Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Still on a Soapbox.....

Just doing some reading, eating a nice lunch and came across this quote:
AMAZING!!! It applies to us now, to our children as they face friends at school and on the ever famous facebook, and in everyday living -
Neal A. Maxwell in 1979:

“Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions. President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had 'never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life.'

“This is hard doctrine, but it is particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ. . . . Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. . . . This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions.

“Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened....Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel. There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, till then, unconscious of itself. Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, 'summer is nigh.' Thus warned that summer is upon us, let us not then complain of the heat."

This quote gave me chills. It's prophetic and we are living it...today. I, for one, am going to be even more determined to make a stand, to speak if necessary for the truth and to speak up, when the time is right. I will try not to complain of the "heat". (Of course, in Arizona, we are already used to the heat!)

2 comments:

kara jayne said...

That was AMAZING!! I just said to Paul a few weeks ago that I feel like our kids will not be able to just follow the council for themselves throughout their lives, but they will have to stand and fight for what they believe. We are already seeing that. Thank you so much!!

Yvette said...

Thinking about what your friend Kara Jayne said I'm wondering if that's why so many kids these days are so strong in personality. You know mine and they never give up. Now I'm going to have to work hard to get them to love the gospel and others and fight for what is right! Thank you for your thoughts again!