What Did LDS Leaders Teach at General Conference?

Eighteen leaders, including seven Apostles, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spoke to a global audience at the Saturday sessions of General Conference. Their messages were “about the gospel of Jesus Christ’s ability to provide peace and guidance during a conference that is taking place during a dynamic era of growth and visibility for the church.” Tad Walch reported on the conference. 

President D. Todd Christofferson said gambling is morally wrong because its structure requires any gain to come at others’ expense.

[He] drew a bright line on the stunning spread of gambling, leaving no question where the church stands.

“We are against it,” said President D. Todd Christofferson, second counselor in the First Presidency.

Elder Ronald A. Rasband counseled members aching for loved ones who left the faith to love them as God does and trust Christ can change hearts.

… Elder Ronald A. Rasband, empathized with church members whose hearts ache for loved ones who have turned away from God.

He counseled them to love their loved ones the way God does, and to turn their despair over to Jesus Christ.

“We cannot change their hearts, but [He] can,” Elder Rasband said. “He is a God of miracles … who knows and loves them even more than we do … By the power of Jesus Christ’s Atonement, there is always a way back.

[Elder Dale G. Renlund] explained why the gospel of Jesus Christ makes it possible to feel spiritual peace even in the worst circumstances. But it requires continued focus and effort….

Too often, he said, “We focus on the here and now and lose sight of the bigger picture, both where we have been and God’s promises to us.” When that happens, doubt about God’s care can creep in.

But Latter-day Saints have a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ. When their faith is centered on him, they are freed from uncertainty “because our hope rests on his faithfulness and righteousness, not on our own,” he said.

“We can trust him,” Elder Renlund said, adding, “You can rely on God’s promises.”

The most powerful reason peace is available in all human circumstances is because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, which made his redemptive reach infinite, he said.

“The power of the Messiah to save and exalt is profoundly intimate and infinite beyond human comprehension,” he said. “There is more than enough to cover any breach, need or deficit for all of us, for each of us.”

Elder Gerrit W. Gong said God is inviting his children to the church’s rapidly growing number of temples because they are sanctuaries of peace, blessings and learning in a world meant to challenge and shape us.

“In a world of commotion, contention and cares, the Lord invites us to a place of spiritual safety, harmony, and holiness — the House of the Lord,” he said….

He encouraged church members to celebrate and treasure “even more” the spiritual blessings temples bring.

“Let us always be grateful for the gifts of eternity sacred temples bring,” he said. “Look for the miracles.”

 

Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve told listeners that fasting provides sanctifying spiritual power that brings each person closer to God in ways that provide a better understanding of God’s plan.

“This divine pattern of devotion brings strength, guidance, peace and divine help to sustain us throughout our mortal journey,” he said.

Elder Soares noted that Jesus Christ himself set an example of fasting and prayer, one that shows that they may not remove every burden but “draw heaven near and endow us with divine power to overcome or endure whatever circumstances we may face.”

He said he has witnessed how the blessings of fasting often enter a person’s life quietly and tenderly, “softening hearts, strengthening testimonies, sanctifying souls and transforming lives.”

Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve said the crucial skill in gliding is finding rising air called lift. There is also sinking air. Called sink, it shortens the distance a glider can fly and may threaten a safe landing.

“At the heart of our faith is the glorious truth that we have an adoring Father in Heaven, whose Son, our Savior, loves to lift,” Elder Kearon said.

He said that in both gliding and life, one who is not actively climbing is descending.

“How easy it is to slowly slip from spiritual heights we have worked so hard to climb when we neglect the practices and behaviors that brought us there,” he said. “We rarely intend to sink. We want lift — its joy and blessings — but we may not recognize the quiet cost of neglecting vital communion with our Father, Savior and the Holy Spirit.”

He asked listeners to pay close attention to what he described as the sweet, peaceful feelings that come with spiritual lift and the dim and dampening feelings that lead away from the Christ’s infinite love.

“Your Savior is your lift,” Elder Kearon said. “He is your ever-rising air. There is no limit to how high you can climb with him. Jesus Christ lives to lift.”

[Elder Gérald Caussé] who joined the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles last year said that his calling came with an immediate invitation to share his testimony of Jesus Christ with the quorum and the First Presidency.

“I knew that nothing could be more meaningful, as my first act as a newly ordained Apostle, than to bear witness of the Redeemer of the world,” he said. “... Today, in the restored Church of Jesus Christ, the apostolic witness remains central to our doctrine and compelling evidence of its truth.”

He said that each person’s testimony is different from any other, and it is disciple’s foundational responsibility to share it.

“Please trust it, nurture it and bear it, because it is uniquely yours,” Elder Caussé said. “... Our testimony is not a talent to be hidden. It is a gift to be shared — with grateful hearts and in a spirit of humility and love.”