Fried Froth

President (then Elder) John Taylor was on a mission in France when he experienced the following, as described in The Gospel Kingdom: Selections from the Writings and Discourses of John Taylor, (collected and edited by G. Homer Durham):

Blind Obedience

While I sat in Sacrament Meeting last Sunday, raising my right hand to sustain several ward members who were called to serve in various positions, the vagrant thought came to me: “Is this just a rote process? Is this just blind obedience? Is this ‘hundred percent’ sustaining just mechanical?” Non-members have called this process “voting” and decried the fact that there is very rarely a dissenter among the congregation.

Little Noted nor Long Remembered (Abraham Lincoln)

In the last line of the movie “About Schmidt.” (Jack Nicholson) laments:

Relatively soon, I will die. Maybe in 20 years, maybe tomorrow, it doesn't matter. Once I am dead and everyone who knew me dies too, it will be as though I never existed.

The Rod of Iron

The “rod of iron” as depicted in Lehi’s dream is defined by Nephi in 1 Nephi 11:25: “I beheld that the rod of iron, which my father had seen, was the word of God…”

The Savior’s Testimony of the Book of Mormon

At a recent session of Stake Conference, the mission president’s wife pointed out that none other than Jesus Christ himself bore powerful testimony of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. The Lord said, speaking of the prophet Joseph:

And he has translated the book, even that part which I have commanded him, and as your Lord and your God liveth it is true. (D&C 17:6)

Agency Isn't Free

We use the term “free agency” frequently to describe our exercise of choice in mortality. But nowhere in the scriptures is the word “agency” modified by the adjective “free.” The phrase “free agency” never appears. “Agency” is the Lord’s term for the right to choose. Most of the world does not understand the simple word or its eternal implications. In fact, agency is a concept and doctrine only found in the restored gospel.

A Gospel of Wings

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, in his article, “The Abundant Life,” in the May 2006 Ensign said the following:

The gospel of Jesus Christ is not a religion of mourning and gloom. It is not a gospel of chains but a gospel of wings [italics added}.