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For
full text, see http://www.byui.edu/Presentations/Transcripts/Devotionals/2004_10_19_Burton.htm
“Perhaps
we need a mini-refresher course in General Conference 101,” Bishop H.
David Burton counseled Brigham Young University-Idaho students Tuesday. The
Presiding Bishop of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints spoke
from the Hart Auditorium during Tuesday’s devotional.
Bishop
Burton counseled students to recall the words of Gordon B. Hinckley,
president of the Church, at the recent General Conference.
“Less
than one minute into his opening comments, President Hinckley . . . quietly
expressed the will of the Lord by saying, ‘After fasting and prayer we
have called Elder Dieter Friedrich Uchtdorf and
Elder David Allan Bednar to fill [the] vacancies in the Quorum of the
Twelve Apostles,’ ” said Bishop Burton.
He
recounted a meeting with the President Hinckley and some General
Authorities on September 29, three days before the General Conference of
the Church in Salt Lake City.
President
Hinckley taught the process of selecting members of the Church to fill the
vacancies in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He admitted he did not know
who would fill the vacancies.
Then, the following day, President Hinckley taught the process
again. However, he concluded “by saying that he knew the will of the
Lord in the matter but we would have to wait to find out.”
Bishop
Burton said, “When the Lord prompts His prophet to remind us multiple
times, we need to take heed.”
The
repetition of President Hinckley’s counsel and teachings were
reiterated by Bishop Burton as he counseled students to follow the prophet.
He mentioned several times the importance of following the Lord’s
counsel given by his living servants.
Bishop
Burton shared an experience President Wilford
Woodruff related of President Brigham Young: “Brother Brigham [laid
all the standard works on the pulpit] and he said:
“There
is the written word of God to us, concerning the work of God from the
beginning of the world, almost to our day.
“And
now said he, when compared with the living oracles those books are nothing
to me; those books do not convey the word of God direct to us now, as do
the words of a Prophet or a man bearing the Holy Priesthood in our day and
generation.
“I
would rather have the living oracles than all the writing in the
books.”
Bishop
Burton also related many of the words spoken by another member of the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland. He asked,
“Do you believe God speaks to man?”
“In
all else that he accomplished in his brief 38 and a half years, Joseph left
us above all else the resolute legacy of divine revelation – not a
single, isolated revelation without evidence or consequence. . . but
specific, documented, ongoing directions from God,” said Bishop
Burton quoting Holland.
He
quoted President Hinckley in closing: “Suppose a storm is raging and
the winds howl and the snow swirls about you. You find yourself unable to
stop it. But you can dress properly and seek shelter, and the storm will
have no effect upon you.”
Next
week’s devotional speaker will be Truman Madsen, professor emeritus
of philosophy at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Devotionals are
broadcast live on Tuesdays at 2 p.m. and again at 7 p.m. on KBYI, FM 100.
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