President Ezra Taft Benson has set a pattern of service and endurance that each should try to follow, said Elder J Ballard Washburn in priesthood meeting Saturday evening.
"I bear witness that Ezra Taft Benson was born to be a prophet, has lived so he could be a prophet, and has been called of God to be a prophet in our day," said Elder Washburn, who was called to the Seventy last April.He noted that through President Benson's example, "today there are thousands who have had a spiritual awakening because they are studying and following the teachings of the Book of Mormon.
"There are thousands who feel they have received a special personal message from the prophet as he has spoken to the young men of the Church, the young women of the Church, the children of the Church, the elderly, the parents, and so forth."
"There are thousands who are better people today because they have stripped themselves of pride as counseled by this great prophet."
Elder Washburn recalled incidents in the life of President Benson, suggesting he was preserved from birth to be a prophet.
At his birth, doctors couldn't get baby Ezra to breathe. His grandmothers dipped him in pans of cold and warm water until finally they heard a cry. "Later both grandmothers bore testimony that the Lord had spared the child," said Elder Washburn.
Years later when the young man was serving a mission in England, Elder Benson was assigned to speak on apostasy. Instead, he felt impressed to give a strong and impressive discourse of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon.
"Later, Elder Benson said, `I spoke with a freedom I had never experienced. . . . it was the first experience of that kind I'd had where I knew that the Lord was with me.' "
Elder Washburn assured the young men in priesthood meeting that "each of you can know the Lord is with you and that He loves each one of you."
