Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Wilford Woodruff

The fourth President of the Church was Wilford Woodruff. I thoroughly enjoyed reading more about his life and teachings. He was the last President of the Church who personally knew Joseph Smith and he is able to offer a unique perspective.

On page 33 President Woodruff says, "The Lord is with this people, but as Latter-day Saints, I do not think that we always prize our privileges." He uses that phrase a few times, and I really like it. It makes me reflect on how I can do better at prizing my privileges.

Page 61--"There was one of the leading Elders of the Church who went before the people and undertook to preach certain principles. Joseph heard of it and desired him to present the doctrine to him in writing. He wrote it, and when he completed it read it to the Prophet. He asked Joseph what he thought of it. "Why," said Joseph, "it is a beautiful system, I have but one fault to find with it--" "What is that, Brother Joseph?" Joseph said--"It is not true." We need to be careful to always teach truth and not things that appeal to our emotions.

Page 105--"Do you suppose these devils are around us without trying to do something? Are they asleep? Have they not a work to perform? I say to my brethren who bear the Priesthood, we have got a mighty warfare to wage with these spirits. We cannot escape it." A great reminder that there is a spiritual battle we fight every day.

Page 112--"The head of the family should not do all the praying himself, but should call upon members of his family to pray, and to ask the blessing at [the] table." Good counsel to let each member of the family have an opportunity to grow their relationship with God.

Page 129--"I would advise you to get all of your blessings written and preserve them... I do feel to enjoin it upon you to make a record of every official act of your life. If you baptize, confirm, ordain, or bless any person or administer to the sick, write an account of it...If the power and blessings of God are made manifest in your preservation from danger... you should make a record of it. Keep an account of the dealings of God with you daily." I need to be so much better at doing this. God really does bless us so much and all to often we don't recognize his blessings, nor do we remember them.

Answers to Gospel Questions Vol. 3

The third volume of Joseph Fielding Smith's Answers to Gospel Questions continues to take questions from people both from within and without the Church (it is usually easy to determine which is which). In this book, I felt that President Smith was very blunt in his answers. Some of his bluntness actually made me laugh.

For example, on page 119, he is speaking of idol worship. He states that if somebody chooses to worship animals, the sun, moon, stars, etc. "the Latter-day Saints would not interfere. Naturally, we would consider any worship of that kind to be extremely stupid, but in accord to the law of agency." Like I said, blunt, but perhaps a little humorous.

Some of his blunt answers are directed at members of other faiths trying to attack the Church and its doctrine. Smith spares no pains to prove the veracity of the Church and to utterly abolish any foundation the contenders tried to build.

One thing I liked about the author's answers in this book is that he not only uses sources from modern revelation, but also uses sources more familiar to the submitter of the question. Several times he quotes from the Catholic Bible, and other times he quotes from religious scholars not of our faith. Through his answers, Smith demonstrates himself to be very well read and educated.

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: John Taylor

John Taylor was the third President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, following Brigham Young. Unfortunately, I do not own the Brigham Young manual, so John Taylor is next on the list. I thoroughly enjoyed reading his teachings. John Taylor was known as the Champion of Truth, and he lived an honorable life. Here are a few quotes from his book that I particularly enjoyed.

Page 33-"The world says... I am my own master; I am an independent being; I will take my own course, etc. Some of the Latter-day Saints almost say the same thing; not quite, but they would like to get near it. 'I am a free man; I will be damned if I don't do as I please, etc.' Well, I will tell you another part of that story. You will be damned if you do act as you please, unless you please to do and to keep the laws of God."

Page 94--"It is good for the elders to become acquainted with the languages, for they may have to go abroad, and should be able to talk to the people, and not look like fools... You may say, I thought the Lord would give us the gift of tongues. He won't if we are too indolent to study them. I never ask the Lord to do a thing I could do for myself."

Page 164--"If you do not magnify your callings, God will hold you responsible for those whom you might have saved had you done your duty."

Page 187--"You may deceive the Bishop and you may deceive the President of the Stake, and you may deceive the General authorities of the Church, but you cannot deceive the Lord Jesus Christ nor the Holy Ghost. You know yourselves better than anybody else and if there is anything wrong in you, now is the time to repent and make yourselves square with the Lord; and if you do not repent, the time will come when you will be humbled, and the higher up you get the greater will be your fall."

Answers to Gospel Questions Vol. 2

I just finished reading Volume 2 of Answers to Gospel Questions by Joseph Fielding Smith. I love the way that he just says it like it is. This book includes a lot of instruction, but also some rebuke to those who do not study the scriptures as much as they should, and especially to those who try to study things that don't really matter. Here are a few of my highlights:

On page 45, while discussing the nature and mission of translated beings, President Smith made the following comment, which really impressed me: "Even in the days of apostasy, and apostasy has occurred several times, the Lord never surrendered this earth and permitted Satan to have complete control...our Father in Heaven held control and had duly authorized servants on the earth to direct his work and to check, to some extent at least, the ravages and corruption of the evil powers."

Page 67--Baptism was not a new thing to the Jews. "When John the Baptist came from the wilderness crying repentance and baptizing all who came to him, his act did not seem to create any curiousity as if he were introducing some new and strange doctrine. The repentant Jews took it as an ordinance well known among them and so it was."

Page 88--"It may be true that some of the smaller children who attend the Sunday Schools and sacrament meetings with their parents are too young to realize the significance of this sacred ordinance, but what injury can come to them or to the ordinance if they are permitted to partake? We know that the feelings of the Savior were very tender toward little children."

Page 178--This chapter talks about blacks and the priesthood. While the chapter was interesting, what I enjoyed most is the attitude that President Smith had. He was certain that one day the blacks would receive the Priesthood. This was 20 years before the revelation on the priesthood was received.

I am excited for the next book!

Fire and Steel: A Generation Rising

 I have to confess, I have never read any of Gerald N. Lund's historical fiction novels before (although I am a big fan of his doctrinal books and his science fiction book The Alliance). This was a new experience for me, and I quite enjoyed it!

One reason that I enjoyed this book is because it takes place in Germany (Bavaria) and gives a lot of historical information about the country. I found this particularly interesting because lately I have been doing family history work for ancestors in Germany. Lund begins the book with a history lesson about Germany that leads up to the point in time where the novel begins. I really appreciated that.

The story itself was interesting. It shows how the statement "Decisions Determine Destiny" is true on a personal, family, and international level. We follow a certain German family, first through the parents and then through their son as certain choices they make lead the family to crucial decisions. It also gives the reader a look at what the misssonary efforts were like in Germany at the time. This book takes the reader to the end of World War I and sets the stage for future books leading up to World War II. I am excited to finish the series.

Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith

For the last several years (with a brief exception) the manuals for study in Priesthood and Relief Society have been Teachings of Presidents of the Church, with each year focused on the teachings of a particular president. I have decided to go back and re-read each manual since there is a good chance I didn't read half the lessons during the course of study (oops, confession time!) Rather than read them in the order in which they were studied, I have decided to read them in chronological order of when they were the President of the Church. Therefore, Joseph Smith is where I began.

I love Joseph Smith and revere him as a prophet. I want to highlight just a few of my favorite passages from his teachings.

Page 66-"But when this fact is admitted, that the immediate will of heaven is contained in the Scriptures, are we not bound as rational creatures to live in accordance to all its precepts?"

Page 73-"It is the will of God that man should repent and serve Him in health, and in the strength and power of his mind, in order to secure His blessing, and not wait until he is called to die."

Page 132-"No man can receive the Holy Ghost without receiving revelations. The Holy Ghost is a revelator."

Page 243-"My dear Emma, there is great responsibility resting upon you in preserving yourself in honor and sobriety before them [their children] and teaching them right things, to form their young and tender minds that they begin in right paths and not get contaminated when young by seeing ungodly examples."

Page 318-"The moment you permit yourselves to lay aside any duty that God call you to perform, to gratify your own desires; the moment you permit yourselves to become careless, you lay a foundation for apostasy."

Page 356-"You cannot be too good."

Answers to Gospel Questions Volume 1

I inherited the Answers to Gospel Questions series by Joseph Fielding Smith from my Grandpa Wanlass. The book is exactly what the title says it is. This book is a compilation of questions people had written to The Improvement Era, along with the author's answers to those questions. Smith answers the questions based almost entirely on the scriptures, with a few clarifying statements from general authorities and scriptural scholars.

I want to highlight a few of my favorite questions and answers from this book.

One person asks about the term, "Son of man" that the Savior often uses in referring to Himself. Smith explains that the Father calls Himself Man of Holiness. When the Savior calls Himself Son of Man (the "Man" should be capitalized in the New Testament), he is referring to Himself as the Son of God.

In another chapter, the author talks about Jesus being our Mediator with the Father. He points out that the truthfulness of Joseph Smith's First Vision can be found entirely in the statement that the Father introduced the Son and then Jesus is the one who spoke with and instructed Joseph. Had Joseph claimed that God the Father answered all his questions, he would have been proven a liar, for since the Fall of Adam it has been Christ who has had interaction with men. This doctrine Joseph could not have known at that time. What a neat insight!

Other interesting questions that are answered have to do with Sabbath Day observance, the Word of Wisdom, and meanings of certain words used in the scriptures. The author also gives historical insights into the land of Egypt and the interactions between the descendants of Cain and Shem.

I am eager to continue reading the series!