181st Annual General Conference — Church News coverage
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve began his talk by recounting the short trek President Brigham Young and other early Church leaders made to the top of the Salt Lake Valley's Ensign Peak in 1847.
President Young planted a makeshift flag atop that hillside and declared the valley of the Great Salt Lake as a prophesied place from which the word of the Lord would go forth in latter days.
"This general conference and the other semiannual versions of it are the continuation of that early declaration to the world," he said. "I testify that the proceedings of the past two days are yet one more evidence that, as our hymn says, 'Lo, Zion's standard is unfurled' — and surely the dual meaning of the word 'standard' is intentional."
Elder Holland asked conference participants to reflect on the messages they had heard and also on the unique phenomenon that general conference itself is.
"We testify to every nation, kindred, tongue and people that for our time and in our day the counsel you have heard is, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, 'the will of the Lord,…the word of the Lord,…the voice of the Lord, and the power of God unto salvation."
The apostle explained that speakers at general conference are generally not assigned a topic. "Each is to fast and pray, study and seek, start and stop and start again until he or she is confident that for this conference, at this time, theirs is the topic the Lord wishes them to present regardless of personal wishes or private preferences."
Consider the variety of the messages shared during general conference, he said. A wide range of listeners, including members and people who are not members of the Church, hear them.
"Whatever form they take, these conference messages 'proclaim liberty to the captives' and declare 'the unsearchable riches of Christ,'" said Elder Holland. "In the wide variety of sermons given is the assumption that there will be something for everyone."
The teachings relayed in general conference are written to be as generous and open-armed as Christ taught originally, while remembering the discipline that was always inherent in His messages.
Elder Holland referenced Christ's Sermon on the Mount, where the Savior began by pronouncing gentle blessings before transitioning to the challenges demanded of true discipleship, ending with the "knee-buckling" declaration, "Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
"Clearly anyone who thinks Jesus taught no-fault theology didn't read the fine print in the contract! No, in matters of discipleship the Church is not a fast-food outlet; we can't always have it 'our way.' Some day every knee will bow and every tongue confess that Jesus is the Christ and that salvation can only come His way.
"In wanting to measure up to the stern as well as embrace the soothing in general conference, please be reassured that when we speak of difficult subjects we understand not everyone is viewing pornography, or shirking marriage, or having illicit sexual relationships. We know not everyone is violating the Sabbath or bearing false witness or abusing a spouse. We know that most in our audience are not guilty of such things but we are under a solemn charge to issue warning calls to those who are, wherever they may be in the world. So if you are trying to do the best you can, if, for example, you keep trying to hold family home evening in spite of the bedlam that sometimes reigns in a houseful of little bedlamites, then give yourself high marks when we come to that subject and listen for another which addresses a topic where you may be lacking. If we teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on our circumstances, sending a personal prophetic epistle directly to you."
Elder Holland concluded his counsel by reiterating his support and love for President Thomas S. Monson, calling him an "angelic messenger" called to wave the gospel's sacred ensign.
