Faithful Saints Can Have Hope
 |
This temple will be a standing witness that the power of
God can stay the forces of evil if we will be worthy of those
sacred blessings . . . There is a power associated with the
ordinances of heaven even the power of godliness which
can thwart the forces of evil if we will be worthy of those
sacred blessings. This community will be protected, our
families will be protected, our children will be safeguarded
as we live the gospel, visit the temple, and live close to the
Lord.
-- President Ezra Taft Benson |
Paraphrasing the Prophet Joseph Smith, Elder Orson F. Whitney said,
The eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to
them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only
themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may
wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of
Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life
or the life to come, they will return.
They will suffer for their sins; they may tread a thorny path; but if it leads them at last,
like the penitent prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father's heart and home, the painful
experience will not have been in vain. Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on
to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God.
Who are these straying sheep . . . these wayward sons and daughters? They are children
of the Covenant, heirs to the promise, and have received, if baptized, the Gift of the Holy Ghost,
which makes manifest the things of God. Could all that go for naught?"
In Conference Report, April 1929, p. 110
Quoted by Elder John K. Carmack of the Seventy, Ensign, Feb. 1997, p. 7.
|
