I have sometimes thought that President Packer gave his talks impromptu (like Elder Haight did in his later years) but he is clearly reading a prepared text this time.
I wonder how his ministry is limited since he lost his mobility. I’m sure he still does great things because he still possesses the gifts of revelation and seership but it is verily constrained more than it used to be.
“Righteousness is more powerful than wickedness.”
The balancing factor is that wickedness is more widespread than righteousness.
“Repentance is personal; so is forgiveness.”
A short time ago, I sealed a young couple in the temple. This couple had kept themselves worthy to arrive at the marvelous day when a son and a daughter leave the homes of their youth and become husband and wife. On this sacred occasion, they were pure and clean. In due course, they will begin to raise children of their own, consistent with the pattern established by our Father in Heaven. Their happiness, and the happiness of future generations, depends upon living those standards established by the Savior and set forth in His scriptures.
Parents today wonder if there is a safe place to raise children. There is a safe place. It is in a gospel-centered home.
Nothing else can substitute for a gospel-centered home in providing a safe place to raise children.
The descriptions Paul and Moroni give of our day are so accurate that they cannot be dismissed. For many it may be quite disturbing, even discouraging. Nevertheless, when I think of the future, I am overwhelmed with feelings of positive optimism.
In Paul’s revelation, in addition to the list of challenges and problems, he also tells us what we can do to protect ourselves:
“Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them;
“And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.”
The scriptures hold the keys to spiritual protection. They contain the doctrine and laws and ordinances that will bring each child of God to a testimony of Jesus Christ as the Savior and Redeemer.
Years ago, Elder S. Dilworth Young of the Seventy taught me a lesson about reading the scriptures. A stake was struggling with tensions and difficulties among the members, and counsel needed to be given.
I asked President Young, “What should I say?”
He answered simply, “Tell them to read the scriptures.”
I asked, “Which scriptures?”
He said, “It really doesn’t matter. Tell them to open up the Book of Mormon, for instance, and begin to read. Soon the feeling of peace and inspiration will come, and a solution will present itself.”
I love that counsel. If we will turn to the scriptures in meekness during times of trouble the Spirit will come into our minds and direct us to answers within the scriptures out outside them.
Children taught an understanding of the scriptures early in life will come to know the path they should walk and will be more inclined to remain on that path. Those who stray will have the ability to return and, with help, can find their way back.
The sons of Mosiah fought against the Church for a time but later repented and underwent a dramatic change. In Alma we read, “These sons of Mosiah … had waxed strong in the knowledge of the truth; for they were men of a sound understanding and they had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God.”
I had never connected the timidity that Joseph F. Smith had been experiencing as a young missionary when he had the “you are late,” “yes, but I am clean” dream. That must have given him great confidence.
Just as chalk can be removed from a blackboard, with sincere repentance the effects of our transgression can be erased through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. That promise applies in every case.
The gospel teaches us to be happy, to have faith rather than fear, to find hope and overcome despair, to leave darkness and turn toward the light of the everlasting gospel.
Paul and others warned about the trials of our time and the days yet to come. But peace can be settled in the heart of each who turns to the scriptures and unlocks the promises of protection and redemption that are taught therein. We invite all to turn to the Savior Jesus Christ, to His teachings as found in the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price.
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