purported patriarchal blessings, or quotations, or supposedly from some person’s private diary.”
Harold B. Lee
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 55
“We are constantly saying to our people that safety is where the pure in heart are, and that there is just as much safety wherever you are, if you are living and keeping the commandments of God.”
Harold B. Lee
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 56
After telling every “Elder” in the Church that they should be a defender of the faith, Harold B. Lee declared: “I wish that we would understand these matters. And you brethren who are to safeguard the Church, I would wish that you would rise up in the power and dignity of your callings and put to flight some of these spurious things that are threatening to destroy the unity among our people”
Harold B. Lee
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 57
“I do not care what office you hold in the Church—you may be an apostle, you may be a patriarch, a high priest, or anything else—but you cannot receive the fulness of the priesthood and the fulness of eternal reward unless you receive the ordinances of the house of the Lord; and when you receive these ordinances, the door is then open so you can obtain all the blessings which any man can gain.”
Joseph Fielding Smith
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 58
“Do not think because someone has a higher office in the Church than you have that you are barred from receiving the fulness of the Lord’s blessings. You can have them sealed upon you as an elder, if you are faithful; and when you receive them, and live faithfully and keep these covenants, you then have all that any man can get.”
Joseph Fielding Smith
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 58
“The Lord offers to his daughters every spiritual gift and blessing that can be obtained by his sons, for neither is the man without the woman, nor the woman without the man in the Lord.”
Joseph Fielding Smith
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 59
“There is nothing in all this world as important to each of us as putting first in our lives the things of God’s kingdom, as keeping the commandments, as magnifying our callings in the priesthood, as going to the house of the Lord and being offered the fulness of the blessings of our Father’s kingdom.”
Joseph Fielding Smith
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 59
“Peace among men and nations will be the natural sequence when enough individuals have peace in their hearts.”
Marion G. Romney
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 67
“The key to peace, for individual men and for nations, is the knowledge of and faith in the true and living God. The only alternative to peace obtained in this manner is more contention and strife, which will eventually culminate in the destruction foretold by the prophets.”
Marion G. Romney
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 69
“Though it is true that the trend in the world today is toward lawlessness, rioting, and rebellion, we are sick and tired of having it played up so much both in conversation and in news media. We, with a positive approach, need to center our efforts on living and teaching the gospel, thereby eliminating the cause and improving conditions.”
President N. Eldon Tanner
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 61
“Too many young people are being taught concepts in school and elsewhere that do not harmonize with the teachings of the gospel of Christ. They are encouraged to find out for themselves, to try this and try that. This deviating approach permits looseness and uncontrolled appetites.”
Elder Delbert L. Stapley
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 75
“Why should men think it a thing incredible that God should speak to men? Has not that been his method throughout the ages? Do we not need him?”
Hugh B. Brown
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 80
“When the Lord reestablished this ancient pattern in our day, he gave a commandment to the members of the Church with respect to their President. Said he: ‘. . . thou shalt give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me.
“For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith.’ (D&C 21:4-5.)
In other words, the modern prophet became a mouthpiece for God, even as was Moses.
And then the Lord added one more thing. He said that if any receive his word with a doubtful heart and keepeth it with slothfulness, they shall have no reward. But to those who gladly follow the teachings of the modern prophet, the Almighty said: ‘. . . his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith. For by doing these things the gates of hell shall not prevail against you; yea, and the Lord God will disburse the powers of darkness from before you, and cause the heavens to shake for your good, and his name’s glory.’ (D&C 21:5-6.) This is why we Latter-day Saints have prophets.
Mark E. Petersen
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 84
“President Lee has said we don’t need more prophets to speak — we need more ears to listen.”
Elder A. Theodore Tuttle
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 85
“Unfortunately, there are those few teachers who delight to destroy faith, rather than build bridges to the good life. Ever must we remember that the power to lead is also the power to mislead, and the power to mislead is the power to destroy. In the words of President J. Reuben Clark, Jr.: “He wounds, maims, and cripples a soul who raises doubts about or destroys faith in the ultimate truths. God will hold such a one strictly accountable; and who can measure the depths to which one shall fall who willfully shatters in another the opportunity for celestial glory?”
Thomas S. Monson
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 98
Since we cannot control the classroom, we can at least prepare the pupil. You ask: “How?” I answer: “Provide a guide to the glory of the celestial kingdom of God; even a barometer to distinguish between the truths of God and the theories of men.”
Thomas S. Monson
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 98
“When you vote affirmatively you make a solemn covenant with the Lord that you will sustain, that is, give your full loyalty and support, without equivocation or reservation, to the officer for whom you vote.”
Harold B. Lee
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 102
“It is of utmost importance that we stimulate proper desires in our lives, by study, by teaching, by constant activity. John A. Widtsoe wisely said: ‘Righteous desire, backed by a ready will and honest prayer, works wonders in human lives. It reveals truth. It trains the will for righteousness. It leads to increasing accomplishment. It is protection amidst the temptations and storms of life… When such desire is coupled with obedience to law, the gates of heaven are thrown open to our high eternal destiny. As our desires are, so are we… A man’s desire should be his first concern, for no person can rise above his real desires. Neither can a nation rise above the assembled desires of the people… Of course, desires are of value only when they drive us to action. Will must accompany desire. Then high resolve is born. Desire is the design; will the execution of the design… When desire and will move together, in the right direction, we become strong and conquering.’ He said further: ‘Too many of us spend our hours wishing for heaven, when an active desire for simple earthly blessings might form rounds in the ladder to celestial glory.’
James A. Cullimore
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 95
“No power on earth or in hell can stop this work or thwart the purposes of the Lord to have his soul-satisfying gospel message go to his children. It may take war, commotion, disasters in many forms to bring it about. But the purposes of God will be achieved. His children will hear the gospel of salvation in his own due time.”
Ezra Taft Benson
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 128
“Every one is perfectly free to vote as he wishes. There is no compulsion whatsoever in this voting. When you vote affirmatively you make a solemn covenant with the Lord that you will sustain, that is, give your full loyalty and support, without equivocation or reservation, to the officer for whom you vote.”
President Harold B. Lee
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 103
“So, if we have a weakness, we should not despair; we shouldn’t neglect it, but we shouldn’t worry about it. Rightly understood, it merely points out where the Lord expects us to excel.”
Elder Hartman Rector, Jr.
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 141
“When you have resisted a temptation until it no longer becomes a temptation, then to that extent, Satan has lost his power over you, and as long as you do not yield to him, to that degree he is bound.”
Eldred G. Smith
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 142
“If you have learned to pay tithing until it is no burden or no real temptation anymore, then to that extent you have bound Satan. The same is true in keeping the Word of Wisdom or living the laws of chastity, or the other laws of the gospel. Satan becomes powerless to you in that field.”
Eldred G. Smith
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 142
“Step by step, you may bind Satan now; you don’t have to wait for the millennial reign.”
Eldred G. Smith
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 142
“No honest person believing in the holy scriptures could look to find God’s eternal truth upon the earth without a prophet at its head, because we have no record that he has ever had a church or a movement without a prophet.”
LeGrand Richards
CR, Apr. 1970, pp. 146
If you liked these quotes from the Apr. 1970 General Conference, you might also enjoy these quotes or full talks!
