Mormon Musings

Now, brethren, can we fight against and subdue ourselves? That is the greatest difficulty we ever encountered, and the most arduous warfare we over engaged in. This will apply most perfectly to the brethren who have gathered with the Saints. When we are out in the world we preach faith and repentance, so that the Saints bring the knowledge of first principles with them to the gathering-place. Your next step is to enter into the study of this. A man may learn letters and study all the various branches of scholastic education to the day of his death; but if he does not attain to strict self discipline, his learning will not amount to much. The catalogue of man’s discipline he must compile himself: he cannot be guided by any rule that others may lay down, but is placed under the necessity of tracing it himself through every avenue of his life. He is obliged to catechise and train himself, for he knows his own disposition the best—its fortified and unfortified parts. He is therefore the

“I believe that our Heavenly Father wants to save every one of his children.  I do not think he intends to shut any of us off…. “…I believe that in his justice and mercy he will give us the maximum reward for our acts, give us all that he can give, and in the reverse, I believe that he will impose upon us the minimum penalty which it is possible for him to impose.” President J. Reuben Clark -Conference Report, Oct. 1953, 84

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts. Winston Churchill 

Are you prepared for the day of vengeance to come, when the Lord will consume the wicked by the brightness of His coming?  No.  Then do not be too anxious for the Lord to hasten His work.  Let our anxiety be centered upon this one thing, the sanctification of our own hearts, the purifying of our own affections, the preparing of ourselves for the approach of events that are hastening upon us.  This should be our concern, this should be our study, this should be our daily prayer...Seek to have the Spirit of Christ, that we may wait patiently for the time of the Lord, and prepare ourselves for the times that are coming.  This is our duty. Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 9:3

“As an Apostle I listen now to the same inspiration, coming from the same source, in the same way, that I listened to as a boy.  The signal is much clearer now.” President Boyd K. Packer - Ensign,  Nov. 1979, 21

“No mortal being had the power or the capability to redeem all other mortals from their lost and fallen condition, nor could any other voluntarily forfeit his life and thereby bring to pass a universal resurrection for other mortals.  Only Jesus Christ was able and willing to accomplish such a redeeming act of love.  We may never understand nor comprehend in mortality how He accomplished what He did, but we must not fail to understand why He did what He did.  Everything He did was prompted by his unselfishness, infinite love for us.” President Ezra Taft Benson - Ensign , Nov. 1983, 7

“May I suggest three short tests to avoid being deceived… What do the standard works have to say about it?… The second guide is: what do the latter-day Presidents of the Church have to say on the subject–particularly the living President?… The third and final test is the Holy Ghost…This test can only be fully effective if one’s channels of communication with God are clean and virtuous and uncluttered with sin.” President Ezra Taft Benson -Conference Report, Oct. 1963, 16-17