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I will tell you how much I love those characters. If they had any respect to their own welfare, they would come forth and say, whether Joseph Smith was a Prophet or not, 'We shed his blood, and now let us atone for it;' and they would be willing to have their heads chopped off, that their blood might run upon the ground, and the smoke of it rise before the Lord as an incense for their sins.

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 2:179

Monogamy, or restrictions by law to one wife, is no part of the economy of heaven among men. Such a system was commenced by the founders of the Roman empire....Rome became the mistress of the world, and introduced this order of monogamy wherever her sway was acknowledged. Thus this monogamic order of marriage, so esteemed by modern Christians as a holy sacrament and divine institution, is nothing but a system established by a set of robbers.... Why do we believe in and practice polygamy? Because the Lord introduced it to his servants in a revelation given to Joseph Smith, and the Lord's servants have always practiced it. 'And is that religion popular in heaven?' it is the only popular religion there.

Brigham Young, The Deseret News, August 6, 1862

Some may think what I have said concerning Adam strange, but the period will come when the people will be willing to adopt Joseph Smith as their Prophet, Seer, and Revelator and God! but not the Father of their spirits, for that was our Father Adam.

Brigham Young, Journal History, p. 131, December 11, 1869

If [the sun] was made to give light to those who dwell upon it, and to other planets; and so will this earth when it is celestialized. Every planet in the first rude, organic state receives not the glory of God upon it, but is opaque; but when celstialized, every planet that God brings into existence is a body of light, but not till then.

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 13:271

Now ask the Father in the name of Jesus whether I am telling you the truth about temporal things or not, and the same Spirit that bore witness to you that baptism by immersion is the correct way according to the Scriptures, will bear witness that the man whom God calls to dictate affairs in the building up of his Zion has the right to dictate about everything connected with the building up of Zion, yes even to the ribbons the women wear; and any person who denies it is ignorant. There is not a man or woman in the world who rises up against this principle but what is ignorant; all such are destitute of the spirit of revelation and enjoy not the Spirit of Christ!

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 11:298

The time is coming when justice will be laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet; when we shall take the old broad sword and ask, "Are you for God?" and if you are not heartily on the Lord's side, you will be hewn down.

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 3:226

Elders, never love your wives one hair's breadth further than they adorn the Gospel, never love them so but that you can leave them at a moment's warning without shedding a tear. Should you love a child any more than this? No.

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 3:354

The earth is a living creature and breathes as much as you and I do.

Brigham Young, Teachings of President Brigham Young, ed. and comp. by Fred C. Collier, v. 3, 1852‑1854, 1987, p. 241, also in Essential Brigham Young, p. 82

Will you love your brothers and sisters likewise, when they have committed a sin that cannot be atoned for without the shedding of their blood? Will you love that man or woman well enough to shed their blood? That is what Jesus Christ meant.

Brigham Young, Deseret News, April 16, 1856

Just ask yourselves, historians, when was monogamy introduced on to the face of the earth? When those buccaneers, who settled on the peninsula where Rome now stands, could not steal women enough to have two or three apiece, they passed a law that a man should have but one woman. And this started monogamy and the downfall of the plurality system. In the days of Jesus, Rome, having dominion over Jerusalem, they carried out the doctrine more or less. This was the rise, start and foundation of the doctrine of monogamy; and never till then was there a law passed, that we have any knowledge of, that a man should have but one wife.

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 12:262

Who can tell us of the inhabitants of this little planet that shines of an evening, called the moon? When we view its face we may see what is termed "the man in the moon," and what some philosophers declare are the shadows of mountains. But these sayings are very vague, and amount to nothing; and when you inquire about the inhabitants of that sphere you find that the most learned are as ignorant in regard to them as the most ignorant of their fellows. So it is with regard to the inhabitants of the sun. Do you think it is inhabited? I rather think it is. Do you think there is any life there? No question of it; it was not made in vain. It was made to give light to those who dwell upon it, and to other planets; and so will this earth when it is celestialized. Every planet in its first rude, organic state receives not the glory of God upon it, but is opaque; but when celestialized, every planet that God brings into existence is a body of light, but not till then.

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 13:271

In the days of Joseph [Smith] it was considered a great privilege to be permitted to speak to a member of Congress, but twenty‑six years will not pass away before the Elders of this Church will be as much thought of as the kings on their thrones.

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 4:40

The very moment that persons in this Church suffer their affections to be immoderately placed upon an object this side the celestial kingdom, they disgrace their profession and calling. When you love your wives and children, are fond of your horses, your carriages, your fine houses, your goods and chattels, or anything of an earthly nature, before your affections become too strong, wait until you and your family are sealed up unto eternal lives, and you know they are yours from that time henceforth and for ever.

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 3:354

For the first act of adultery you may forgive a man, but if a man beds with a woman and does it 10 times he is guilty.

Brigham Young, Mormon apologist D. Michael Quinn's The Mormon Hierarchy

Suppose you found your brother in bed with your wife, and put a javelin through both of them. You would be justified, and they would atone for their sins, and be received into the Kingdom of God. I would at once do so, in such a case; and under the circumstances, I have no wife whom I love so well that I would not put a javelin through her heart, and I would do it with clean hands.... There is not a man or woman, who violates the covenants made with their God, that will not be required to pay the debt. The blood of Christ will never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it.

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 1:108

These treasures that are in the earth are carefully watched, they can be removed from place to place according to the good pleasure of Him who made them and owns them.

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 19:36

I insert fac‑similes of the six brass plates found near Kinderhook... I have translated a portion of them, and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, and that he received his Kingdom from the ruler of heaven and earth.

Joseph Smith, Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr., History of the Church, v. 5, p. 372

And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.

Joseph Smith, Mormon 9:32

[Joseph Smith] described the men as averaging near six feet in height, and dressing quite uniformly in something near the Quaker style. In my patriarchal blessing, given by the father of Joseph the Prophet, in Kirtland, 1837, I was told that I should preach the gospel before I was 21 years of age; that I should preach the gospel to the inhabitants upon the islands of the sea, and ‑‑ to the inhabitants of the moon, even the planet you can now behold with your eyes. The first two promises have been fulfilled, and the latter may be verified.

Joseph Smith, Young Woman's Journal, vol. 3, p. 263‑264 (1892)

SIR:‑‑Through the medium of your paper I wish to correct an error among men that profess to be learned, liberal and wise; and I do it the more cheerfully because I hope sober‑thinking and sound‑reasoning people will sooner listen to the voice of truth than be led astray by the vain pretensions of the self‑wise. The error I speak of is the definition of the word 'Mormon.' It has been stated that this word was derived from the Greek word mormo. This is not the case. There was no Greek or Latin upon the plates from which I, through the grace of the Lord, translated the Book of Mormon. The word Mormon, means literally, more good.

Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 5:399‑400

I will here say, before closing, that two weeks before I left St. George, the spirits of the dead gathered around me, wanting to know why we did not redeem them. Said they, "You have had the use of the Endowment House for a number of years, and yet nothing has ever been done for us. We laid the foundation of the government you now enjoy, and we never apostatized from it, but we remained true to it and were faithful to God." There were the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and they waited on me for two days and two nights. I thought it very singular, that notwithstanding so much work had been done, and yet nothing had been done for them. The thought never entered my heart, from the fact, I suppose, that heretofore our minds were reaching after our more immediate friends and relatives. I straightway went into the baptismal font and called upon brother McCallister to baptize me for the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and fifty other eminent men, making one hundred in all, including John Wesley, Columbus, and others; I then baptized him for every President of the United States, except three; and when their cause is just, somebody will do the work for them.

Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses 19:229

Kings would tremble upon their thrones at my word.... I should become a Counsellor & multitudes should seek counsel at my mouth & I should have great wisdom & power to fly through the midst under heaven... I should have power over my enemies & have long life & bring many into the kingdom of God Also that I should have the riches of the earth.

Wilford Woodruff, Diary of Wilford Woodruff, April 11, 1837, reprinted in Dean Jessee, "The Kirtland Diary of Wilford Woodruff," BYU Studies

There is no true Latter‑day Saint who would not rather bury a son or a daughter than to have him or her lose his or her chastity ‑‑ realizing that chastity is of more value than anything else in all the world.

Heber J. Grant, Prophet Heber J. Grant, Gospel Standards, p. 55

My boy, you always keep your eye on the President of the Church, and if he tells you to do something wrong, and you do it, the Lord will bless you for it.

Heber J. Grant, Prophet Heber J. Grant, as quoted by Apostle Marion G. Romney in "The Covenant of the Priesthood," Ensign, July 1972, p. 98

It is a fact worthy of note that the shortest lived nations of which we have record have been monogamic. Rome...was a monogamic nation and the numerous evils attending that system early laid the foundation for that ruin which eventually overtook her.

George Albert Smith, Journal of Discourses 13:202

There are those in this audience who are descendants of the old 12 Apostles and, shall I say it, yes, descendants of the Savior himself. His seed is represented in this body of men.

George Albert Smith, A Ministry of Meetings: The Apostolic Diaries of Rudger Clawson (p71‑72)

Such parents may be sincere, even if misguided; but in most cases the desire not to have children has its birth in vanity, passion, and selfishness. Such feelings are the seeds sown in early married life that produce a harvest of discord, suspicion, estrangement, and divorce.

David O. McKay, Prophet David O. McKay, Relief Society Magazine, v. 3, no. 7, July 1916

No doubt there are some worldly people who honestly limit the number of children and the family to two or three because of insufficient means to clothe and educate a large family as the parents would desire to do, but in nearly all such cases, the two or three children are no better provided for than two or three times that number would be.

David O. McKay, Prophet David O. McKay, Relief Society Magazine, v. 3, no. 7, July 1916

It is indeed, a case of survival of the fittest, and it is only a matter of time before those who so strongly advocate and practice the pernicious doctrine of 'birth control' and the limiting of the number of children in the family, will have legislated themselves and their kind out of this mortal existence.

Joseph Fielding Smith, Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, Relief Society Magazine, v. 3, no. 7, July 1916

When the Lamanites [Native Americans] fully repent and sincerely receive the gospel, the Lord has promised to remove the dark skin.

Joseph Fielding Smith, Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, v. 3, p. 123, 1953

After the people again forgot the Lord and dissensions arose, some of them took upon themselves the name Lamanites and the dark skin returned. When the Lamanites fully repent and sincerely receive the gospel, the Lord has promised to remove the dark skin. The Lord declared by revelation that, 'before the great day of the Lord shall come, Jacob shall flourish in the wilderness, and the Lamanites shall blossom as a rose.' The dark skin of those who have come into the Church is no longer to be considered a sign of the curse. Many of these converts and delightsome and have the Spirit of the Lord. Perhaps there are some Lamanites today who are losing the dark pigment. Many of the members of the Church among the Catawba Indians of the South could readily pass as of the white race; also in other parts of the South.

Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, v. 3, p. 123, 1953

I feel only the greatest contempt for those who, because of a little worldly learning or a feeling of their own superiority over others, advocate and endeavor to control the so‑called 'lower classes' from what they are pleased to call 'indiscriminate breeding.'

Joseph Fielding Smith, Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, Relief Society Magazine, v. 3, no. 7, July 1916

Many [Native American] converts are delightsome and have the Spirit of the Lord. Perhaps there are some Lamanites today who are losing the dark pigment. Many of the members of the Church among the Catawba Indians of the South could readily pass as of the white race; also in other parts of the South.

Joseph Fielding Smith, Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, v. 3, p. 123, 1953

The dividing of the earth [Genesis 10:25] was not an act of division by the inhabitants of the earth by tribes and peoples, but a breaking asunder of the continents, thus dividing the land surface and creating the Eastern Hemisphere and Western Hemisphere. By looking at a wall map of the world, you will discover how the land surface along the northern and southern coast of the American Hemisphere and Europe and Africa has the appearance of having been together at one time. Of course, there have been many changes on the earth's surface since the beginning. We are informed by revelation that the time will come when this condition will be changed and that the land surface of the earth will come back again as it was in the beginning and all be in one place. This is definitely stated in the Doctrine and Covenants.

Joseph Fielding Smith, Answers to Gospel Questions, v. 5, pp. 73‑74

At one meeting a father and mother and their sixteen‑year‑old daughter were present, the little member girl‑sixteen sitting between the dark father and mother, and it was evident she was several shades lighter than her parents on the same reservation, in the same Hogan, subject to the same sun and wind and weather. There was the doctor in a Utah city who for two years had had an Indian boy in his home who stated that he was some shades lighter than the younger brother just coming into the program from the reservation. These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and delightsomeness.

Spencer W. Kimball, General Conference, Oct. 1960

President David O. McKay has pleaded: Your virtue is worth more than your life. Please, young folk, preserve your virtue even if you lose your lives.

Spencer W. Kimball, Prophet Spencer W. Kimball, LDS Prophet, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 63

The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation.

Spencer W. Kimball, Spencer W. Kimball, General Conference, October 1960; Improvement Era, December 1960, pp922‑923

There was the doctor in a Utah city who for two years had had an Indian boy in his home who stated that he was some shades lighter than the younger brother just coming into the program from the reservation. These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness.

Spencer W. Kimball, The Improvement Era, Dec. 1960, p. 923

These young members of the Church are changing to whiteness and to delightsomeness. One white elder jokingly said that he and his companion were donating blood regularly to the hospital in the hope that the process might be accelerated.

Spencer W. Kimball, Spencer W. Kimball, General Conference, October 1960; Improvement Era, December 1960, pp922‑923

Justifiable divorces are rare. I know there are many who feel that they have been justified, and there may have been some who were justified. We are not talking to them or of them. We are talking of the great majority that could have been salvaged, could have been saved if we had tried and tried hard enough.

Spencer W. Kimball, Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, pp. 314‑315

Also far‑reaching is the effect of loss of chastity. Once given or taken or stolen it can never be regained. Even in a forced contact such as rape or incest, the injured one is greatly outraged. If she has not cooperated and contributed to the foul deed, she is of course in a more favorable position. There is no condemnation when there is no voluntary participation. It is better to die in defending one's virtue than to live having lost it without a struggle.

Spencer W. Kimball, Prophet Spencer W. Kimball, LDS Prophet, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p. 196

In this picture of the twenty Lamanite missionaries, fifteen of the twenty were as light as Anglos, five were darker but equally delightsome.

Spencer W. Kimball, Spencer W. Kimball, General Conference, October 1960; Improvement Era, December 1960, pp922‑923

The day of the Lamanites is nigh. For years they have been growing delightsome, and they are now becoming white and delightsome, as they were promised. In this picture of the twenty Lamanite missionaries, fifteen of the twenty were as light as Anglos; five were darker but equally delightsome. The children in the home placement program in Utah are often lighter than their brothers and sisters in the hogans on the reservation.

Spencer W. Kimball, General Conference, Oct. 1960

True to form, many of the people who desire to frustrate God's purposes of giving mortal tabernacles to His spirit children through worldwide birth control are the very same people who support the kinds of government that perpetuate famine. They advocate an evil to cure the results of the wickedness they support.

Ezra Taft Benson, Prophet Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, p. 539

You who submit yourselves to an abortion or to an operation that precludes you from safely having additional healthy children are jeopardizing your exaltation and your future membership in the kingdom of God.

Ezra Taft Benson, Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson, 1988, p. 541

I know what my mother expects. I know what she's saying in her prayers. She'd rather have me come home dead than unclean.

Gordon B. Hinckley, Prophet Gordon B. Hinckley, Conference Report, April 1969, pp. 52‑53

The Joseph Smith Translation, or Inspired Version, is a thousand times over the best Bible now existing on earth.

Bruce R. McConkie, Restored Light on the Savior's Last Week in Mortality, June 1999

Atheism is the cause of most of our ills. If we were realistic about our present plight, we would admit that atheism in its many forms is our greatest enemy, whether it be in abandoning God for pleasure and money, or in yielding to philosophical meanderings, or in surrendering to those forces which break down family life, destroy free government, seduce the masses, and spawn hate and war.

Mark E. Petersen, America and God (Mark E. Petersen, 1968 Annual General Conference, Improvement Era)

Overcoming masturbation: When in bed, if that is where you have your problem for the most part, dress yourself for the night so securely that you cannot easily touch your vital parts, and so that it would be difficult and time consuming for you to remove those clothes. By the time you started to remove protective clothing, you would have sufficiently controlled your thinking that the temptation would leave you.

Mark E. Petersen, Overcoming Masturbation: A Guide to Self Control

From this and other interviews I have read, it appears that the Negro seeks absorption with the white race. He will not be satisfied until he achieves it by intermarriage. This is his objective and we must face it.

Mark E. Petersen, 'Race Problems As They Affect The Church', August 27th, 1954

I think I have read enough to give you an idea of what the Negro is after. He is not just seeking the opportunity of sitting down in a cafe where white people eat. He isn't just trying to ride on the same streetcar or the same Pullman car with white people. It isn't that he just desires to go to the same theater as the white people. From this, and other interviews I have read, it appears that the Negro seeks absorption with the white race. He will not be satisfied until he achieves it by intermarriage. That is his objective and we must face it. We must not allow our feelings to carry us away, nor must we feel so sorry for Negroes that we will open our arms and embrace them with everything we have. Remember the little statement that we used to say about sin, 'First we pity, then endure, then embrace'.

Mark E. Petersen, Race Problems ‑ As They Affect The Church, Convention of Teachers of Religion on the College Level, Brigham Young University, August 27, 1954

Some who have been perfectly healthy and able to bear children have avoided this responsibility, and in doing so have resorted to the use of harmful practices and devices resulting often in physical injury to the wife and demoralization to both parties. Some have wondered if the Church would approve such practices. Of course it never has and never could.

Mark E. Petersen, Apostle Mark E. Peterson, Your Faith and You, p. 121

Now to prepare them against these contingencies, and that they might, have fresh air for the benefit of the elephants, cureloms or mammoths and many other animals, that perhaps were in them, as well as the human beings they contained, the Lord told them how to construct them in order to receive air, that when they were on the top of the water, whichever side up their vessels happened to be, it mattered not; they were so constructed that they could ride safely, though bottom upwards and they could open their air holes that happened to be uppermost.

Orson Pratt, Journal of Discourses 12:340

There is a falsehood that some are born with an attraction to their own kind, with nothing they can do about it. They are just 'that way' and can only yield to those desires. That is a malicious and destructive lie. While it is a convincing idea to some, it is of the devil. No one is locked into that kind of life. From our premoral life we were directed into a physical body. There is no mismatching of bodies and spirits. Boys are to become men ‑‑ masculine, manly men ‑‑ ultimately to become husbands and fathers. No one is predestined to a perverted use of these powers.

Boyd K. Packer, 1976 General Conference, speech entitled To Young Men Only

There is; however, something you should not do. Sometimes a young man does not understand. Perhaps he is encouraged by unwise or unworthy companions to tamper with that factory. He might fondle himself and open that release valve. This you shouldn't do, for if you do that, the little factory will speed up. You will then be tempted again and again to release it. You can quickly be subjected to a habit, one that is not worthy, one that will leave you feeling depressed and feeling guilty. Resist that temptation. Do not be guilty of tampering or playing with this sacred power of creation. Keep it in reserve for the time when it can be righteously employed.

Boyd K. Packer, 1976 General Conference, speech entitled To Young Men Only

I must include a caution to you who are married. A couple may be tempted to introduce things into your relationship which are unworthy. ... If you do, the tempter will drive a wedge between you. If something unworthy has become part of your relationship, don't ever do it again! Now, what exactly do I mean by that? You know what I mean by that, and I will not respond to any questions about it.

Boyd K. Packer, 'The Fountain of Life,' BYU Address, 29 March 1992

There are a number of corollaries, or inferences, that flow out of Korihor's fundamental philosophy. The first of these is revealed when Korihor is arrested and taken before Giddonah, the high priest. Giddonah demands to know why, if Korihor is correct in what he said, the people find so much joy in their religious experience. (See Alma 30:22.)

Gerald N. Lund, Ensign, Countering Korihor's Philosophy, July 1992

Giddonah decides that Korihor's case warrants the full attention of Alma, so Korihor is taken to Alma in Zarahemla. It doesn't take Alma long to determine the ultimate source of Korihor's teachings. "The devil has power over you," he says to Korihor, "and he doth carry you about, working devices that he may destroy the children of God." (Alma 30:42.) Later, after Korihor is struck dumb, he confirms Alma's words. "The devil hath deceived me," he admits, "for he appeared unto me in the form of an angel, ... and he taught me that which I should say." (Alma 30:53.)

Gerald N. Lund, Ensign, Countering Korihor's Philosophy, July 1992

In other words, for Korihor to say that there is no God, based on the very criteria he himself has established, he would have to perceive every cubic meter of the universe simultaneously. This creates a paradox: In order for Korihor to prove there is no God, he would have to be a god himself! Therefore, in declaring there is no God, he is acting on "faith," the very thing for which he so sharply derides the religious leaders!

Gerald N. Lund, Ensign, Countering Korihor's Philosophy, July 1992

The Lord told me that Jesus Christ was the son of Adam.

Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Heber C. Kimball, v. 20, p. 17; also, Deseret News, March 11, 1857

Where did the earth come from? From its parent earths.

Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses 6:36

The earth is alive, conceives and came from its parent earths.

Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses 6:36

Skepticism, self‑sufficiency, atheism, a denial of the divinity of Jesus the Christ, have supplanted belief, and lapses from the moral standards are but the natural result of the breaking down of that faith.

Albert E. Bowen, Faith in Christ (Albert E. Bowen, 1947 Semi‑Annual General Conference, Improvement Era)

This prophet Smith, through his stone spectacles, wrote on the plates of Nephi, in his book of Mormon, every error and almost every truth discussed in N. York for the last ten years. He decides all the great controversies ‑ infant baptism, ordination, the trinity, regeneration, repentance, justification, the fall of man, the atonement, transubstantiation, fasting, penance, church government, religious experience, the call to the ministry, the general resurrection, eternal punishment, who may baptize, and even the question of freemasonry, republican government, and the rights of man. All these topics are repeatedly alluded to.

Alexander Campbell, Millennial Harbinger, p. 13, Feb. 7, 1831

The victim must do all in his or her power to stop the abuse. Most often, the victim is innocent because of being disabled by fear or the power or authority of the offender. At some point in time, however, the Lord may prompt a victim to recognize a degree of responsibility for abuse. Your priesthood leader will help assess your responsibility so that, if needed, it can be addressed. Otherwise the seeds of guilt will remain and sprout into bitter fruit. Yet no matter what degree of responsibility, from absolutely none to increasing consent, the healing power of the atonement of Jesus Christ can provide a complete cure.

Richard G. Scott, General Conference, May, 2009

All of the scores of media stories on [the Salamander letter] apparently assume that the author of that letter used the word 'salamander' in the modern sense of a 'tailed amphibian.' One wonders why so many writers neglected to reveal to their readers that there is another meaning of 'salamander,' which may even have been the primary meaning in this context in the 1820s.... That meaning... is 'a mythical being thought to be able to live in fire... A being that is able to live in fire is a good approximation of the description Joseph Smith gave of the Angel Moroni:... the use of the words white salamander and old spirit seem understandable. In view of all this, and as a matter of intellectual evaluation, why all the excitement in the media, and why the apparent hand‑wringing among those who profess friendship or membership in the Church?

Dallin H. Oaks, Oaks on the "Salamander Letter," which was later discovered to be a forgery

Another way to seek a testimony seems astonishing when compared with the methods of obtaining other knowledge. We gain or strengthen a testimony by bearing it. Someone even suggested that some testimonies are better gained on the feet bearing them than on the knees praying for them.

Dallin H. Oaks, 'Testimony,' in Ensign of May 2008

"Criticism is particularly objectionable when it is directed toward Church authorities, general or local. Jude condemns those who 'speak evil of dignities.'" (Jude 1:8.) Evil speaking of the Lord's anointed is in a class by itself. It is one thing to depreciate a person who exercises corporate power or even government power. It is quite another thing to criticize or depreciate a person for the performance of an office to which he or she has been called of God. It does not matter that the criticism is true.

Dallin H. Oaks, 'Criticism,' Latter‑day Saint Student Association fireside in the Salt Lake Tabernacle

It's wrong to criticize leaders of the church, even if the criticism is true.

Dallin H. Oaks, 'Criticism,' Latter‑day Saint Student Association fireside in the Salt Lake Tabernacle

I think these two quotations from such a reliable authority fully solve the question as to the relationship existing between Father Adam and the Savior of the world, and prove beyond question the power that Adam possessed in regard to taking his body again after laying it down ‑‑ which power he never could have attained unless he had received first a resurrection from the grave to a condition of immortality.

James E. Talmage, Joseph E. Taylor, Collected Discourses, v. 1, June 2, 1888

There is one thing that I am told is practiced to some extent among us, and I say to you that where it is practiced and not thoroughly repented of the curse of God will follow it. I refer to the practice of preventing the birth of children. I want to lift my voice in solemn warning against this, and I say to you that the woman who practices such devilish arts, or the man who consents to them, will be cursed of God. Such persons will be cursed in their bodies, cursed in their minds, cursed in their property, cursed in their offspring. God will wipe them out from the midst of this people and nation. Remember it. Mothers, teach this to your daughters, for I tell you it is true. I need not pronounce any curse, whatever my authority may be, but I say to you that women who take this course, and men who consent to it, will be cursed of God Almighty, and it will rest upon them until their generation shall be blotted out, and their name shall be lost from the midst of the Saints of God, unless, as I have said, there is deep, thorough and heartfelt repentance.

George Q. Cannon, Collected Discourses, v. 5, October 7, 1894

[Heber C. Kimball] declared to the people that Brigham Young was his God, and their God, and the only God they would ever see if they did not obey him: 'Joseph Smith was God to the inhabitants of the earth when he was amongst us, and Brigham is God now.' This strain was caught up and reiterated by many of the elders, from Orson Hyde, the president of the twelve apostles, down to the most ignorant teacher, and to question it openly was to be put under the ban.

T. B. H. Stenhouse, The Rocky Mountain Saints, 1873, 1904 edition, p. 294

In the brilliant third chapter of Degenerate Moderns, entitled "Homosexual as Subversive," E. Michael Jones demonstrates the crucial and explanatory role of personal lifestyle not only in the traitorous career of Sir Anthony Blunt, but in the theories of John Maynard Keynes, the biographical writings of Lytton Strachey, and the novels of E. M. Forster. "Modernity was the exoteric version of Bloomsbury biography; it was a radically homosexual vision of the world and therefore of its very nature subversive; treason was its logical outcome.... The Bloomsberries' public writings—Keynes' economic theories, Strachey's best‑selling Eminent Victorians, etc.—were the sodomitical vision for public consumption."

Daniel C. Peterson, "Text and Context"

In any event, it seems clear that immorality (not merely of the homosexual variety) and intellectual apostasy are, and always have been, frequent (though not invariable) companions. (Joseph Smith's famous announcement of a link between adultery and sign‑seeking is apropos here.) Sodom and Cumorah are apparently not compatible.

Daniel C. Peterson, "Text and Context"

Six plates having the appearance of Brass have lately been dug out of the mound by a gentleman in Pike C. [County] Illinois. They are small and filled with engravings in Egyptian language and contain the genealogy of one of the ancient Jaredite back to Ham the son of Noah.

Parley P. Pratt, Apostle Parley P. Pratt, as quoted in Ensign, Aug. 1981, p. 73

I have seen 6 brass plates ... covered with ancient characters of language containing from 30 to 40 on each side of the plates. Prest. J. [Joseph Smith, Jr.] has translated a portion and says they contain the history of the person with whom they were found and he was a descendent of Ham through the loins of Pharaoh King of Egypt, and that he received his Kingdom from the ruler of heaven and earth.

William Clayton, William Clayton's Journal, May 1, 1843, as quoted in Trials of Discipleship, p. 117

Here let me say again, according to the Book of Mormon, many of those great islands that are found in the Indian Ocean, also in the great Pacific Sea, have been planted with colonies of Israelites. Do they not resemble each other? Go to the Sandwich Islands, to the South Sea Islands, to Japan‑‑go to the various islands of the Pacific Ocean, and you find a general resemblance in the characters and countenances of the people. Who are they? According to the Book of Mormon, Israelites were scattered forth from time to time, and colonies planted on these islands of the ocean.

Orson Hyde, Journal of Discourses 14:333

During our evening conversations, Joseph would occasionally give us some of the most amusing recitals that could be imagined. He would describe the ancient inhabitants of this continent, their dress, mode of travelings, and the animals upon which they rode; their cities, their buildings, with every particular; their mode of warfare; and also their religious worship. This he would do with as much ease, seemingly, as if he had spent his whole life among them.

Lucy Mack Smith, Lucy Mack Smith, mother of Joseph Smith, quoted in Studies of the Book of Mormon, p. 243

[Paul H. Dunn told a] tale about his best friend, 'who died in his arms during a World War II battle, while imploring Dunn to teach America's youth about patriotism.' Then there was the riveting account of how God protected him as enemy machine‑gun bullets ripped away his clothing, gear and helmet without ever touching his skin.' Another inspirational yarn explained 'how perseverance and Mormon values led him to play major‑league baseball for the St. Louis Cardinals.' Unfortunately, none of these stories were true. Dunn's 'dead' friend was still alive; only the heel of his boot was ever touched by a bullet; and he never played for the Cardinals.

Paul H. Dunn, Abanes, One Nation Under Gods, p. 427

I survived being run over by an enemy tank, while others were crushed.

Paul H. Dunn, Arizona Republic, February 16, 1991, p. B‑9

[I was] one of only six individuals in my 1,000‑man combat group who survived a major battle, and was the only one of those six not wounded.

Paul H. Dunn, Arizona Republic, February 16, 1991, p. B‑9

Touch not their unclean things. Too many Latter‑day Saints today somehow believe they can stand with one hand touching the walls of the temple while the other hand fondles the unclean things of the world. We can't do that. As Alma said, "Touch not their unclean things" (Alma 5:57). I plead with you, put both hands on the temple. Put your arms around the temple, and hang on for dear life to your family dream. If you don't, the tigers will come at night and tear your dreams apart.

Bruce C. Hafen, Elder Bruce C. Hafen, "Your Longing for Family Joy," Ensign, Oct. 2003, page 28

Show your profound respect for that love—and for the doctrines about eternal love and family life—by bridling your passions. Don't be deceived by the false idea that anything short of the sex act itself is okay. That is a lie, not only because one step overpoweringly leads to another, but because even touching another person's body with sexual intent is part of the intimacy that is kept holy by the sanctuary of chastity. Please also beware of unnatural sexual acts that are just as immoral, if not worse, than traditional fornication or adultery.

Bruce C. Hafen, Elder Bruce C. Hafen, "Your Longing for Family Joy," Ensign, Oct. 2003, page 28

No bishop, no missionary should ever hesitate or lack the faith to teach the law of tithing to the poor. The sentiment of "They can't afford to" needs to be replaced with "They can't afford not to."