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Boyd K. Packer, Acting President - Quorum of the Twelve ApostlesAnd I charge each of you lawyers and judges and put you on alert: These are days of great spiritual danger for this people. The world is spiraling downward at an ever-quickening pace. I am sorry to tell you that it will not get better. I know of nothing in the history of the Church or in the history of the world to compare with our present circumstances. Nothing happened in Sodom and Gomorrah which exceeds the wickedness and depravity which surrounds us now. Satan uses every intrigue to disrupt the family. The sacred relationship between man and woman, husband and wife, through which mortal bodies are conceived and life is passed from one generation to the next generation, is being showered with filth. Profanity, vulgarity, blasphemy, and pornography are broadcast into the homes and minds of the innocent. Unspeakable wickedness, perversion, and abuse—not even exempting little children—once hidden in dark places, now seeks protection from courts and judges. The Lord needs you who are trained in the law. You can do for this people what others cannot do. We should not need to go beyond the members of the Church to find superior legal counsel. Now I caution you, as President John Taylor warned James Moyle and as Joseph Smith warned Stephen A. Douglas at the pinnacle of his political triumph, "If ever you turn your hand against ... the Latter-day Saints, you will feel the weight of the hand of Almighty upon you." ... You face a much different world than did President [J. Reuben] Clark. The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah were localized. They are now spread across the world, wherever the Church is. The first line of defense—the home—is crumbling. Surely you can see what the adversary is about. ... The present major political debate centers on values and morals and the Constitution. There occurs from time to time reference to the Constitution hanging by a thread. President Brigham Young said:
I do not know when that day will come or how it will come to pass. I feel sure that when it does come to pass, among those who will step forward from among this people will be men who hold the Holy Priesthood and who carry as credentials a bachelor or doctor of law degree. And women, also, of honor. And there will be judges as well. Others from the world outside the Church will come, as Colonel Thomas Kane did, and bring with them their knowledge of the law to protect this people.
We may one day stand alone, but we will not change or lower our standards or change our course.
President Boyd K. Packer, "On the Shoulders of Giants"
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = The world is spiraling downward at an ever-quickening pace. I am sorry to tell you that it will not get better. It is my purpose to charge each of you as teachers with the responsibility--to put you on alert. These are days of great spiritual danger for our youth. I know of nothing in the history of the Church or in the history of the world to compare with our present circumstances. Nothing happened in Sodom and Gomorrah which exceeds in wickedness and depravity that which surrounds us now. Words of profanity, vulgarity, and blasphemy are heard everywhere. Unspeakable wickedness and perversion were once hidden in dark places; now they are in the open, even accorded legal protection. At Sodom and Gomorrah these things were localized. Now they are spread across the world, and they are among us. I need not--I will not--identify each evil that threatens our youth. It is difficult for man to get away from it. ... Moroni spoke to us: "O ye Gentiles, it is wisdom in God that these things should be shown unto you ... Wherefore, the Lord commandeth you, when ye shall see these things [secret combinations] come among you that ye shall awake to a sense of your awful situation" (Ether 8:23-24). Paul prophesied, "In the last days perilous times shall come" (2 Timothy 3:1), then word by word and phrase by phrase, described exactly what our present conditions are now. He spoke of: "Blasphemers, disobedient to parents ... unholy, without natural affection incontinent ... despisers of those that are good, ... lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; ... ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth," and other things (2 Timothy 3:2-4, 7). Could he have described our plight more accurately? Read the prophecy very carefully. Paul prophesied, also, that things will not get better. "Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived" (2 Timothy 3:13). ... They need not fear. We need not fear. Fear is the opposite of faith. I have been in the councils of the Church and seen many things, I have seen disappointment and shock and concern. Never once have I seen any fear.
President Boyd K. Packer, "The One Pure Defense"
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