Be Ye Believing

It is a tenant of our faith that “We believe that through the Atonement of Christ, all mankind may be saved, by obedience to the laws and ordinances of the Gospel” ( AF 1:3 ). Yea, the Atonement was wrought for all of us, and there are none that do not have access to it; for, “God is no respecter of persons” ( Acts 10:34 ) and “he denieth none that come unto him, black and white, bond and free, male and female… all are alike unto God” ( 2 Ne 26:33 ). “For Jesus died on Calvary, that all thru Him might ransomed be” ( Hymn 177 , emphasis added). Indeed, Jesus Christ, Himself, speaking of His Atonement said, “For, behold, I, God, have suffered these things for all” ( D&C 19:16 ). He atoned for you and He atoned for me; He atoned for everyone. There is no one too far gone, no one too shrouded in sin, no one past the point of no return. We all fall short; we are all imperfect; we are all at the mercy of His Atonement. That’s why we are here; that’s why we partake of the sacram

President Thomas S. Monson was a great man, whom I admire tremendously, but now he's with his darling Frances, whom he missed so dearly. I enjoyed listening to him speak; I enjoyed his stories, his voice inflections and facial expressions. He had a great sense of humor from the pulpit. I remember sitting in the Priesthood Session of General Conference and watching him wiggle his ears. I know he was a prophet of God, not because that’s what the Church teaches nor because I know President Hinckley was a Prophet of God and therefore would make logical sense that his successor would be as well. I know for myself. I watched that first General Conference after President Hinckley passed away and saw the mantle pass to President Monson. I felt it deep within my heart, and I knew then that he was indeed a prophet of God. I related to President Monson more than anyone else I’ve heard speak in conference. His stories always spoke to me, especially the stories of his naval service duri

During this past Conference, I reflected on where I am on the path back to Our Father above, and how much further ahead I want to be; on who I am now and who I could be. As I reflected more, I eventually questioned: “On a scale from Laman to Nephi, how much do I actually Listen to a Prophet’s voice?” “When I turn off the tv following conference, do I follow his counsel or do I continue to be the same person I was prior to his talk?” As I continued to ponder question after question, I arrived at three basic but important questions about Prophets, which I would like to focus on today: 1.What is a Prophet? 2. Why are Prophets important? 3. How can we sustain the Prophet? What Is a Prophet? Surely, he is a man, just like us. He makes mistakes and has flaws, just like us. But unlike us, he was called to that holy calling by the Lord, and the Lord qualifies whom He calls. Alma, a prophet from the Book of Mormon, explained what this call entails: For I am called to spe