Elder James R. Rasband, General Authority Seventy, spoke during the Saturday evening session of April 2025 general conference. He spoke on how Heavenly Father’s mercy is present in temples, in seeking forgiveness and in receiving revelation. The following is a summary of what he said.
Elder James R. Rasband’s talk summary
In the Kirtland Temple’s dedicatory prayer, “Joseph [Smith] again and again pleaded for mercy” for Church members, their enemies, political leaders “and, very personally, he pled with the Lord to remember him and to have mercy upon his beloved Emma and their children.”
Each person can find mercy in the house of the Lord and the covenants made there. In the temple, individuals learn that “every part of the plan of salvation” is merciful.
“Indeed, it might be said that the plan of salvation is a plan of happiness precisely because it is a ‘plan of mercy.‘”
The Lord will “manifest Himself in mercy whenever we … plead for mercy.” If one struggles to feel answers to prayer, “seeking the Lord’s mercy is one of the most powerful ways to feel the witness of the Holy Ghost.”
When asking Heavenly Father if the Book of Mormon is true, follow Moroni’s invitation to ponder “how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men” (Moroni 10:3-5), and ask if His plan as taught in this book is really this merciful.
“I testify that it is and that the peace-giving and hopeful teachings of mercy in the Book of Mormon are true.”
See the full text of Elder Rasband’s talk: ‘The Plan of Mercy’
Notable quotes
“It might be said that the plan of salvation is a plan of happiness precisely because it is a ‘plan of mercy.‘”
“For those who sometimes struggle to feel answers to prayer, seeking the Lord’s mercy is one of the most powerful ways to feel the witness of the Holy Ghost.”
“In sum, is the Father’s plan as taught in the Book of Mormon really this merciful? I testify that it is.”
Who is Elder James R. Rasband?
- Elder James R. Rasband was sustained as a General Authority Seventy on April 6, 2019, at age 56. At the time of his call, he had been serving as an Area Seventy in the Utah South Area.
- Elder Rasband served as a young full-time missionary in the Korea Seoul Mission.
- He married Mary Diane Williams in the Los Angeles California Temple on Aug. 11, 1984. They are the parents of four children.
- He began his career as an attorney in Seattle, Washington, and later served as dean of the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University from 2009 to 2016. He then served as academic vice president of BYU.
What has Elder James R. Rasband done recently?
- During the April 2020 general conference, Elder Rasband taught that through Christ’s healing power, all of God’s children will have a fair opportunity to choose to follow Him.
- Elder Rasband, as a General Authority Seventy and assistant executive director of the Temple Department, spoke to news media representatives during media tours of the Taylorsville Utah Temple in April 2024.
- In a January 2020 BYU–Idaho devotional, he taught four ways to keep Christ at the center of one’s gospel vocabulary.
Read Elder James R. Rasband’s previous general conference address.
