Tag: President Monson

Upcoming General Conference

I’ve heard from several sources that Elder Russell M. Nelson has announced to a number of Stake Presidents that President Thomas S. Monson has received a revelation that will affect every man, woman, and child in the church. This revelation is supposed to be announced in the upcoming general conference.

The last great revelatory program introduced in general conference was the Perpetual Education Fund announced by President Gordon B. Hinckley. That program is profoundly Christ-like.

During His ministry, Christ blessed lives in practical ways. He cured lepers; allowing them to return to society. He cured blindness; rescuing the blessed from darkness. He cured the lame; liberating them from physical captivity. His goodness conferred life-changing blessings, making practical changes to the lives of those he blessed.

Similarly, the Perpetual Education Fund has conferred practical, life-changing blessings. It mirrors the way Christ blessed people.

Not all beneficiaries of the Perpetual Education Fund have repaid their interest-free loans. Not all have remained active in the church. That is of no consequence. The goodness of the program is in the giving of the blessing. It does not matter whether those who are blessed are grateful. The church’s (our) acts of Christ-like generosity is unchanged whether the beneficiary ever returns to thank us. Nine of the ten lepers never thanked the Lord. There is little evidence in the scriptures of the many who were healed by the Lord then becoming faithful disciples. The program is Christ-like. Its greatness consists in conferring a blessing. The Lord gives the sunshine and rain to all, the good and the bad. Very few are grateful to Him for that. It does not stop Him from being good and continuing in sustaining us all from moment to moment.

I encourage all to listen to upcoming general conference.

President Monson

Why I admire President Monson.

Christ’s denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees included the caution that the outward observances of the law were less important than the “weighter matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith.”  (Matt. 23: 23.)
 
James, the brother of Jesus and Presiding Bishop of the New Testament Church, whom I regard as the unidentified “Teacher of Righteousness” taught that “Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.”  (James 1: 27.)
 
Thomas Monson’s lifelong ministry to the widows, elderly and fatherless is sincere, real and lasting.  One of the widows to whom he paid a visit a few short months ago was my wife’s grandmother, the great-grandmother to my children. At the time, she was confined to an assisted-living home.  Without any advance notice President Monson showed up on a stormy Sunday afternoon.  Due to the weather conditions, the care center had decided to cancel their Sacrament Meeting.  He came through the storm, put the meeting back into place, and conducted this Sabbath celebration for the confined, elderly widows and widowers.
 
He lives that “pure religion” which includes the “weighter matters” that, above all else, we ought not leave undone.
 
Virtues are worthy of recognition. I like to take a lead from the Egyptian judgment scale and to weigh a man’s heart against a feather to decide another man’s worthiness before God.  For with what judgment we judge we shall be judged.  (Matt. 7: 2.)

A lifetime of service

I do not know President Monson personally.  But his history is well known to all of us.  He was a Bishop while in his 20’s, a Stake President shortly thereafter, and then called in his late 30’s to be a member of the Quorum of the Twelve.  He worked for Deseret News before becoming a full time General Authority.  Essentially his entire life has been church service, both in his profession and in his calling.
 
If you want to see what The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints would produce if a life were entirely the product of the institution and experiences derived from serving in and under that institution, you have that in President Monson.
 
It is clear to me that he absolutely trusts the system which produced all his significant life experiences.  The last two vacancies in the Twelve were filled by the senior president of the Seventy.  This would make Elder Ron Rasband the next one in line to fill a vacancy in the Twelve.  He (Elder Rasband) is a member of my stake.