The LDS Daily WOOL Home Page
(4/16/99)
"Some of the General Authorities [the Apostles] have had assigned to
them a special calling; they possess a special gift; they are
sustained as prophets, seers, and revelators, which gives them a
special spiritual endowment in connection with their teaching of the
people. They have the right, the power, and authority to declare the
mind and will of God to his people, subject to the over-all power and
authority of the President of the Church." — J. Reuben Clark, Jr.,
"Follow the Living Prophets," p. 34-35
(6/2/99)
"God has given to all his creations upon the earth, to the very earth
itself, a due and proper individual form. Every plant, every animal
has its own shape that lasts through life; and to the successor of
each comes that same shape. The minerals of the earth have each their
due and proper form when left to obey the law and order of their
creation. Lastly, man has his form to him given, and his offspring
after him. The laws of God, as shadowed in his works, know only order
and form; these they inexorably demand. When God gave to his children
his greatest gift, without which they were lost to him, he gave the
gift in due and proper form and figure,—a man, the Christ who was in
the image of the Father—our Father, Christ's Father." — J. Reuben
Clark, Jr., "Behold the Lamb of God, [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book
Co., 1991], p. 179
(7/17/03)
"Atheists have jeered at the naiveté of the boy's story, and at the
credulity of them who believe in him. To those who so jeer, it need
only be said: Repent and turn to God, lest his judgments come upon
you.
"Others, professing Christ, have ridiculed the fact that God and the Son should come to a boy. But is this stranger than that the Lord should come to young Samuel in the temple after nightfall, and call Samuel to his service, or that the spirit of the Lord should rest upon the youth David, to the performance of his task?
"Others have scoffed at his struggle with the evil power, and at his coming to, lying upon his back upon the ground, at the shaft of light, at the appearances of the heavenly beings, and at his weariness, declaring that all this was but an epileptic fit.
"But what will these scoffers say of the experience of Saul, of the light that shone about him, of his falling to the ground, of his blindness, so that he must be led by the hand, of his extreme exhaustion? Will any Christian dare characterize that as an epileptic fit?
"And what of Daniel's experience, when his vision came to him, when he was left without strength, fell into a deep sleep on his face which was towards the ground, when the personage spoke to him, and gave him commands, and then afterwards Daniel was strengthened. Was this, too, epilepsy?
"Was Jacob's wrestling with the Lord, at the time the Lord gave him the name of Israel, and he saw God face to face,—an epileptic fit?
"When at the time of the transfiguration, a great light appeared, and heavenly beings appeared, with whom Jesus talked, while Peter, James, and John slept, and awakened confused, but saw the glory of these beings? Was this, too, a fit?
"When Jesus went to the Garden to pray on the night of the betrayal, while Peter, James, and John waited 'a stone's cast' away, and falling to the ground on his face, he prayed: 'Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.' Was this reality, or some physical impairment?
"And what of Stephen, the first martyr of the Primitive Church, who, responsive to the enquiry of the high priest, bore his testimony of the Christ to the Council of the Jews, and they hearing and frenzied by Satan 'gnashed on him with their teeth,' and he, 'being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.' Are Christians ready to dismiss this as epilepsy, or as an hallucination? And before they answer yes, let them listen and try to hear the crunching of Stephen's bones as the mob stoned this martyr to death, Saul witnessing; let them try to vision Stephen, with pain-taut, agonized features, as his spirit struggled to be free, but with glorious exaltation in his eyes, crying out as he neared death:
"'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.... Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.'
"And what of Pentecost, and the 'sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind,' and the coming 'unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them,' and of their speaking in tongues, being filled with the Holy Ghost, and then the great multitude, 'devout men, out of every nation under heaven,' each hearing the Apostles' testimony in his own tongue, saying among themselves, what meaneth this, and some, mocking, declaring: 'These men are full of new wine.' Was this, too, epilepsy, a mob hallucination? Deny the verity of this, Christians who can, and then try to get on your knees and pray to God, through our mediator, Jesus Christ.
"The vision of Joseph, when he saw the Father and the Son, was real, just as all these we have named were real. It was not the vagary or hallucination of a disease-preyed mind. Joseph saw, even as Moses saw,—the one no less certainly than the other.
"The Spirit hath borne its witness to me of this, and I so declare, in the name of the Son. Amen." -- J. Reuben Clark, "On the Way to Immortality and Eternal Life," [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1949], p. 115
(8/17/03)
"'Clean hands and pure hearts,' was a sermon sung this morning. Clean
hands--clean of defilement of our fellow men, clean from the goods of
our fellow men, clean from the blood of our fellow men; that must be
the cleanliness which must be ours. Pure hearts--pure before the Lord;
greed and lust and covetousness banished from our hearts, standing
pure before God, that he may look therein and see there nothing which
would cause him pain, and nothing which would make us blush. I have
often said: 'I wonder how we would all stand, and individually how I
would stand, if I were told that God was yonder in the mountain and I
could go to him if I wished.' I wonder if my life has been such that I
could go and stand before the Being who could look me through and see
my secret thoughts and hopes and ambitions. Unless and until, my
brothers and sisters, we could stand that test, we are not living as
the Lord would have us live." — J. Reuben Clark, "General Conference
Reports," October 1935, p. 89
(12/21/04)
"'And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books
were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life:
and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the
books, * * * every man according to his works.' (Revelation
20:12-13.) Thus it is stated clearly that we are to be judged by
our works, by our accomplishments, by what we do and not wholly or
primarily by what we say. Concerning this important matter Jesus the
Son of God himself has said: 'Not every one that saith unto me, Lord,
Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the
will of my Father which is in heaven.' (Matthew
7:21.)" - J. Reuben Clark, Jr., "Conference Report," April
1934, p. 108
(9/3/05)
"Your message should be: I know that
God lives; that he has revealed Himself personally, by which we know
He is in the likeness of man; that in answer to prayer His Son Jesus
Christ has revealed Himself to His Prophet Joseph Smith and restored
again the true plan of salvation; that by means of His revelations
the true Church of Christ is organized upon earth, with an
authorized Priesthood to officiate in its ordinances, and to receive
continual revelation for the building up of His Church upon the
earth. Repent all ye people, therefore, turn from your sins, be
baptized, and by God's authorized servants ye shall receive the Holy
Ghost as a light to your path, and a guide to your feet." - J.
Reuben Clark, "Messages of the First Presidency of The Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," 6 vols. (Salt Lake City:
Bookcraft, 1965-75), 4:341
(10/12/05)
"When the Savior came upon the earth he had two great missions; one
was to work out the Messiahship, the atonement for the fall, and the
fulfillment of the law; the other was the work which he did among
his brethren and sisters in the flesh by way of relieving their
sufferings, and again by teaching to them the great spiritual facts
out of which by observance may come eternal life. He left as a
heritage to those who should come after him in his Church the
carrying on of those two great things work for the relief of the
ills and the sufferings of humanity, and the teaching of the
spiritual truths which should bring us back into the presence of our
Heavenly Father." - J. Reuben Clark, Jr., "Conference Report,"
April 1937, First Day—Morning Meeting, p.21
6/22/09
“I take the
liberty of again reminding you that you here assembled are voting for
the Church. In a very true sense you are a constituent assembly, you
represent the Church, you will be asked to sustain, or otherwise,
those who are proposed to be sustained, and I would like to urge upon
you the realization that this is not a pro-forma presentation. It is a
presentation in which those who vote in the affirmative pledge
themselves with their uplifted hands that they will sustain those for
whom they vote. And this sustaining means that you will support,
follow, and obey in the proper ways those who preside over you.” -
J. Reuben Clark, Jr., “Conference Report,” April 1957, Second
Day—Morning Meeting, p. 41
7/23/09
“In
the first place, I must note that one of the virtues claimed by the
Revisionists for their new work is that it consciously and
deliberately sets about to destroy the New Testament as a book of
supreme classic literature. They have all succeeded. They say the
English of the King James Version is of too much beauty and elegance,
is in English too majestic and lofty for the writings of New Testament
times. I merely ask, could any language be too great, too elegant, too
beautiful, too lofty, to record the doings and sayings of Jesus of
Nazareth, the Christ?” - J. Reuben Clark,
Jr., “Conference Report,” April 1954, Afternoon Meeting, p. 40
1/6/10
“It is our mission, perhaps the most fundamental purpose
of Our work, to bear constant testimony of Jesus the Christ. We must
never permit to enter into our thoughts and certainly not into our
teachings, the idea that he was merely a great teacher, a great
philosopher, the builder of a great system of ethics. It is our duty,
day after day, year in and year out, always to declare that Jesus of
Nazareth was the Christ who brought redemption to the world and to all
the inhabitants thereof.” - J. Reuben Clark,
Jr., “Conference Report,” October 1955, Afternoon Meeting, p. 24
8/14/16
Brethren, I cannot speak too earnestly and invoke too intently the
wish that we shall, all of us, realize what this Priesthood means;
that we shall keep ourselves clean so that nothing shall stand betwixt
us and the Lord. I have spoken of the extreme case, in a way, the
healing of the sick of our dear ones, but there is no hour of the day
or the waking hours of the night, when we do not stand in need of
comfort, of peace, of inspiration, of wisdom, that can come only from
our Heavenly Father. Our priesthood is our authority to go to the Lord
in times of stress. - J. Reuben Clark, Jr.,
“Conference Report,” April 1953, General Priesthood Meeting, p.55
3/2/17
There is spiritual learning just as there is material learning, and
the one without the other is not complete; yet, speaking for myself,
if I could have only one sort of learning, that which I would take
would be the learning of the spirit, because in the hereafter I shall
have opportunity in the eternities which are to come to get the other,
and without spiritual learning here my handicaps in the hereafter
would be all but overwhelming. – J. Reuben
Clark, Jr., “Conference Report,” April 1934, p. 94