On Friday, July 6th, as we concluded a week of an incredible, wholesome recreational activity with 50 of the 74 in our posterity at Lake Powell, we were taking the houseboat back to Wahweap Marina. Suddenly there was a mother’s frantic scream: “Stop! Stop the boat!” As I hurried down the hall, I saw that the back gate of the houseboat was fully open, and Londyn—an angelic, blonde, five-year-old granddaughter—was nowhere to be seen. Everyone on board jumped into action. Her mother, Krista, was trying to explain through her sobbing that she had heard a scream and a loud thud noise that she thought was Londyn bumping off the boat or hitting the water. Everyone was searching frantically. I reached the back and searched the visible area.
All that I could see were the three small, dingy boats and the ski boat in tow behind us, but that was all that was there. There was no blonde hair in the water, no tiny body struggling. Every mother there was in tears, her own mother repeatedly screaming out for Londyn. Every second was agonizing as panic seemed to grow towards certain fatality. The mother collapsed to her knees in a state of utter despair, disbelief, and instant sorrow: “Oh, please, God, do not let this be real! Do not let this be happening! Please! Please, oh Londyn!” Her words rent my soul with anguish.
Krista is my lovely, tender daughter-in-law. My thoughts went to my son John, who had gone in on another boat. I wondered how we could possibly explain to him that Londyn was gone, that our sorrows, no matter how deep and real, could not bring her back. O ye fair one, how is it that ye are gone?[1]
This was a scene of anguish and sorrow that I have seldom felt: tears and groans and such a desire for the ability to turn back the clock just five minutes, to not have this be our reality.
Suddenly, life changed. We thought the entire boat had been searched, but my angel-inspired daughter Kim shouted through rejoicing tears that she had found Londyn.
She had found her in a small bathroom with a faulty door knob that was very difficult to open. The mother and daughter were reconnected, and the painful heaviness of what seemed to be, melted slowly as everyone clutched each other in tearful, relieved embraces.
After this agonizing incident, my thoughts went to Mormon, the valiant Nephite general, prophet, and historian. His anguish of soul was not relieved with a sudden great message that his loved ones were somehow not gone. His reality was the loss of his people. In his case, for many, it was an eternal loss.
It caused me to consider, Why we are here? And how do we not lose the ones we love?
Let’s look at Mormon’s own words:
16 And my soul was rent with anguish, because of the slain of my people, and I cried:
17 O ye fair ones, how could ye have departed from the ways of the Lord! O ye fair ones, how could ye have rejected that Jesus, who stood with open arms to receive you!
18 Behold, if ye had not done this, ye would not have fallen. But behold, ye are fallen, and I mourn your loss.[2]
Please notice next what the heart and center of Mormon’s lamentation consists of.
19 O ye fair sons and daughters, ye fathers and mothers, ye husbands and wives, ye fair ones, how is it that ye could have fallen!
20 But behold, ye are gone, and my sorrows cannot bring your return.[3]
The families are no more!
Here we find the how and the why of our mortal journey!
It is Mormon’s haunting remorse for the loss of all these families and his conviction that this occurred because they rejected Jesus and departed from His ways that sways my heart to plead with you today to listen and learn and act. God is in the business of creating families, and we should make it our greatest priority. For the sake of your eternal family, give your heart to God.
I pray we invite the Holy Ghost to bring into your heart those principles meant to direct you as you work toward perfection as an individual and in your creation of an eternal family.
Education is the difference between those who want to help and those who can.
Almost 33 years ago, then President Joe J. Christensen taught the students of Ricks College that the most important hour of their week was Tuesday afternoon between 2 and 3 o’clock.
Now, I need to forewarn you of coming distractions. The moment we resist that which comes from God, we give Satan power over us.[4]
So, today, I extend an invitation to all of you. From 2 to 3 on Tuesdays, come to devotional. Do not resist that which comes from God. Get your homework done another time! Whenever possible, even if you are hungry, tired, frustrated, or just don’t feel like it, come to devotional.
And here is a great idea: This is a wonderful place and occasion to bring a date! Or to sit next to someone and create a date! Get to know each other on a spiritual level.
A recent letter from my amazing grandson serving in Oaxaca, Mexico, included this experience. From Elder Hunter Paul Clark:
"We had our last lesson with Jocabed and Enrique before they get baptized tomorrow. Jocabed was talking to us and said, 'I don’t think I have received my answer yet if the Church is—' then paused. After a few moments, she said, 'Nope, I have my answer: because I have seen the difference this has made in my family.' We didn’t have to say anything and the Spirit testified to her in the moment. I know that the Spirit is the teacher here and can testify to everyone that is willing to listen. I am so excited for them!
"The gospel has always been and was restored to bless families. The anti-Christ Korihor taught the people that there would be no Christ, and the women and the men began to commit whoredoms. Anti-Christ is anti-family, and anti-family is anti-Christ.
"I think of the great anguish and hopelessness we felt that day at Lake Powell. We would have done anything to bring Londyn back! I plead with you to build your foundation on Christ and His gospel by doing His teachings, that your houses do not fall and your children not perish.
"Tom Perry taught in one of our devotionals that the Church is the scaffolding that exists to perfect the individual and exalt eternal families."[5]
On the discussion board this week, we had a picture of the Provo City Center Temple with the scaffolding still up, and asked which of these objects represents the Church and which represents the family. We also asked which is more important, the Church or the family.
What great insights were shared. Tyler Jones turned our attention to a quote by Boyd K. Packer:
"The end of all activity in the Church is to see that a man and a woman with their children are happy at home, sealed for eternity."[6]
Tyler’s comment was:
"I think, based on this, that the whole point of the Church is to hold up the family."
Both are very important, but it’s a good illustration with the temple and scaffolding to show that the temple could fall without the scaffolding but without the temple there’s no point to having scaffolding.
Likewise, the family could fall without the Church; but there’s absolutely no point to the Church if there is no family.
In that sense, I think the family is more important.
So I ask: Why are we here? To create an eternal family. How can we do that? Jesus Christ and His eternal gospel.
What is the biggest obstacle to individual growth, creating a family, and looking to Jesus Christ to succeed?
The answer: everything!
James Christensen is the man who painted this picture. I believe many days that he used me as his model. Does this remind you of yourself? So busy holding fast to everything else that there is no time for the iron rod, not sure which things to drop in order to safely move forward? Can you see why we need to be able to discern exactly why [7] we are here and how we can accomplish our purpose?
Jesus Christ and His gospel is the how. He is the way—the only way to successfully get through life. His life is the example and His teachings are the path.[8] He provides the rod of iron through His word.
I wish to testify of God our Father’s love and amazing capacity to hear and to answer prayers. I also testify of the reality, goodness, and importance of and my love for Jesus the Christ and of the Holy Ghost, who is their messenger and our greatest tutor.
We have a family song. The words are from Mosiah 4:9-10, and it is sung to the tune of “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” This family song has the why of our mortal purpose (the family) singing about the how (Jesus Christ and His everlasting gospel).
Would you sing it with me?
Mosiah 4 (to the tune of “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”):
9 Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things,
both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom,
and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man
doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend.
10 And again, believe that ye must repent of your sins
and forsake them, and humble yourselves before God;
and ask in sincerity of heart that he would forgive you;
and now, if you believe all these things see that ye do them.[9]
I must confess that my love and admiration for my beautiful angel bride borders on worship. But I did not realize she was German. I asked her how many children she wanted, and she responded, “Children! Nine! Nine!” So we have nine children.
Elder Jairo Mazzagardi shared this life-changing truth following his conversion as he was sealed in the temple:
"I felt as if the eternities had been divided at the altar between what came before and what came after the sealing."[10]
That dividing line (the sealing) is the transition from having been forever single to learning to become forever one (which, when covenants are kept, really becomes forever not one but forever without number).
Crossing that line from single to sealed together should be seen not as a reason to put our flag on the marble victory arch (or to just boast on Facebook). It is not as a victory march or some personal conquest, but it truly is a call and a broken (in full humility and gratitude) alleluia—“thank you, Lord.”[11] (The chance to become like Father, with perfection and family, was the reason for the sons of God shouting for joy in our pre-earth life.) Eternal marriage truly is a pearl of great price, or more accurately, a pearl without price—the entire purpose of all existence. Indeed “the great plan of happiness”[12] is to be sealed in the temple and to then create an eternal family. God is in the business of creating and exalting families!
The why is the focus of “The Family: A Proclamation to the World.”[13]
President Kim B. Clark invited and strongly encouraged us to memorize the proclamation on the family. Here is a mnemonic device that may be helpful to you as you memorize the proclamation and to keep it memorized! I testify this will become a powerful help in your own life in not losing your family and as you defend the family.
First we take the first letter of each word in the first four paragraphs. We get the word WAIT.
Then we take the first two words from each of the next three paragraphs:
“we declare,” “husband and wife,” “the family.”
So together: Wait! We declare husband and wife the family.
That summarizes the proclamation.
Finally, “we warn” and “we call upon.”
Wait! We declare husband and wife the family. We warn; we call upon.
Another great help from “The Family: A Proclamation to the World”: paragraph seven of the proclamation lists gospel principles in a hierarchical order. Here we are taught that successful marriages and families are founded on and maintained on gospel principles.
Faith
“Faith is a strong conviction about something we believe—a conviction so strong that it moves us to do things that we otherwise might not do.”[14]
Sufficient faith brings us to prayer. It is the prayer of faith that brings the Holy Ghost.[15]
Prayer
When we sufficiently believe in God, it brings us to talk with Him. Elder Packer taught:
"Prayer is your personal key to heaven. The lock is on your side of the veil."[16]
When we sincerely come to God in prayer, we see better our need to repent.
Repentance and Forgiveness
The solution to marital difficulties is not divorce; it is repentance.
“You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”[17]
President Uchtdorf taught:
"I have discovered one thing that most [happy families] have in common: they have a way of forgiving and forgetting the imperfections of others and of looking for the good. Those in unhappy families, on the other hand, often find fault, hold grudges, and can’t seem to let go of past offenses."[18]
Once we have repented and seek forgiveness, we will see that we must forgive.
”To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.”[19]
Then, having forgiven, we now can respect, as we are no longer looking down on or judging others.
Respect
To consider worthy of high regard.[20]
Where there is true respect, love can flourish, bloom, and bring forth fruit.
Love
“Love one another; as I have loved you.”[21]
Charity is the love that we seek in marriage.[22]
Compassion
Real love brings compassion.
In the final devotional of spring semester, Brother Nels Hansen taught that the Samaritan saw with compassion the dying man as someone of intrinsic worth, and was willing to give up his time and his money to bring the man back to life.
That compassion is crucial in families.[23]
President Hinckley taught many times:
"I am satisfied that happiness in marriage is not so much a matter of romance as it is an anxious concern for the comfort and well-being of one’s companion. Any man who will make his wife’s comfort his first concern will stay in love with her throughout their lives and through the eternity yet to come."[24]
Work
Building a strong family takes hard work, and part of that work is teaching our children how to work.[25] God Himself calls His plan for His children “my work and my glory.”[26]
Wholesome Recreational Activities
Then we want to work to keep this love and compassion alive. All this makes wholesome recreational activities meaningful:
Just as honest toil gives rest its sweetness, wholesome recreation is the friend and steadying companion of work.[27]
The why is the fullness of the gospel. Without teaching the family, we are teaching only a “partness” of the gospel—not fullness![28]
The solutions to life’s problems are always gospel solutions.
Howard W. Hunter said:
"Whatever Jesus lays his hands upon lives. If Jesus lays his hands upon a marriage, it lives. If he is allowed to lay his hands on the family, it lives."[29]
Let me illustrate how the why and the how work together in real life.
After several years in our marriage, there came a time when we were fighting about everything. The contention was constant. About that time, my studies found me reading the words of the resurrected Savior:
"There shall be no disputations among you, as there have hitherto been;
"For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another."[30]
I knew if I continued to serve the devil, it would destroy our marriage. I knew what I needed to do but just did not know how. One night we watched a movie on Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce tribe and his desperate attempts to keep his people free. For many months he was able to keep ahead of the cavalry. There were battles, and many of his people died, and all were exhausted by their efforts. Finally, just one travel day from the Canadian border, the cavalry caught them. In his surrender he declared:
"I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my Chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever."[31]
I feared that if I continued fighting, I would lose not only my precious wife but my children!
As I remember it, I was deeply touched. I went into a back room in our home and by pricking my finger, in blood I wrote:
Dear Ruth Ann,
I will fight no more forever!
Love, Steve
(My wife says she remembers a red magic marker.)
That decision brought peace to our home. It was not easy. Following that commitment, every time contention reared its ugly head, I would just raise my hands in surrender and say, “I can’t fight. I promised.” Our lives improved and changed with a single decision.
Elder Bruce R. McConkie most powerfully taught:
"I think that the noblest concept that can enter the heart of man is the fact that the family unit continues in eternity . . . building, of course, on the foundation of the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. Celestial marriage is the thing that opens the door to eternal life in our Father’s kingdom. . .
"The things we are talking about here are true. That is the glory and the wonder and the beauty of everything connected with this system of revealed religion that we have—it is true. There is no more glorious fact connected with our whole system of revealed religion than the simple fact that it is true, and because it is true, the doctrines that we teach are true; and because these doctrines are true, they will give us peace and joy and happiness in this life. . . . It is a wondrous thing beyond belief to belong to a system that is true, that is founded on the rock foundation of eternal truth."[32]
The Family Must Prevail [33]
This is one of the most awe-striking periods in the long history of mankind on this earth. Behind us lies the scattered wreckage of shattered marriages and bludgeoned homes. Our neighbors, our friends, our family members, our ward members, all the nations’ confused and aborted peoples, all ye fair sons and daughters, ye fathers and mothers, ye husbands and wives, ye fair ones, how is it that ye could have fallen!
This world was created for family and cannot continue its existence without family—upon all of whom the long night of barbarism without family will descend, unbroken even by a star of hope, unless we conquer, as conquer we must; as conquer we shall. The family must prevail.
“The living of one protective principle of the gospel is better than a thousand compensatory government programs—which programs are, so often, like ‘straightening the deck chairs on the Titanic.’”[34]
Winston Churchill shared:
"One day, President Roosevelt told me that he was asking publicly for suggestions about what the war should be called. I said at once, 'The Unnecessary War.'"[35]
Could the very same thing be said about our family discord and the multiplying of divorces—the “unnecessary conflicts?” After the incident on the houseboat, my son-in-law Dave declared, “No child without a life jacket while we are moving.”
Another time, Prime Minister Churchill taught:
"Want of foresight, unwillingness to act when action would be simple and effective, lack of clear thinking, confusion of counsel until the emergency comes, until self-preservation strikes its jarring gong—these are the features which constitute the endless repetition of history."[36]
We have been counseled to “give highest priority to family prayer, family home evening, gospel study and instruction, and wholesome family activities. However worthy and appropriate other demands or activities may be, they must not be permitted to displace the divinely-appointed duties that only parents and families can adequately perform.”[37]
September 15, 2018, concludes 50 years of teaching in church education, and this devotional is my last official opportunity here at BYU-I. But because of eternal marriage and the gospel of Jesus Christ and our 52-year-young eternal marriage, we are not looking at this as any kind of end. C.S. Lewis said that all we have done to this day is just the cover and the title page of our eternal story. He continued, “Now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”[38]
This is a song we put together that expresses our conviction of eternal families:
Grow old along with me
The best is yet to be
Now our time has come
We will be as one
God bless our love
God bless our love
Grow old along with me
Thru faith we’re giv’n to see
Daily prayers always done
Brings us n’ God to be one
God bless our love God bless our love
Grow old along with me
Two branches on one tree
Must repent, must forgive
Without both we cannot live
God bless our love God bless our love
Spending our lives together
Man and his wife forever
Worlds without end
Worlds without end
In the temple we have made
Sacred covenants that we keep
I’ll take my Savior at His word
The best is yet to be
God bless our love
Grow old along with me
God’s plan for us we see
Christ’s teachings we’ll pursue
And create a love that’s true
God bless our love
God bless our love
God bless our love
God bless our love
This blessing we pray for all of you in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Mormon 6:17.
[2] Mormon 6:16-18; emphasis added.
[3] Mormon 6:19-20; emphasis added.
[4] Let me illustrate this point with an example from my family from about 30 years ago.
One Sunday morning, I was dressing for church and walked through the kitchen just in time to see one of my sons (who was about 12) about to pour milk on a large bowl of cereal. “Oh, I’m glad I caught you before you ruined that cereal. Today is fast Sunday!” With a very pained response, he said he was hungry and wanted to eat anyway. (I believe he had mentally begun to taste the cereal and his appetite was raging.) I again repeated that it was fast Sunday and added that his mother had planned a wonderful dinner.
“But I don’t want to fast. I want to eat.“
“Well, we are supposed to fast and give our money from those meals to those in need.”
“But I don’t want to fast. Don’t I have my free agency?”
“I would like you to fast, and it is important to fast, but you do have your free agency.”
“Then I can eat if I want to?”
“Yes, you can eat if you want to.”
With a huge smile, he poured the milk onto the cereal, and ate. Three bowls of cereal he ate.
As each of the other children came into the kitchen, they saw him and wanted to eat. I told them they couldn’t,
“But he is eating.”
“He is using his agency.”
“Can I use my agency?”
“No.”
They had a hard time, but no one else ate.
A few hours later, while I was teaching my 14-year-old Sunday school class, there was a knock on my classroom door. When I opened the door, there stood my son’s teacher, literally holding him by the ear.
His teacher said: “Can this boy come to your class? I can do nothing with him.”
That day, Satan had great power in the life of my son, but only after he had given it to him by resisting that which came from God (the fast).
[5] L. Tom Perry, “The Church: Scaffolding for Our Lives,” Brigham Young University—Idaho devotional, Jan. 24, 2012.
[6] Boyd K. Packer, “The Plan of Happiness,” Ensign, May 2015.
[7] Doctrine and Covenants 131:1-4.
[8] Jacobus Revious, “He Bore Our Anguish,” BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 15 : Iss. 1, Article 10.
[9] Mosiah 4:9-10.
[10] Jairo Mazzagardi, “The Sacred Place of Restoration,” Ensign, May 2016.
[11] Leonard Cohen, “Hallelujah,” 1984.
[12] Alma 42:8.
[13] “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” Ensign, Nov. 2010, 129.
[14] Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Fourth Floor, Last Door,” Ensign, Nov. 2016.
[15] Doctrine and Covenants 42:14.
[16] Boyd K. Packer, “Prayer and Promptings,” Ensign, Nov. 2009.
[17] This quote is often attributed to C. S. Lewis.
[18] Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “One Key to a Happy Family,” Ensign, Oct. 2012.
[19] Lewis B. Smedes, “Forgive and Forget: Healing the Hurts We Don’t Deserve,” 1984.
[20] Jeffrey R. Holland, “Broken Things to Mend.” April 2006 General Conference; see also centersforfamilychange.com/relationship_problems_respect.htm.
[21] John 13:34.
[22] See Moroni 7:47-48.
[23] Wikipedia: “Compassion motivates people to go out of their way to help the physical, mental, or emotional pains of another and themselves. Compassion is often regarded as having sensitivity, an emotional aspect to suffering . . . . The etymology of ‘compassion’ is Latin, meaning ‘co-suffering.’ Compassion involves ‘feeling for another’ and is a precursor to empathy, the ‘feeling as another’ capacity for better person centered acts of active compassion; in common parlance active compassion is the desire to alleviate another's suffering.”
[24] Gordon B. Hinckley, Anchorage, Alaska, regional conference, June 18, 1995.
[25] From the very beginning, the Lord commanded Adam to till the earth and have dominion over the beasts of the field, to eat his bread by the sweat of his brow. I have always been interested in how often the scriptures have admonished us to cease to be idle and to be productive in all of our labors . . . . Teaching children the joy of honest labor is one of the greatest of all gifts you can bestow upon them.
[26] Moses 1:39.
[27] D. Todd Christofferson, “Reflections on a Consecrated Life,” Ensign, Nov. 2010.
[28] See Julie B. Beck, “Teaching the Doctrine of the Family,” broadcast to seminary and institute of religion teachers, August 4, 2009.
[29] Howard W. Hunter, “Reading the Scriptures,” Ensign, Nov. 1979.
[30] 3 Nephi 11:28-29.
[31] Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce (1840-1904) was known to his people as "Thunder Traveling to the Loftier Mountain Heights." He led his people in an attempt to resist the takeover of their lands in the Oregon Territory by white settlers. In 1877, the Nez Perce were ordered to move to a reservation in Idaho. Chief Joseph agreed at first. But after members of his tribe killed a group of settlers, he tried to flee to Canada with his followers, traveling over 1500 miles through Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana. Along the way they fought several battles with the pursuing U.S. Army. Chief Joseph spoke these words when they finally surrendered on October 5th, 1877.
Tell General Howard I know his heart. What he told me before, I have it in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our Chiefs are killed; Looking Glass is dead, Ta Hool Hool Shute is dead. The old men are all dead. It is the young men who say yes or no. He who led on the young men is dead. It is cold, and we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are—perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children, and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them among the dead. Hear me, my Chiefs! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands I will fight no more forever.
[32] Bruce R. McConkie, “Celestial Marriage,” New Era, June 1978; emphasis added.
[33] “More than fifty years ago President Thomas S. Monson said: ‘Today, we are encamped against the greatest array of sin, vice, and evil ever assembled before our eyes.’ …whatever the conditions were fifty years ago, there is a greater array today. The war between good and evil is raging and intensifying. Satan is busy radicalizing and recruiting. You are needed. You must gain the skills, convictions, courage, wisdom, and confidence to help make a difference for yourself and others. I am grateful for the inspired leadership of the Twelve and the First Presidency to help us be prepared” (Allan F. Packer, “Finding Your Way,” BYU devotional, Jan. 12, 2016).
Consider also the following points:
- The Earth’s destiny is to become the celestial home of eternal marriages and families.
2.That God is in the business of creating. and exalting families.
3. Families are the basic organizational unit of the eternal realms, and so He intends for them also to be the basic unit on earth. Though earthly families are far from perfect, they give God’s children the best chance to be welcomed to the world with the only love on earth that comes close to what we felt in heaven—parental love. Families are also the best way to preserve and pass on moral virtues and true principles that are most likely to lead us back to God’s presence.
4. President Boyd K. Packer has said: “The ultimate end of all activity in the Church is that a man and his wife and their children might be happy at home, protected by the principles and laws of the gospel, sealed safely in the covenants of the everlasting priesthood” (“The Power of the Priesthood,” April 2010 General Conference).
5. The family is safe within the Church. We are not in doubt as to the course we must follow. It was given in the beginning, and guidance from on high is renewed as need may be. As we continue on our course, these things will follow as night the day: The distance between the Church and a world set on a course which we cannot follow will steadily increase. Some will fall away into apostasy, break their covenants, and replace the plan of redemption with their own rules. Across the world, those who now come by the tens of thousands will inevitably come as a flood to where the family is safe. Here they will worship the Father in the name of Christ, by the gift of the Holy Ghost, and know that the gospel is the great plan of happiness, of redemption, of which I bear witness in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
- Number of live births to unmarried women: 1,569,796
- Percent of all births to unmarried women: 39.8%
- Abortions: In 2014, 652,639 50 to 60 million each year worldwide
- Cohabitation: In 2010, 15 million people living together
But the Earth’s purpose is being severely attacked and the Earth will only put up with the wickedness for so long. President Kimball warned, “The earth cannot justify nor continue its life without marriage and the family.” What an amazing revelation! Apparently, the Earth has the ability to react to things that happen on its surface. Moreover, its life can be threatened by assaults against marriage and family, the central purposes of its creation.[xxxiii]
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., said: “Our very civilization itself is based upon chastity, the sanctity of marriage, and the holiness of the home.”[xxxiii]
Who is the leader of the army that attacks morality and seeks to destroy marriage and family? Satan, of course. We know that his aim is to destroy the work of God and cause as much misery as possible. Where better to concentrate his efforts than the procreative power of God and the sacred relationships that define his exalted lifestyle?[xxxiii]
Elder Boyd K. Packer said, “The ultimate purpose of the adversary who has ‘great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time,’ is to disrupt, disturb, and to destroy the home and the family” (“The Father and the Family,” May 1994 Ensign). There it is: Satan’s “ultimate purpose” revealed by a prophet of God!
See also Jeffrey R. Holland, “Be Not Afraid,” Address to CES Religious Educators, February 6, 2015.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell “Be of Good Cheer,” October 1982 General Conference. Surely, brothers and sisters, already too many Church members have broken hearts and broken homes because of broken covenants and broken promises. Society’s increasing slide toward pleasure seeking brings our so-called civilization comparatively closer to Sodom than to Eden.
[34] Neal A. Maxwell, “Why Not Now?,” Ensign, Nov. 1974.
[35] Sir Winston Churchill, “Roving Commission: My Early Life,” 1930, chapter 9.
[36] Sir Winston Churchill, Harrow School commencement speech, 1941.
[37] First Presidency letter, Feb. 11, 1999.
[38] C. S. Lewis, “The Last Battle,” 1956.