President Gordon B. Hinckley Testifies of Jesus Christ

 

I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the eternal, living God. I believe in Him as the Firstborn of the Father and the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. I believe in Him as an individual, separate and distinct from His Father. …

I believe that in His mortal life He was the one perfect man to walk the earth. I believe that in His words are to be found that light and truth which, if observed, would save the world and bring exaltation to mankind. I believe that in His priesthood rests divine authority--the power to bless, the power to heal, the power to govern in the earthly affairs of God, the power to bind in the heavens that which is bound upon the earth.

I believe that through His atoning sacrifice, the offering of His life on Calvary’s hill, He expiated the sins of mankind, relieving us from the burden of sin if we will forsake evil and follow Him. I believe in the reality and the power of His Resurrection. … I believe that through His Atonement, … each of us is offered the gift of resurrection from the dead. I believe further that through that sacrifice there is extended to every man and woman, every son and daughter of God, the opportunity for eternal life and exaltation in our Father’s kingdom, as we … obey His commandments.

None so great has ever walked the earth. None other has made a comparable sacrifice or granted a comparable blessing. He is the Savior and the Redeemer of the world. I believe in Him. I declare His divinity … . I love Him. I speak His name in reverence and wonder. …

… Scripture tells of [those] to whom He showed Himself and with whom He spoke as the living, resurrected Son of God. Likewise in this dispensation He has appeared, and those who saw Him declared:

“And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!

“For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father--

“That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God” (D&C 76:22–24).

This is the Christ in whom I believe and of whom I testify.

Gordon B. Hinckley, 15th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was born on June 23, 1910. He was ordained an Apostle on October 5, 1961, at age 51, and on March 12, 1995, he was sustained as President of the Church.

These are selected statements from his General Conference address “The Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,” Ensign, Nov. 1986, 49–51; capitalization and punctuation standardized. Below are selected audio segments from this Conference address.

The Nativity

"And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS; for he shall save his people from their sins." Matthew 1:21

The Story of Christmas is more than merely retelling the advent of a babe in Bethlehem. It is one of the seminal events in human history.

That babe in Bethlehem, born in a lowly manger, was Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world and the Son of God—our Redeemer.

Jesus Christ suffered and was crucified for the sins of the world, giving each of God’s children the gift of repentance and forgiveness. Only through His mercy and grace can we be saved. His subsequent resurrection prepared the way for every person to overcome physical death as well. These events are called the Atonement. In short, Jesus Christ saves us from sin and death. For that, he is very literally our Savior and Redeemer.

This season, we invite you to read the Christmas story anew with your family and friends. Look for the hope and meaning it can bring to your life.

We join with the angels of old as they announced the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, to the shepherds: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men." Luke 2:14

Click to learn more about the story of Christmas.

Come Unto Christ Through His Living Prophets

Thomas S. Monson

The subject of this podcast is that we may come unto Christ through following prophets of God.

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, my testimony is that we are blessed to be led by living prophets—inspired men who like Moses, Isaiah, Peter, Paul, Nephi, Mormon, and other prophets of the scriptures, are called to speak for the Lord. As a messenger of God, a prophet receives commandments, prophecies, and revelations from God. His responsibility is to make known God’s will and true character to mankind and to show the meaning of his dealings with them.

We live in a day of many voices. We hear them on the radio and television. We read them on the internet, in newspapers and magazines. One of the real challenges we face in this age of information is sorting fact from fiction, truth from falsehood. Nowhere does this truth seem more evident than among the conflicting voices which speak of the Savior of the world himself. Each voice declares a Christ molded to fit their “diverse theological idiosyncrasies”.

If we are to successfully navigate through this web of discordant voices and  learn the truth, we would do well to remember how God has always revealed Himself to mankind. The answer is in found in Amos chapter 3 verse 7:  “Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.”

I would like to share with you now testimonies of Christ as given by three latter-day prophets;
 
The first is President Ezra Taft Benson, who served as president of the Church from 1985 - 1994.

"The fundamental principle of our religion is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ...My message and testimony is this: Only Jesus Christ is uniquely qualified to provide that hope, that confidence, and that strength to overcome the world and rise above our human failings. To do that, we must place our faith in Him and live by His laws and teachings... Jesus Christ was and is the Lord God Omnipotent. (See Mosiah 3:5.) He was chosen before He was born. He was the all-powerful Creator of the heavens and the earth. He is the source of life and light to all things. Jesus Christ is the Son of God... 
"Appropriately we praise Him as the Rock of our salvation. (See 2 Ne. 4:30.) Jesus came to earth to do our Father’s will...

"He came with a foreknowledge that He would bear the burden of the sins of us all.

"He knew that He would be lifted up on the cross.

"He was born to be the Savior and Redeemer of all mankind.

"He was able to accomplish His mission because He was the Son of God and He possessed the power of God.

"He was willing to accomplish His mission because He loves us.

"With all my soul, I love Him.

"I humbly testify that He is the same loving, compassionate Lord today as when He walked the dusty roads of Palestine. He is close to His servants on this earth. He cares about and loves each of us today. Of that you can be assured.

"He lives today as our Lord, our Master, our Savior, our Redeemer, and our God.

God bless us all to believe Him, to accept Him, to worship Him, and to fully trust in Him, and to follow Him is my humble prayer, in the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

("Jesus Christ: Our Savior and Redeemer", Ensign, Nov. 1983.)

Next is a moving testimony from President Gordon B. Hinckley who served from 1995 - 2008.

“Now I leave with words that have been spoken so often from this great assembly hall—my testimony, my blessing, and my love—with you, my dear associates in this great cause. This work is true. You know that, as do I. It is God's work. You know that also. It is the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the way to happiness, the plan for peace and righteousness.”

“God our Eternal Father lives. His Son, our Redeemer, the resurrected Savior of the world, lives. They appeared to the boy Joseph Smith to part the curtains in opening a great work of restoration, ushering in the dispensation of the fulness of times. The Book of Mormon is true. It speaks as a voice from the dust in testimony of the divinity of the Lord. The priesthood with its keys, its authority, and all of its blessings is upon the earth.”

“And we are partakers of these precious gifts. And so, as we might say to an old friend, good-bye. May the blessings of God rest upon this sacred and wonderful hall. And may we, as those who have come here frequently to partake of the Spirit felt here, live worthy of the title Latter-day Saints is my humble prayer in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen.”
( “Good-bye to This Wonderful Tabernacle,” Ensign, Nov. 1999, 91. )

The final testimony is from our current prophet, Thomas S, Monson who was sustained in April 2008 as President of the Church of Jesus Chris of Latter-day Saints.

“With all my heart and the fervency of my soul, I lift up my voice in testimony as a special witness and declare that God does live. Jesus is His Son, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh. He is our Redeemer; He is our Mediator with the Father. He it was who died on the cross to atone for our sins. He became the firstfruits of the Resurrection. Because He died, all shall live again. ‘Oh, sweet the joy this sentence gives: “I know that my Redeemer lives!” ’ May the whole world know it and live by that knowledge, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior, amen.”
( “ I Know That My Redeemer Lives!” Ensign, May 2007, 25. )

Gethsemane

President Ezra Taft Benson

After Jesus offered His intercessory prayer as recorded in John 17:1-26, He with some of His apostles went to the Garden of Gethsemane.

What transpired in the garden that evening, said President Ezra Taft Benson, thirteenth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day saints, "was the greatest single act of love in recorded history."

In his book, Come unto Christ, President Benson wrote: "There [in Gethsemane] He suffered the pains of all men. . . .

"It was in Gethsemane that Jesus took on Himself the sins of the world, in Gethsemane that His pain was equivalent to the cumulative burden of all men, in Gethsemane that He descended below all things so that all could repent and come to Him. The mortal mind fails to fathom, the tongue cannot express, the pen of man cannot describe the breadth, the depth, the height of the suffering of our Lord—nor His infinite love for us." (From Come unto Christ, quoted in Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson.)

Speaking to a group of latter-day saints in San Diego, Calif., in December 1979, President Benson spoke further of the Atonement. "Because He [Jesus] was God—even the Son of God—He could carry the weight and burden of other men's sins on Himself. Isaiah prophesied our Savior's willingness to do this in these words: 'Surely he has borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.' (Isa. 53:4-5.)

"That holy, unselfish act of voluntarily taking on Himself the sins of all other men is called the Atonement. How one could bear the sins for all is beyond the comprehension of mortal man. But this I know: He did take on Himself the sins of all and did so out of His infinite love for each of us. He said: 'For behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all, that they might not suffer if they would repent; . . . Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink.' (D&C 19:16, 18.)

"In spite of that excruciating ordeal, He took the cup and drank. He suffered the pains of all men so we would not have to suffer. He endured the humiliation and insults of His persecutors without complaint or retaliation. He bore the flogging and then the ignominy of the brutal execution—the cross." (Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson.)


Gethsemane

In golden youth when seems the earth

A Summer-land of singing mirth,

When souls are glad and hearts are light,

And not a shadow lurks in sight,

We do not know it, but there lies

Somewhere veiled under evening skies

A garden which we all must see--

The garden of Gethsemane.

With joyous steps we go our ways,

Love lends a halo to our days;

Light sorrows sail like clouds afar,

We laugh, and say how strong we are.

We hurry on; and hurrying, go

Close to the border-land of woe,

That waits for you, and waits for me--

Forever waits Gethsemane.

Down shadowy lanes, across strange streams,

Bridged over by our broken dreams;

Behind the misty caps of years,

Beyond the great salt fount of tears,

The garden lies. Strive as you may,

You cannot miss it in your way.

All paths that have been, or shall be,

Pass somewhere through Gethsemane.

All those who journey, soon or late,

Must pass within the garden's gate;

Must kneel alone in darkness there,

And battle with some fierce despair.

God pity those who can not say,

"Not mine but thine," who only pray,

"Let this cup pass," and cannot see

The purpose in Gethsemane.

The Savior Suffers in Gethsemane

Suffer the Little Children to Come Unto Me

Jesus invites little children to come unto him, and teaches how to gain eternal life. (2:40)

I Knew The Author

I recollect the story of a very voracious reader, a woman who had a study filled with books. Each night she came home and read from books in her library, and she always finished every book she read.

One night she came to a particularly interesting crossroads: She decided that she would read a book that she had been especially avoiding. Finally she picked the book up, sat down, and began to read. It was very dull and uninteresting, but she had made herself a promise that she would never read a book without finishing it. She continued, night after night, until days later she finally turned the back cover of the book, took it back, placed it on the shelf, and made this mental note to herself: "That was the dullest book I have ever read in my life."
Sometime later she was out with a gentleman friend, and after dinner they started talking. He asked if she had ever read such and such a book. The mental note came back, "That was the dullest book I have ever read in my life."

She said, "Yes; why?"

He said, "I wrote it."

Then they talked about the book. Finally, that evening about midnight when he dropped her off, she went into her study, pulled this same book off the shelf, and read through the long hours of the night. When the first streaks of sunlight shafted across the sky, she closed the back cover of the book, placed it back again in its place on the bookshelf, and made another mental note to herself:
"That was the most beautiful book I have ever read in my life." The difference was that she knew the author.

In the forty-fifth section of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord said:

Hearken, O ye people of my church, to whom the kingdom has been given; hearken ye and give ear to him who laid the foundation of the earth, who made the heavens and all the hosts thereof, and by whom all things were made which live, and move, and have a being.

And again I say, hearken unto my voice, lest death shall overtake you; in an hour when ye think not the summer shall be past, and the harvest ended, and your souls not saved.

Listen to him who is the advocate with the Father, who is pleading your cause before him--

Saying: Father, behold the sufferings and death of him who did no sin, in whom thou was well pleased; behold the blood of thy Son which was shed, the blood of him whom thou gavest that thyself might be glorified;

Wherefore, Father, spare these my brethren that believe on my name, that they may come unto me and have everlasting life. [D&C 45:1­5]

We can know the author, and everlastingly so much is at stake whether or not we do know Him.