Heavenly Father's Great Plan of Happiness gives His children who kept their first estate in the premortal existence the help they need in the second estate — mortal life — as they are tried and tested to see if they will keep the commandments, said Elder Christoffel Golden Jr. of the Seventy.
During the Saturday afternoon session of conference, Elder Golden said: "Since the fall of Adam, and because of the nature of mortal mankind, man developed a predisposition to violate the laws of God, and thereby become enslaved to the demands of justice. Nevertheless, because of our Heavenly Father's foreknowledge, and through the great plan of happiness, He devised a plan of mercy. It furnished a way for the exacting requirements of justice to be appeased through an infinite Atonement.
"Jesus Christ, as the chosen of the Father from the beginning, possessed all the qualifications and attributes required to harmonize the laws of justice and mercy through His Atonement."
Continuing, Elder Golden said: "It is the heartfelt desire of all the faithful to keep their second estate. We are not left alone to find our way back home. The Lord has set up His kingdom on the earth wherein the elect of God can be gathered.
"In the Lord's loving care, He has provided us with all of the essential resources required to forge our way through the many pitfalls placed before us by the evil one."
Those resources, he said, include the ordinances and covenants of the gospel, "in which the power of the Atonement is manifest;" the holy scriptures "which provide us with a standard, to discern truth from error;" living apostles and prophets, who "hold all the necessary keys and authority which are essential to administering the ordinances of salvation and exaltation;" and, for baptized members of the Church, "the incomparable gift of the Holy Ghost."
Elder Golden concluded: "We need not fear, but with faith, follow our Heavenly Father's great plan of happiness. Our call to all is to come and receive of the grace and mercy of the Lord, for He is mighty to save, and will never forsake us."
