Conference Song

Teaching & Commandments 158:9–20

Now, hear the words of the Lord to those who receive this covenant this day: All you who have turned from your wicked ways and repented of your evil doings, of lying and deceiving, and of all whoredoms, and of secret abominations, idolatries, murders, priestcrafts, envying, and strife, and from all wickedness and abominations, and have come unto me, and been baptized in my name, and have received a remission of your sins, and received the holy ghost, are now numbered with my people who are of the house of Israel. I say to you:

Teach your children to honor me. Seek to recover the lost sheep remnant of this land and of Israel and no longer forsake them. Bring them unto me and teach them of my ways, to walk in them.

And I, the Lord your God, will be with you and will never forsake you, and I will lead you in the path which will bring peace to you in the troubling season now fast approaching.

I will raise you up and protect you, abide with you, and gather you in due time, and this shall be a land of promise to you as your inheritance from me.

The earth will yield its increase, and you will flourish upon the mountains and upon the hills, and the wicked will not come against you because the fear of the Lord will be with you.

I will visit my house, which the remnant of my people shall build, and I will dwell therein, to be among you, and no one will need to say, Know ye the Lord, for you all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.

I will teach you things that have been hidden from the foundation of the world and your understanding will reach unto Heaven.

And you shall be called the children of the Most High God, and I will preserve you against the harvest.

And the angels sent to harvest the world will gather the wicked into bundles to be burned, but will pass over you as my peculiar treasure.

But if you do not honor me, nor seek to recover my people Israel, nor teach your children to honor me, nor care for the poor among you, nor help lighten one another's burdens, then you have no promise from me and I will raise up other people who will honor and serve me, and give unto them this land, and if they repent, I will abide with them.

The time is now far spent, therefore labor with me and do not forsake my covenant to perform it; study my words and let them be the standard for your faith, and I will add thereto many treasures. Love one another and you will be mine, and I will preserve you, and raise you up, and abide with you for ever. Amen.

Read T&C 158:9–20 ↗

Denver C. Snuffer Jr. · Preserving the Restoration, pp. 144–145

"Heaven will look for a temple in Zion to accurately reflect the pattern of heaven. When they see it has been built, they will come to embrace its builders and kiss their necks. They will only come when we are their sons and daughters, fully restored to the Family of God, united with them in belief, covenant, knowledge, and filled with the glory of God, which is intelligence.

In the allegory, grafting is a failure if the fruit continues to be bitter. Fruit is a genealogical term. Adam and Eve were commanded to 'be fruitful and multiply.' Christ's gospel involves perpetuating a 'family of Gods.' Marriage mirrors the infinite. The 'fruit' to be saved refers to an eternal family, with God at the head.

Salvation does not come by ignorance and indifference. The gospel of Christ can bring us back to the presence of God. He will speak to any one of us, just as He spoke to Joseph Smith. He will answer any earnest seeker. No one will be sent away disappointed.

The Lord, who would not turn away the blind, the halt, the crippled, and the leprous, has compassion on us all. The Lord, who seeing the widow, whose only son was dead, was moved with compassion to restore the life of her son, will respond to the earnest seeker today. God speaks. If you doubt He speaks, then learn to hear His still, small voice. He is accessible to all of us."

Denver C. Snuffer Jr. · Preserving the Restoration, p. 149

"Every time the full covenant is given, it includes a promised land. The Americas are the land God covenanted to give His covenant people. The gentiles must repent and accept His gospel, not adulterate or change it, to be part of His covenant people. This requires more of the gentiles than they have been willing to give so far. We must remember, repent and return before the covenant will be renewed. To join the church heaven recognizes requires it to be done in His way, according to His commandments, practiced in purity before Him. If we do this, it can lead to our adoption and sealing into His restored family. Joseph tried to accomplish this. Although he was qualified and sealed a few, it was not possible to finish the work. We will not finish it either if we continue the jarrings, contentions, envyings, strifes, lusts, and covetous desires that typify gentile behavior. We must become of one heart, having no poor among us. Gentiles have never accomplished that. The prophecies foretell some few will eventually do so."