Living in the Fulness of Times

Gordon B. Hinckley, “Living in the Fulness of Times,” Ensign, Nov 2001, 4

We have seen only the foreshadowing of the mighty force for good that this Church will become. And yet I marvel at what has been accomplished.

Our membership has grown. I believe it has grown in faithfulness. We lose too many, but the faithful are so strong. Those who observe us say that we are moving into the mainstream of religion. We are not changing. The world’s perception of us is changing. We teach the same doctrine. We have the same organization. We labor to perform the same good works. But the old hatred is disappearing, the old persecution is dying. People are better informed. They are coming to realize what we stand for and what we do.

But wonderful as this time is, it is fraught with peril. Evil is all about us. It is attractive and tempting and in so many cases successful. Paul declared:

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

“For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

“Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

“Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

“Having a form of godliness; but denying the power thereof: from such turn away” (2 Tim. 3:1–5).

We see today all of these evils, more commonly and generally, than they have ever been seen before, as we have so recently been reminded by what has occurred in New York City, Washington, and Pennsylvania, of which I shall speak tomorrow morning. We live in a season when fierce men do terrible and despicable things. We live in a season of war. We live in a season of arrogance. We live in a season of wickedness, pornography, immorality. All of the sins of Sodom and Gomorrah haunt our society. Our young people have never faced a greater challenge. We have never seen more clearly the lecherous face of evil.

And so, my brothers and sisters, we are met together in this great conference to fortify and strengthen one another, to help and lift one another, to give encouragement and build faith, to reflect on the wonderful things the Lord has made available to us, and to strengthen our resolve to oppose evil in whatever form it may take.

We have become as a great army. We are now a people of consequence. Our voice is heard when we speak up. We have demonstrated our strength in meeting adversity. Our strength is our faith in the Almighty. No cause under the heavens can stop the work of God. Adversity may raise its ugly head. The world may be troubled with wars and rumors of wars, but this cause will go forward.

You are familiar with these great words written by the Prophet Joseph: “No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done” (History of the Church, 4:540).

The Lord has given us the goal toward which we work. That goal is to build His kingdom, which is a mighty cause of great numbers of men and women of faith, of integrity, of love and concern for mankind, marching forward to create a better society, bringing blessings upon ourselves and upon the heads of others.

As we recognize our place and our goal, we cannot become arrogant. We cannot become self-righteous. We cannot become smug or egotistical. We must reach out to all mankind. They are all sons and daughters of God our Eternal Father, and He will hold us accountable for what we do concerning them. May the Lord bless us. May He make us strong and mighty in good works. May our faith shine forth as the sunlight of the morning. May we walk in obedience to His divine commandments. May He smile with favor upon us. And as we go forward, may we bless humanity with an outreach to all, lifting those who are downtrodden and oppressed, feeding and clothing the hungry and the needy, extending love and neighborliness to those about us who may not be part of this Church. The Lord has shown us the way. He has given us His word, His counsel, His guidance, yea, His commandments. We have done well. We have much to be grateful for and much to be proud of. But we can do better, so much better.

Freedom Calls for Repentance

I love Glenn Beck. He digs up a lot of truth about people and government and where we are today. I do not think he is the only voice for freedom, but is blessed with a very large and high profile stage to proclaim what he thinks is important. So far I have seen him add humor to some tragic stories of decadence and corruption. I can see what is going on (I already was seeing but had little confirmation from such high profile media), and I can see hope as he does not proclaim "woe is me" or any such hopeless message.

There is hope and we all have a guide book in the scriptures on how to correct any human error with repentance. The Bible certainly has some guidance to repentance, but the Book of Mormon shows us in context of a corrupt government how to correct things best. I also find gems of gospel teachings from the Founding Fathers, and include a quote Glenn gave on TV by Samuel Adams.

Revelations 2: 5, 16
5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.
• • •
16 Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.

3 Ne. 7: 16, 23-26
16 Therefore, being agrieved for the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their minds—went forth among them in that same year, and began to testify, boldly, repentance and remission of sins through faith on the Lord Jesus Christ.
• • •
23 Thus passed away the *thirty and second year also. And Nephi did cry unto the people in the commencement of the thirty and third year; and he did preach unto them repentance and remission of sins.
24 Now I would have you to remember also, that there were none who were brought unto repentance who were not baptized with water.
25 Therefore, there were ordained of Nephi, men unto this ministry, that all such as should come unto them should be baptized with water, and this as a witness and a testimony before God, and unto the people, that they had repented and received a remission of their sins.
26 And there were many in the commencement of this year that were baptized unto repentance; and thus the more part of the year did pass away

Samuel Adams "Is it not high time for the people of this country explicity to declare, whether they will be free men or slaves? It is an important question which ought to be decided. It concerns us more than anything in this life. The salvation of our souls is interested in the event. For wherever tyranny is established, immoralityof every kind comes in like a torrent. It is in the interest of tyrants to reduce the people to ignorance and vice. For they cannot live in any country where virtue and knowledge prevail. The religion and public liberty of a people are intimately connected; their interests are interwoven, they cannot subsist separately; and therefore they rise and fall together. For this reason, it is always observable, that those who are combined to destroy the peoples liberties, practice every art to poison their morals. How greatly does it concern us, at all events, to put a stop to the progress of tyranny."

Is the President a better Golfer than Leader

President Barack Obama has only been in office for just over nine months, but he's already hit the links as much as President Bush did in over two years.

CBS' Mark Knoller — an unofficial documentarian and statistician of all things White House-related — wrote on his Twitter feed that, "Today - Obama ties Pres. Bush in the number of rounds of golf played in office: 24.

Took Bush 2 yrs & 10 months."

This news comes on the heels of today's news that Obama played golf with a woman — chief domestic policy adviser Melody Barnes — for the first time since taking office. President Obama has already hit the links as much as President Bush did in over two years.

President Barack Hussein Obama is an uncertain military leader. He is a failure as a representative of the America our Founding Fathers developed for him to have a free country to lead. He is a bully and mafia style leader, in a position that calls for dignity and grace as well as obedience to principles given by God to all men. No the President definitely fits the shallow level of a sports personality except that he fails there in my estimate. I want a sports figure with more integrity and principles than he has to inspire me and my family. Ezra Taft Benson said, in "Our Duty as Citizens" "...because character is the one thing we make in this world and take with us into the next. It must never be sacrificed for expediency." Our President does anything expedient to get to his goals and they are generally not the ones we are led to believe he is following.

A Communist Agenda

I am embarrassed by a President and his administration that have such a transparent and evil agenda. Freedom of press, speech, to bear arms, to own property, and most if not all of our liberties are being trashed as is the US Constitution by the power brokers of Washington DC. Our troops are being sacrificed as a reluctant and unsure POTUS fails to be responsible to his first and sacred duty of defending America and supporting the troops he has sent to war. Is it really our place to force anybody to be governed as we say they should? We should get out of other peoples business or at least fight a war to end the fighting not a perpetual conflict as a police action. America will suffer the same with other nations troops telling us what to do soon. That appears to be the treasonous plan of the current administration. What do you expect when we are in debt to our enemies and our convoluted alliances are not at all reasonable? You better do your job Mr President and quit posturing and crying about Fox News who does have your number and is reporting about your Communist agenda.

Beware of Pride

The antidote for pride is humility—meekness, submissiveness. (See Alma 7:23.) It is the broken heart and contrite spirit. (See 3 Ne. 9:20; 3 Ne. 12:19; D&C 20:37; D&C 59:8; Ps. 34:18; Isa. 57:15; Isa. 66:2.) As Rudyard Kipling put it so well:

The tumult and the shouting dies;
The captains and the kings depart.
Still stands thine ancient sacrifice,
An humble and a contrite heart.
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet,
Lest we forget, lest we forget.
(Hymns, 1985, no. 80.)

God will have a humble people. Either we can choose to be humble or we can be compelled to be humble. Alma said, “Blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble.” (Alma 32:16.)

Beware of Pride, an Ensign Article
by President Ezra Taft Benson

Cleansing the Inner Vessel

This is a wonderful example of a Prophet's call to repentance. I have taken this call personally and for my family and at Church, and I believe that it fits our nation and it's current desperate need to be better than we are. We are a decadent and proud nation. The humble people of this world want to be pure and close to God. America needs to take it's place as a leader back to righteousness and a purity that allows a closeness and guidance that comes from God. The Gospel is pure and simple and is understandable by most people today. The Holy Spirit will guide us, but will not stay in a dirty vessel.

"As I have sought direction from the Lord, I have had reaffirmed in my mind and heart the declaration of the Lord to “say nothing but repentance unto this generation.” (D&C 6:9; D&C 11:9.) This has been a theme of every latter-day prophet, along with their testimony that Jesus is the Christ and that Joseph Smith is a prophet of God."

"Repentance was the cry of our late and great prophet, Spencer W. Kimball. This theme permeated his talks and the pages of his writings, such as his marvelous book The Miracle of Forgiveness. And it must be our cry today, both to member and to nonmember alike—repent."

"Watchmen—what of the night? We must respond by saying that all is not well in Zion. As Moroni counseled, we must cleanse the inner vessel (see Alma 60:23), beginning first with ourselves, then with our families, and finally with the Church."

"A prophet of God stated, “Ye shall clear away the bad according as the good shall grow … until the good shall overcome the bad.” (Jacob 5:66.) It takes a Zion people to make a Zion society, and we must prepare for that."...............

"With pride, there are many curses. With humility, there come many blessings. For example, “Be thou humble; and the Lord thy God shall lead thee by the hand, and give thee answer to thy prayers.” (D&C 112:10.) The humble will “be made strong, and blessed from on high, and receive knowledge.” (D&C 1:28.) The Lord is “merciful unto those who confess their sins with humble hearts.” (D&C 61:2.) Humility can turn away God’s anger. (See Hel. 11:11.)"

Cleansing the Inner Vessel, an Ensign Article
by President Ezra Taft Benson