The lamps then make patterns of joy on the hillside, and the procession moves on toward the house of banqueting, and those without lamps or oil are left in darkness. O that we had repented before this great and terrible day, and then would our brethren have been spared . And there are many among us who are not ready for the great and glorious event. David was the youngest son of eight. O that men would listen! Later, Kimball became Mormonism's twelfth president. But had I been wiser then, I would have realized that we were taming ourselves, too. 26:14-43. Unfortunately for me, I am in the hospital here in Salt Lake City and will not be present with you in person, but I will be with you in spirit. . There is a cure for the earths illness, an infallible one. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain Ex. They suffered the fulfillment of every dire prophecy. While he was president, he dedicated twenty-one temples, including the Washington, D.C. Temple. Can they not see that their kind of fulfillment will produce a hollowness and an emptiness from which no fleeting pleasure can finally rescue them? On occasions when you ache for that acceptance and affection which belong to family life on earth, please know that our Father in Heaven is aware of your anguish, and that one day he will bless you beyond your capacity to express. The great powers warn and threaten. Hundreds of thousands of us today are in this position. From what other source can you learn about your own uniqueness and identity? It is the parable of the Ten Virgins, a powerful warning to all men. With such innumerable blessings as are available to godly people of this land, how can any sane one continue in his careless patterns of life? Spencer W. Kimball began work as a bank clerk, then moved on to the life insurance and real estate industries. The Redeemer stated further: Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. . This past month I have received hundreds and hundreds of birthday cards. The kind of oil that is needed to illuminate the way and light up the darkness is not shareable. We have confidence in you. We have been commanded to follow the signs of the times and that is all the warning we need or will be given, but the membership is asleep. In addition to those basic and vital skills which go with homemaking, there are other skills which can be appropriately cultivated and which will increase your effectiveness in the home, in the Church, and in the community. Numerous mothers prefer the added luxuries of two incomes to the satisfactions of seeing children grow up in the fear of God Deut. Instead of disciplining ourselves, we yield to urges and carnal desires. The physicians have had summit consultations, and temporary salve has been rubbed on afflicted parts, but it has only postponed the fatal day and never cured it. Would he ever come? Your strength will be spent in vain as you plow and plant and cultivate. 59-61). We understand further that as families are raised, the talents God has given you and blessed you with can often be put to effective use in additional service to mankind. But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. For many years, this book has been widely read by the membership and even recommended at general conferences. With no further adieu, from the General Conference Archives here is Spencer W. Kimballs full Oct. 1961 address (minus the first paragraph that was simply a greeting): Our world is in turmoil. I beg of you to listen and act, in the name of Jesus Christ. . This is substantially better than the average, but we are chagrined that there should be any divorce following a temple . How good God has been to us all in blessing us with these answers and assuranceseven though these truths place upon us serious and everlasting obligations. We know also that God is perfect in his love for each and all of us as his spirit children. It is difficult to be prepared for an event so long delayed. Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. "It's not possible that the problems of this world be resolved by the pesimists and sceptics whose horizons are guided by the obvious realities. It is very ill. Long ago it was born with brilliant prospects. 8:24-25. ), Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress, Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), The 3 Simple Words My Grandma Brought Me from the Spirit World. The newspapers carry glaring headlines, politicians wrangle, students and authorities harangue. His eldest brother was peeved at the presumptuousness of David for even being at the front where Goliath taunted the armies of Israel. They had the saving, exalting gospel, but it had not been made the center of their lives. Spencer W. Kimball - "Preparedness - the Ten Virgins" . Fasting, family prayer, home teaching, control of bodily appetites, preaching the gospel, studying the scriptureseach act of dedication and obedience is a drop added to our store. Then, finally, it reaches a point when, as one prophet declared, There was no remedy. In such moments the prophets of God speak out even more forcibly, doing as Alma did when he began bearing down in pure testimony against the evils of his time. Ponder upon these great truths, especially in those moments when (in the stillness of such anxiety as you may experience as an individual) you might otherwise wonder and be perplexed. They had heard of his coming for so long, so many times, that the statement seemingly became meaningless to them. Language is like music; we rejoice in beauty, range, and quality in both, and we are demeaned by the repetition of a few sour notes. Their examples helped him gain a testimony of their callings as ministers of Jesus Christ. ), David was a local boy and was ignored until he could no longer be ignored. 17:2832. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen. "Heave ho!" The foolish virgins were not averse to buying oil. Surely, the end is near as we read the signs of the times, but when? Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths under compulsion. and the four new members of the First Quorum of the Seventy who poured out their hearts in those moments they had? Has there ever been an era when so many nations, large and small, have been involved in wars? It was not simply a call to repentance, but it felt like Spencer W. Kimball was raising a prophetic voice effectively saying "YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED" so as to wash his garments clean from the blood and sins of our generation. To them Jesus said, before he ascended, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. Remember, too, as we focus on the glories and importance of family life here, that all of us belong to the eternal family of our Father in Heaven. Who, for instance, a scant twenty years ago would have foreseen the massive use of abortion in society today, like all the diseased doctrines of the devil. . 5:1-31 When the protectors sleep and the leaders are incapacitated with banqueting and drunkenness and immorality, an invading enemy can turn a river from its course and enter through a river bed Isa. Spencer W. Kimball reports that David O. McKay had said "that in his view homosexuality was worse than heterosexual immorality; that it is a filthy and unnatural habit." (20) 1959- Advise and Consent published. They help us to see the end from the beginning. A relatively few people attend their church services, pay their tithing, serve their fellow men. All kinds of fish were caught, big and little, fat and snakelike. In 1957, he had to have some of his vocal cords removed due to throat cancer. Bear in mind, dear sisters, that the eternal blessings which are yours through membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are far, far greater than any other blessings you could possibly receive. .He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. It must not be passed over. The scriptures and the prophets have taught us clearly that God, who is perfect in his attribute of justice, is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34). I know he is Gods recognized prophet. (D&C 45:56-58.). He also toured the Middle East and dedicated the Orson Hyde Memorial Garden on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem. If we are of the masses who are casual, passive, irreligious, irreverent, unholy, immoral, ungodly, then we must repent or suffer D&C 19:4. I plead with men everywhere to Come, listen to a prophets voice and hear the word of God from our living prophet who sits with us here today. How can one share faith or testimony? (See D&C 1:30.) He predicted earthquakes and other terrestrial disturbances and we think of earthquakes and landslides in California, Chile and Greece, Japan and Alaska, and unprecedented floods in the United States. 9:13. They're not too much this or too . Thus misery achieves a ghastly monument. 20:14 italics added). And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Beloved brothers and sisters, wasnt it a happy moment when we were permitted to be here today to hear that beautiful testimony of Brother LeGrand Richards? Among the real heroines in the world who will come into the Church are women who are more concerned with being righteous than with being selfish. That night the Lord saved Jerusalem from Sennacherib and his 185,000 troops who did not live the night through to attack 2 Kgs. We read the headlines. Apparently, the bridegroom had tarried for reasons that were sufficient and good. Hunger scaled the walls; thirst broke down the gates; immorality, cannibalism, idolatry, godlessness stalked about till destruction came. Some of you have not yet had the great privilege of marriage. Heaven will not hear your pleadings nor earth bring forth her harvest. Some of you have lost your husbands through death, others through divorce. And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him. I leave this testimony with you with my love and my blessings. Can they change? Protection is not in walls nor mountains nor cliffs, yet foolish men still lean on the arm of flesh., The walls of Babylon were too high to be scaled, too thick to be broken, too strong to be crumbled, but not too deep to be undermined when the human element failed Dan. Sinai by the hand of Moses Lev. And at that day, when I shall come in my glory, shall the parable be fulfilled which I spake concerning the ten virgins. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy Ex. They are too kind to be so cruel. So often the prophets have been rejected because they first rejected the wrong ways of their own society. On December 30, 1973, Spencer W. Kimball was called and ordained as prophet, seer and revelator and President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It has had shorter periods of good health, but longer ones of ailing. if they will but serve the God of this land who is Jesus Christ Ether 2:12 There is only one way. Many have found it too difficult and they slumber without due preparation. The man said to himself: Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Todays prophet stands in the same position between God and the people as did Isaiah, Samuel, and even Moses who gave to the world the ten commandments. Honest toil in subduing sagebrush, taming deserts, channeling rivers, helps to take the wildness out of mans environment but also out of him. ROGER K YOUNG EVENTS FOR THE COMING YEAR? The trees will be without fruit and the fields without verdure. The grandson of early Latter-day Saint apostle Heber C. Kimball, Kimball was born in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory.He spent most of his early life in Thatcher, Arizona, where his . When President Snow called a girl back from the dead: An incredible account of the spirit world, The Pillar of Light That Saved Joseph Smiths Body After He Fell From Carthage Jail, The Strange, Strange Power of A Three-Day Fast, The Great Calling of the Priesthood: Coming Clean From the Blood and Sins of this Generation. Amen.Spencer W. Kimball,Conference Report, October 1961, pp. No wonder we who bear the plan of salvation feel a special urgency in sharing the gospel, because we love our own neighbor. The book spent 102 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list. When Spencer was twenty-nine, his father passed away and Spencer was called to the stake presidency that his father had served in for three decades. So long had it been since they began expecting him that they were rationalizing that he would never appear. Peace be with you. (Revelation 21:3-5, 7. Has the rot of age and flabbiness set in? And ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies. The prophets have always been free from the evil of their times, free to be divine auditors who will still call fraud, fraud; embezzlement, embezzlement; and adultery, adultery. When the world is full of tribulation and help is needed, but it seems the time must be past and hope is vain, then Christ will come. They had four children who recall that their home was one of support, encouragement, and appreciation between family members. After all, who has any greater need to treasure up the truths of the gospel (on which they may call in their moments of need) than do women and mothers who do so much nurturing and teaching? This saintly soul realizes there is one thing left undone to make him a totally honest man. This university is not of the world any more than the Church is of the world, and it must not be made over in the image of the world. We have equality as recipients of Gods perfected love for each of us. But the day approaches and will finally come. (Matthew 13:49.) It cannot remember its previous illnesses nor the cure which was applied. Strength is not in concrete and re-enforcing steel. He is a prophet to all the world. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. He later became the church's president . Changes can come best if we take one item at a time.https. Be assured, too, that all faithful sisters, who, through no fault of their own, do not have the privilege during their second estate of being sealed to a worthy man, will have that blessing in eternity. God is all powerful. These men are among the prophets of God, just as were the prophets of the Book of Mormon and of the Bible. Because of World War I, he served in the Central States Mission instead. Jesus was also met with the question, Is not this the carpenters son? (Matt. They had been taught. This is my personal read it later solution. He could not do the one last thing that Jesus asked: Sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor. (Luke 18:22.) . Few live up to the truth they know. At only age nineteen, just before he was called to serve in the Swiss-Austrian mission, he was ordained as a general authority seventy. In multiple scriptures the Lord has indicated that he will perform his work through those whom the world regards as weak and despised. The places change but the turmoil continues. That faith in Christ is a choice we can make. I was invited to participate. It seems that while remedies have been applied, staph infection has set in, and the patients suffering intensified. While we do not now remember the particulars, this does not alter the glorious reality of what we once agreed to. Finally, my dear sisters, may I suggest to you something that has not been said before or at least in quite this way. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. And the earth shall be given unto them for an inheritance; and they shall multiply and wax strong, and their children shall grow up without sin unto salvation. There is one principle, a modern prophet said, (that we should) understand:that is of blessings and cursings. How special it is for Latter-day Saint women to be given the lofty assignments they have been given by our Father in Heaven, especially those of you who have been privileged to be born in this part of this last dispensation. Before closing I should like to just addthe four testimonies of these young, new leaders of the Church were very, very inspiring. When he was three years old, his father accepted a call to preside over a stake in Thatcher, Arizona. This America is no ordinary country. 2:18). The initiated who knew fish and were able to judge picked the worthless ones and cast them back into the sea. As both the wheat and the tares grew up in the same field together, the question was asked of the landowner, "Shall we go and gather up the tares?" They ignored the prophets. The trouble with rejecting the prophets because they lack prestige is that Paul, who knew something of rejection, forewarned us when he said, speaking of the work of God, For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. (1Cor. We love you sisters. He learned from diligent and faithful parents to work hard on the farm and in school and to love the gospel. How can one witness so many of those who ought to be good examples becoming bad examples and not cry out? The ways of the world will not prevail, for the ways of God will triumph. Of such the Lord said: And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and prepared not himself neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. He served in the Quorum of the Twelve for thirty years and became the president of the Church in 1973. No light had we; for that we do repent; When we know these truths, my sisters and associates in this divine cause, it should help us greatly as we all experience much less than perfect love and perfect justice in the world. The boats had spread the nets far out, and now we began to pull in the nets. You need, more and more, to feel the perfect love which our Father in Heaven has for you and to sense the value he places upon you as an individual. "The statement, "As a man thinketh, so is he," could equally well be rendered "As a man thinketh, so does he." If one thinks it long enough he is likely to do it.". Even so, why else is the record of rejection so complete? 1:26.). We can transform, but will we? As the net load came closer to the shore, it was fuller and heavier and the unruly waves covered us many times. As the grandson of Heber C. Kimball and the son of a mission and stake president, Spencer W. Kimball grew up learning of and meeting prophets and apostles. But time ran out. One stroke of his omnipotent hand could make powerless all nations who oppose and save a world even in its death throes. The practice is pleasing unto the carnal mind. His actions were considered irrational. Regardless of your particular circumstances, as you become more and more familiar with the truths of the scriptures, you will be more and more effective in keeping the second great commandment, to love your neighbor as yourself. Even the foolish ones trimmed their lamps, but their oil was used up and they had none to refill the lamps. I am prepared to live or die and need not fear. While the iron curtains rise and thicken, we eat, drink, and make merry. In 1969, then-Mormon Apostle Spencer W. Kimball wrote a book addressed to his people titled The Miracle of Forgiveness. Regardless of who is getting the adversarys special attention at any given time, he seeks to make all people miserable like unto himself (2Ne. There is no greater and more glorious set of promises given to women than those which come through the gospel and the Church of Jesus Christ. Instead of responding to Pauls message, some saw his bodily presence as weak and regarded his speech as contemptible. Nuclear races get swifter. Many of the Lord's parables and sayings urged men to be prepared for his Second Coming and for the end of this period of the world's existence. We were in Hamilton, New Zealand, for a large conference with the Saints. Education for Eternity Far from freeing those involved, sin is an admission of surrender to the herd. But while there are various excuses for rejection, theres a certain cause for this sad record. The outlook is bleak, but the impending tragedy can be averted. The masses of the people are much like those who escaped destruction in the ancient days of this continent. The wise had to go, else the bridegroom would have gone unwelcomed. I ask you: What value is a car without an engine, a cup without water, a table without food, a lamp without oil? Spencer W. Kimball > Quotes > Quotable Quote (?) I believe that the Ten Virgins represent the people of the Church of Jesus Christ and not the rank and file of the world. The Lord said to them: O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they [the slain ones], will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you? 3 Ne. People are destroyed by their own acts. Why must men rely on fortifications and armaments when the God of heaven yearns to bless them? . He gave us another parable to try to make clear the importance of being always prepared. Because Kimball was the older of the two, he was given seniority over Benson in the Quorum. Even in the true Church numerous of its people fail to attend their meetings, to tithe their incomes, to have their regular prayers, to keep all the commandments. Too often the holy prophets are wrongly perceived as harsh and as anxious to make a record in order to say, I told you so. Those prophets I have known are the most loving of men. May you find every home to which you return a real Latter-day Saint home with all the gospel in it. Finally, in 1978 he announced that he had received a revelation which extended the holding of the priesthood to all worthy male members of the Church, also extending temple blessings regardless of race. Conventions, unnecessary travel, family picnics, the Sabbath is violated generally. Famine will stalk rudely through your doors and the ogre cannibalism will rob you of your children and your remaining virtues.
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