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1/18/02
"It is the individual testing time that I see approaching, so that it
is well to know the forces and the powers that are arrayed against us,
and their purposes, that we may close our ranks and fortify ourselves.
Being forewarned we should be forearmed, and I declare to you that
every gospel principle which the Church has received is calculated in
its very nature to steel and armour us against the assaults of the
enemy of our souls." — Melvin J. Ballard, "Struggle
for
the Soul," New Era, Mar. 1984, p. 38
10/10/04
"But his interest in this world did not end when he had performed his
great sacrifice. He is the Savior of all men, no matter where or when
they have lived upon the earth. To his disciples at Jerusalem he said,
'And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must
bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and
one shepherd.' (John
10:16) It is generally agreed now that when he spoke those words
there was a mighty multitude of people living in this western world.
He was their Savior and knew of their existence." - Melvin J.
Ballard, "Conference Report," October 1936, Church of the Air
Broadcast, p. 99
2/28/07
How can we have spiritual hunger? Who is there among us that does not
wound his spirit by word, thought, or deed, from Sabbath to Sabbath?
We do things for which we are sorry, and desire to be forgiven, or we
have erred against someone and given injury. If there is a feeling in
our hearts that we are sorry for what we have done; if there is a
feeling in our souls that we would like to be forgiven, then the
method to obtain forgiveness is not through rebaptism, it is not to
make confession to man, but it is to repent of our sins, to go to
those against whom we have sinned or transgressed and obtain their
forgiveness, and then repair to the sacrament table where, if we have
sincerely repented and put ourselves in proper condition, we shall be
forgiven, and spiritual healing will come to our souls. It will really
enter into our being. You have felt it. I am a witness that there is a
spirit attending the administration of the sacrament that warms the
soul from head to foot; you feel the wounds of the spirit being
healed, and the load is lifted. Comfort and happiness come to the soul
that is worthy and truly desirous of partaking of this spiritual food.
- Melvin J. Ballard, "How Can We Have Spiritual Hunger?"
(Improvement Era 1919)
5/21/08
"O,
my brethren and sisters, when I think of what God has done for us in
this daily temporal life of ours; in this being that we have here, the
clothing that we wear, the air we breathe, the food to eat, and all
are daily given as manifestations of the munificent gifts of God. We
think it was a wonderful thing that He sent manna down to feed Israel:
but every day we have as wonderful a miracle in the things that we
have to subsist upon in this world as the result of God's munificent
gifts unto us. I rejoice in the many things that He has done. Many
people ask how they can trust Him, and how they can believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ when they have not seen Him, or seen a miracle. You
do not need to see Him. There is one thing, if He had done no other
that ought to bring forth such confidence in our hearts, and trust in
him, that we could not doubt His love for us. I refer to His most
precious of all gifts. I do not diminish any other gift of God to man,
but I do value above all other things the gift of His Son Jesus Christ
to the world."
- Melvin J. Ballard, "Conference Report," October 1910,
Overflow Meeting, p.82 - 84
3/1/09
"I
doubt not that God lives. His providence is over his Church and over
the world, and a good time is coming. I can see behind the dark clouds
present, the silver lining of a better day, the glorious consummation
of those precious promises that have inspired the utterances of the
prophets of God from the beginning until this day, that this is but
preparation for the coming of the great Son of God to live upon the
earth."
- Melvin J. Ballard, "Conference
Report," April 1917, Second Overflow Meeting, p.120
4/15/09
"The world has riches beyond anything we have, but we have the one
precious thing that they do not have, and it is worth more than all
other things in the world—the saving principles, the priesthood, the
virtue and the power of the gospel of the Son of God. And that is the
thing the world will desire more than they want anything else, and
they will come to it. Shall we be prepared to give it to them? We will
be, if we are wise; and this is the day when I say we ought to set our
houses in order, a day when we ought to repent. And if we need
chastisement, it will come to us, and sorrow will come to us, only for
the purpose of turning our hearts to the Lord in humility and faith to
obtain and maintain the blessings God has promised to the faithful." -
Melvin J. Ballard, “Conference Report,” April
1918, Second Meeting—Outdoors, p.142
6/21/09
“We
have learned that the Lord has had in training, before they came into
this world, tried and tested individuals, even as he revealed to
Abraham, to be his leaders in the various dispensations—men whom he
knew, prophets, statesmen, wise men, and leaders for all nations. I am
convinced also that when our Father sent these leaders into the world
he did not send them alone. He sent, in connection with them, hosts of
other tried souls who would be helps to those who were selected of the
Lord to be his leaders. I believe, therefore, that when the time came
for the birth into the world of the chosen prophet, Joseph Smith, who
was selected before he came into the world to be the prophet of this
last dispensation, he did not come alone, but there came with him men
and women like unto himself, tried souls. God knew them. He held them
in reserve for ages, until this day should dawn.” - Melvin
J. Ballard, “Conference Report,” October 1920, Third Day—Morning
Session, p. 77
9/16/09
“As
we followed President Smith, let us follow our leader today. He is the
spokesman of the Lord. The Lord has his program to work out: and so
far as I am concerned, and I hope it shall be true of every member of
this Church, we shall be willing to listen to the voice of the leader
today. All honor to the leaders of the past. They filled their niche,
their place, their station, completed their work. But the work of God
is not finished in the earth. It has only partly completed what God
ordained it to do. And those of us who remain must seize the banner
and carry this work off victorious, to glorify the names of those who
have been identified with this work in the days that are past, and to
receive honor and place and position with them in the eternal world,
and vindicate the word of our Father in his blessings and promises to
those who would enter into sacred covenants to keep the commandments
of the Lord.” - Melvin J. Ballard,
“Conference Report,” June 1919, Outdoor Meeting, p. 73
11/15/09
“Men
must have a true measuring rod to determine whether knowledge which
comes to them is true or false. They must have a true balance or rule
that is always reliable, always dependable, by which they can weigh or
measure every particle of information that comes to them. What will
this rule be? I have discovered that the sure action of my soul is the
knowledge I have that God lives, that Jesus is the Christ, and that
our Father in heaven has spoken, that those truths contained in the
revelations of God in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and D&C, are the
very eternal truth. I have accepted them as my measuring rod, and I
have not accepted as the final truth anything that does not square up
to those eternal truths, that does not harmonize with the truth I have
from God. Truth will harmonize with itself. Let us adopt this standard
when we go out into the world, and seek the world's knowledge, its
science, and everything pertaining to the world and the world's work,
and we shall be saved from shipwreck.” - Melvin
J. Ballard, “Conference Report,” April 1915, Second Overflow
Meeting, p. 59
11/10/12
I bear witness
to you that God is speaking in the interest of truth and in the
interest of the establishment of his work, even by the very elements:
and he will speak in an effort to cause men in their mad rush for
pleasure to stop, to ponder, to ask themselves whether or not God be
in the affairs of men. May men repent, may they save themselves by
accepting the principles of the gospel. God himself cannot save them,
only as they comply with the rules of eternal truth. If they disregard
them they put themselves beyond his power. He can do nothing for them.
- Melvin J. Ballard, Conference Report, October 1928, Third Day
Morning Meeting, p.111
7/27/15
Other nations might boast of
their kings, but the King of America, proclaimed by the patriotic
fathers who rounded it and established it, is the great God of
heaven. This must continue to be the sentiment of the people of
America if these glorious institutions shall be preserved, and in
our hands is the sacred keeping of these great and glorious
principles. - Melvin J. Ballard,
Conference Report, October 1928, Third Day—Morning Meeting, p. 109
6/26/16
It is delightful to know that in an age when churches are being
tested and tried and shaken, and doubt and uncertainty are
developing, here there is strength, here there is power, here there
is solidity; and in the most enlightened age that the world has ever
known for this Church to be making its most rapid progress, surely
is hopeful. - Melvin J. Ballard,
“Conference Report,” October 1929, First Day-Morning Meeting, p.48