Cleansing the Inner Vessel

The Proclamation on the Family meets the definition for revelation and Latter-day Saints should study and follow it.

The power of procreation is not incidental to the plan, it is central to the plan of happiness.

The priesthood has the power to break habits and shatter addictions and it should be used.

There are both moral and physical laws irrevocably decreed in heaven that cannot be changed by battle or ballot.

If we do not protect the family civilization and our liberties must perish.

The best way to leave behind sins such as pornography is to ignore and avoid it.

President Packer immediately starts off talking about priesthood keys.

In the spoken talk President Packer states that the proclamation on the family meets the definition of revelation but he omits that in the written version.

. . . our agency is more powerful than the adversary’s will. Agency is precious. We can foolishly, blindly give it away, but it cannot be forcibly taken from us.

This power {of procreation} is not an incidental part of the plan of happiness. It is the key – the very key. Whether we use this power as the eternal laws require or reject its divine purpose will forever determine what we will become.

Pure love presupposes that only after a pledge of eternal fidelity, a legal and a lawful ceremony, and ideally after the sealing ordinance in the temple, are those life-giving powers released for the full expression of love.

In our day the dreadful influence of pornography is like unto a plague sweeping across the world, infecting one here and one there, relentlessly trying to invade every home, most frequently through the husband and father. The effect of this plague can be, unfortunately often is, spiritually fatal. . . .

Pornography will always repel the Spirit of Christ and will interrupt the communications between our Heavenly Father and His children and disrupt the tender relationship between husband and wife.

The priesthood holds consummate power. It can protect you from the plague of pornography – and it is a plague – if you are succumbing to its influence. If one is obedient, the priesthood can show how to break a habit and even erase an addiction. Holders of the priesthood have that authority and should employ it to combat evil influences. The statement that the priesthood can erase an addiction struck me powerfully as directly refuting the idea that once a pornographic image is exposed to the brain it is permanently accessible. Of course such images stick but the Atonement can erase them from our memory if we will turn to the Lord and seek His intervention and fill our minds with images of purity while rejecting further impure images which reinforce whatever pornography we have been exposed to (whether by choice or by accident).

Some suppose that they were preset and cannot overcome what they feel are inborn temptations toward the impure and unnatural. Not so! Remember, God is our Heavenly Father.

You may laugh at this story (voting to determine the gender of a kitten), but if we are not alert, there are those today who not only tolerate but advocate voting to change laws that would legalize immorality, as if a vote would somehow alter the designs of God’s laws and nature. A law against nature would be impossible to enforce. For instance, what good would a vote against the law of gravity do?

There are both moral and physical laws irrevocably decreed in heaven before the foundations of this world that cannot be changed. History demonstrates over and over again that moral standards cannot be changed by battle and cannot be changed by ballot. To legalize that which is basically wrong or evil will not prevent the pain and penalties that will follow as surely as night follows day.

Regardless of the opposition, we are determined to stay on course. We will hold to the principles and laws and ordinances of the gospel. If they are misunderstood either innocently or willfully, so be it. We cannot change; we will not change the moral standard. We quickly lose our way when we disobey the laws of God. If we do not protect and foster the family, civilization and our liberties must needs perish.

Every soul confined in a prison of sin, guilt, or perversion has a key to the gate. The key is labeled “repentance.” If you know how to use this key, the adversary cannot hold you. The twin principles of repentance and forgiveness exceed in strength the awesome power of the tempter. If you are bound by a habit or an addiction that is unworthy, you must stop conduct that is harmful. Angels will coach you, and priesthood leaders will guide you through those difficult times.

Nowhere are the generosity and the kindness and mercy of God more manifest than in repentance. Do you understand the consummate cleansing power of the Atonement made by the Son of God, our Savior, our Redeemer? He said, “I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent.” In that supernal act of love, the Savior paid the penalties for our sins so that we might not have to pay.

For those who truly desire it, there is a way back. Repentance is like unto a detergent. Even ground-in stains of sin will come out.

Priesthood holders carry with them the antidote to remove the terrible images of pornography and to wash away guilt. The priesthood has the power to unlock the influence of our habits, even to unchain from addiction, however tight the grip. It can heal over the scars of past mistakes. This is the second “is like unto” that he uses and he now explicitly states that the priesthood has the power to remove pornographic images.

Strangely enough, it may be that the simplest and most powerful prevention and cure for pornography, or any unclean act, is to ignore and avoid it. Delete from the mind any unworthy thought that tries to take root. Once you have decided to remain clean, you are asserting your God-given agency. And then, as President Smith counseled, “Don’t look back.”

It is either their guilt or their self-centeredness that made gay activists pounce on this talk. While President Packer bluntly mentioned homosexuality and refuted the idea of voting to change the definition of marriage this talk was clearly centered on pornography. The lesson for those who will thou listen includes recognizing that homosexuality can bloom as a result of pornography.