L. Tom Perry on choosing activities of value in life

Elder L. Tom Perry (1922- ) has served as a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles since 1974.

"We are in the midst of an information revolution, the so-called information age, with all of its new challenges and opportunities. Now we are being flooded with information. For many, television is robbing them of valuable family time. The Internet is a new source of information that offers tremendous opportunities as well as another potential—becoming addicted. Unfortunately, with the blessings of the new information age also come challenges, as evil influences have a new medium of transmission and new ways of infiltrating our minds. Worldly influences enter our homes in new shapes and forms to challenge our resolve to use our time wisely and for the Lord's purposes.

"Perhaps we could take a page out of the law of ancient Israel and call 'time-out.' Let us make a list of those basic activities that add value to eternal man and woman and determine... that we will discontinue those activities that are of little value and worth that might even jeopardize our eternal welfare. Let us place higher priority on family prayer, family scripture study, and family home evenings and eliminate those activities that fill our lives with worldliness and evil."

- L. Tom Perry, "A Year of Jubilee," Ensign, November 1999, pp. 75-77
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Welcome to "The Information Age" — did you know you were part of a world-wide revolution? Elder Perry recognizes the many blessings these new technologies and the accessibility of information can bring, but also warns of the challenges.

Elder Perry's suggestion to take time to consider our activities is a very wise one. Which of the things we devote our time to are those that "add value to eternal man and woman" and which "are of little value and worth that might even jeopardize our eternal welfare." It's clear that there are some activities that we MUST NOT allow to be pushed aside by those of lesser value! This kind of self-evaluation would be a wise exercise for each individual and family to undertake periodically.

Boyd K. Packer on reverence and revelation

President Boyd K. Packer (1924- ) served as an Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve (a position that no longer exists) from 1961 to 1970, when he was called to the Quorum of Twelve Apostles.  He currently serves as the president of that Quorum.

"Inspiration comes more easily in peaceful settings. Such words as quiet, still, peaceable, Comforter abound in the scriptures...

"The world grows increasingly noisy. Clothing and grooming and conduct are looser and sloppier and more disheveled. Raucous music, with obscene lyrics blasted through amplifiers while lights flash psychedelic colors, characterizes the drug culture. Variations of these things are gaining wide acceptance and influence over our youth....

"This trend to more noise, more excitement, more contention, less restraint, less dignity, less formality is not coincidental nor innocent nor harmless.

"The first order issued by a commander mounting a military invasion is the jamming of the channels of communication of those he intends to conquer.

"Irreverence suits the purposes of the adversary by obstructing the delicate channels of revelation in both mind and spirit....

"No one of us can survive in the world of today, much less in what it soon will become, without personal inspiration. The spirit of reverence can and should be evident in every organization in the Church and in the lives of every member....

"While we may not see an immediate, miraculous transformation, as surely as the Lord lives, a quiet one will take place. The spiritual power in the lives of each member and in the Church will increase. The Lord will pour out his Spirit upon us more abundantly. We will be less troubled, less confused. We will find revealed answers to personal and family problems."

- Boyd K. Packer, "Reverence Invites Revelation," Ensign, November 1991, pp. 21-23
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It's been over 23 years since President Packer shared this talk with the wonderful title, "Reverence Invites Revelation." He observed then, "The world grows increasingly noisy." That has certainly been confirmed in the two decades since. There are constant distractions and diversions all around us. And so to seek the inspiration that "comes more easily in peaceful settings" is increasingly difficult. In order to "survive in the world of today," we need to actively seek personal inspiration in settings of reverence. Those settings don't appear naturally; we have to seek them out and create them for ourselves.

Again, the promises are real and wonderful:

• Spiritual power will increase
• The Lord's Spirit will be poured out more abundantly
• We will be less troubled and confused
• We will find answers to personal and family problems

I always love to note apostolic witnesses and promises. It is wise to follow the conditions and claim the blessings!

Thomas S. Monson offers an Easter testimony

President Thomas S. Monson (1927- ) was sustained to the Quorum of Twelve Apostles in 1963.  He served as a counselor in the First Presidency with Presidents Benson, Hunter, and Hinckley until becoming Church president in 2008.

"No words in Christendom mean more to me than those spoken by the angel to the weeping Mary Magdalene and the other Mary when, on the first day of the week, they approached the tomb to care for the body of their Lord. Spoke the angel:

"'Why seek ye the living among the dead?
"'He is not here, but is risen.' (Luke 24:5-6.)

"Our Savior lived again. The most glorious, comforting, and reassuring of all events of human history had taken place--the victory over death. The pain and agony of Gethsemane and Calvary had been wiped away. The salvation of mankind had been secured. The Fall of Adam had been reclaimed.

"The empty tomb that first Easter morning was the answer to Job's question, 'If a man die, shall he live again?' To all within the sound of my voice, I declare, If a man die, he shall live again. We know, for we have the light of revealed truth.

"My beloved brothers and sisters, in our hour of deepest sorrow, we can receive profound peace from the words of the angel that first Easter morning: 'He is not here: for he is risen.' (Matthew 28:6.)

"'He is risen! He is risen!
'Tell it out with joyful voice.
'He has burst his three days' prison;
'Let the whole wide earth rejoice.
'Death is conquered; man is free.
'Christ has won the victory!' ('He Is Risen!' Hymns, no. 199.)

"As one of His special witnesses on earth today, this glorious Easter Sunday, I declare that this is true."

- Thomas S. Monson, "He Is Risen!", Ensign, May 2010, pp. 87-90
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For Christians, Easter is the most joyful celebration of all. While Christmas is the promise of hope, Easter is the fulfillment, the confirmation. That is why President Monson can say that the most meaningful words in all of Christendom would be, "He is not here, but is risen."

How profoundly grateful we should all be for the eternal significance of the gifts of Atonement and Resurrection.

Gordon B. Hinckley on the relevance of Jesus Christ

President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910-2008) was called to the Quorum of Twelve in 1961. He served as a counselor in the First Presidency from 1981-1995, then as Church President until his death in 2008.

"I reflected on the wonder of the quiet man of Galilee, whose life and teachings have ever-increasing relevance in our time—as great a relevance, I would like to say, as in the day that he walked the earth.

"In response to such a statement as this on another occasion, a straggly haired young intellectual asked, 'What relevance? Just what relevance has Jesus for us? Why, he's as out-of-date as the Roman legions who occupied Jerusalem when he was there.'

"'Relevance?' I replied, 'Ask my friends who tearfully watched the body of a beloved child lowered into the grave. Ask my neighbor who lost her husband in an accident. Ask the fathers and mothers of the thousands of good young men who have died in the steaming jungles of Vietnam. He—the risen Lord Jesus Christ—is their only comfort. There is nothing more relevant to the cold, stark fact of death than the assurance of eternal life.'...

"This, my brethren and sisters, is the assurance of Easter. This is the promise of the risen Lord. This is the relevance of Jesus to a world in which all must die. But there is further and more immediate relevance. As he is the conqueror of death, so also is he the master of life. His way is the answer to the troubles of the world in which we live....

"Is there relevancy in Jesus for our time? The world never needed more urgently the power of his example; the world never needed more desperately the vitality of his teachings....

"This is Easter. This is the season when we commemorate the most important event in human history. Millions upon millions through the ages have testified through the goodness of their lives and the strength of their courage of the reality of that event.

"To these testimonies we add our witness that we know that he was the Son of God, born in Bethlehem of Judea, who walked the earth as the promised Messiah, who was lifted up upon the cross, who gave his life as an atoning sacrifice for the sins of mankind, our Savior, our Redeemer, the one sure hope of mankind, the Resurrection and the Life.

"God bless us with increased faith in these great truths."

- Gordon B. Hinckley, "The Wonder of Jesus", Improvement Era, June 1969, p. 74
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President Hinckley's reflections on "the quiet man of Galilee" are even more relevant today than when he shared them almost half a century ago. Is Jesus relevant for our time? Does His message, His teachings, matter to us or apply to our challenges?

President Hinckley responded to that question by describing the critical relevance of the hope of life beyond death, provided by the "assurance of Easter." But there is another aspect that is more immediate, and very crucial to us.  Christ is not only "the conqueror of death," but so "the master if life":

Jeffrey R. Holland on the Savior's solitary journey

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland (1940- ) served as Church Commissioner of Education from 1976-1980, as the president of BYU from 1980-1989, as a Seventy from 1989-1994, and as a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles since 1994.

"I speak of the loneliest journey ever made and the unending blessings it brought to all in the human family. I speak of the Savior's solitary task of shouldering alone the burden of our salvation. Rightly He would say: 'I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me.... I looked, and there was none to help; and I wondered that there was none to uphold [me].' (Isaiah 63:3, 5; see also D&C 76:107; 88:106; 133:50.)

"Brothers and sisters, one of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so. His solitary journey brought great company for our little version of that path—the merciful care of our Father in Heaven, the unfailing companionship of this Beloved Son, the consummate gift of the Holy Ghost, angels in heaven, family members on both sides of the veil, prophets and apostles, teachers, leaders, friends. All of these and more have been given as companions for our mortal journey because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ and the Restoration of His gospel. Trumpeted from the summit of Calvary is the truth that we will never be left alone nor unaided, even if sometimes we may feel that we are. Truly the Redeemer of us all said: 'I will not leave you comfortless: [My Father and] I will come to you [and abide with you].' (John 14:18; see also v. 23.)

"My other plea at Easter time is that these scenes of Christ's lonely sacrifice, laced with moments of denial and abandonment and, at least once, outright betrayal, must never be reenacted by us. He has walked alone once. Now, may I ask that never again will He have to confront sin without our aid and assistance, that never again will He find only unresponsive onlookers when He sees you and me along His Via Dolorosa in our present day. As we approach this holy week—Passover Thursday with its Paschal Lamb, atoning Friday with its cross, Resurrection Sunday with its empty tomb—may we declare ourselves to be more fully disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in word only and not only in the flush of comfortable times but in deed and in courage and in faith, including when the path is lonely and when our cross is difficult to bear. This Easter week and always, may we stand by Jesus Christ 'at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in, even until death' (Mosiah 18:9), for surely that is how He stood by us when it was unto death and when He had to stand entirely and utterly alone."

- Jeffrey R. Holland, "None Were with Him," Ensign, May 2009, pp. 86-88
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In this tender excerpt, Elder Holland discusses one of the challenges that comes to almost every one of us during our mortal experience: the feeling of loneliness. Reflecting on the Savior's uniquely difficult and challenging life, he identifies the reality that He really was called upon to do much of his work "utterly alone" — particularly in those crucial final days and hours. And because He was willing to accept and complete that task, the glorious truth results: "Trumpeted from the summit of Calvary is the truth that we will never be left alone nor unaided, even if sometimes we may feel that we are."

Elder Holland helps us by specifying the many resources we have for our journey; we need to learn to turn to them for help and encouragement during those times when we feel that we are abandoned or beyond help.

The third paragraph makes the message beautifully personal. Symbolically, it is now up to each one of us to make sure that neither the Savior nor any of our brothers and sisters in mortality are left alone. We must learn to turn to Him; and we must learn to be ready for others to turn to us as His agents. What a profound invitation to ponder during this Easter season: how can I become, more fully, a disciple of Jesus Christ?

Ezra Taft Benson on Christ and Easter

President Ezra Taft Benson (1899-1994) was called to the Quorum of Twelve Apostles in 1943, and served as the 13th President of the Church from 1985 until his death in 1994 at age 94.

"Without Christ there would be no Easter. Without Christ there can be no fulness of joy. In our premortal state, we shouted for joy as the plan of salvation was unfolded to our view. (See Job 38:7.)

"It was there our elder brother Jesus, the firstborn in the spirit of our Father's children, volunteered to redeem us from our sins. He became our foreordained Savior, the Lamb 'slain from the foundation of the world.' (Moses 7:47.)

"Thanks be to God the Son for the offering of Himself. And thanks be to God the Father that He sent Him. 'For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son.' (John 3:16.) ...

"The Lord testified, 'I came into the world to do the will of my Father, because my Father sent me. And my Father sent me that I might be lifted up upon the cross.' (3 Ne. 27:13-14.) And so He was.

"In Gethsemane and on Calvary, He worked out the infinite and eternal Atonement. It was the greatest single act of love in recorded history. Then followed His death and resurrection.

"Thus He became our Redeemer—redeeming all of us from physical death, and redeeming those of us from spiritual death who will obey the laws and ordinances of the gospel...

"And now, what must we do this Easter season—and always? Why, we must do the same as the Wise Men of old. They sought out the Christ and found Him. And so must we. Those who are wise still seek Him today."

- Ezra Taft Benson, "Joy in Christ," Ensign, March 1986, pp. 3-5
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Apostles are designated as special witnesses of Christ, and they often share their special witnesses of Him. After a lifetime of studying and following the teachings of the Savior, President Benson shared this testimony soon after he became president of the Church.

President Benson offers this Easter season reminder to all who are wise enough to listen and heed:

Neal A. Maxwell on Christ's victory over death

Elder Neal A. Maxwell (1926-2004) served as a Seventy from 1976-1981, then as a member of the Quorum of Twelve until his death from cancer in 2004.

"The gift of immortality to all mankind through the reality of the Resurrection is so powerful a promise that our rejoicing in these great and generous gifts should drown out any sorrow, assuage any grief, conquer any mood, dissolve any despair, and tame any tragedy. Those who now see life as pointless will one day point with adoration to the performance of the Man of Galilee in those crowded moments of time known as Gethsemane and Calvary. Those who presently say life is meaningless will yet applaud the Atonement which saves us from meaninglessness. Christ's victory over death ended the human predicaments, and from these too we may be rescued by following the teachings of him who rescued us from general extinction.

"Our 'brightness of hope,' therefore, means that at funerals our tears are genuine, but not because of termination—rather because of interruption. Though just as wet, our tears are not of despair but are of appreciation and anticipation. Yes, for disciples, the closing of a grave is but the closing of a door which later will be flung open with rejoicing.

"We say, humbly but firmly that it is the garden tomb—not life—that is empty."

- Neal A. Maxwell, "All Hell Is Moved," BYU Devotional, Nov 8, 1977
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Elder Maxwell provides a powerful suggestion. If we consider the magnitude of the "great and generous gifts" provided to us by the Savior through the Resurrection alongside the sorrows and despairs of mortality, the former should completely drown out and overwhelm the latter. What a marvelous perspective; if our understanding is deep enough, all else falls into place.

As an example, he discusses the challenge of dealing with the loss of a loved one to death. Real disciples, who understand the doctrine, respond differently to this part of life:

And that leads us to the profound but simple testimony that is at the core of Elder Maxwell's remarks, the Easter season, and indeed the very core of Christianity: