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Show President N. Eldon Tanner leads members in sustaining the General Authorities of the church. Testimonys Power Essential to Teaching What church leaders and members do today in learning and preaching the gospel is precisely in principle what the prophets and inspired men of the past have always done, he explained, and cited the four sons of Mosiah as examples. These great missionaries did all they could to learn the doctrine and reason with those they taught, then they reinforced the teaching with their testimonies. Elder McConkie recalled the risen Christs appearance to his rpostles as a means of strengthening their personal witness, then cited Peter as the classical example of what a teacher ought to do. After he taught the doctrine, after he had reasoned, he bore a personal witness of what he had taught and what he had witnessed. Quoting one of his own poems, Elder Upon Judeas Plains, Bruce R. McConkie of the Council of the Twelve assured listeners in his Friday afternoon conference talk: He is Gods Son, supreme and pure, To earth he came my soul to save, From sin and death and from the grave. Opening his talk with a poem ending in those lines, the speakSalvaer reminded listeners, tion is in Christ. He is the Savior and Redeemer. The Savior, he said, gave men a plan cf salvation called the gospel. This plan requires all men to have faith, repent, be baptized and receive the Holy Ghost. If they do this, they have the Lords promise of peace and eternal life. Elder McConkie reminded his listeners that they are agents Elder Bruce ... a R. McConkie plan of salvation Gospel scholarship of God. We hold in this kingdom, in this church, the keys to the dom of God, he continued. king- He pointed out that those who have the gospel have been commissioned to carry it to all parts of the earth. But before they do this, they must learn the gospel and how to teach it. Conference Coverage This issue contains highlights of addresses by the . mony of our personal knowledge. He noted that many people may argue with intellectual or You scriptural proofs, but, cant argue with a testimony. You speak as one having authority, and this is the great thing that separates us from the world. Gen- eral Authorities delivered at the Saturday afternoon, priesthood, and Sunday morning and Sunday afternoon ses- sions of General Conference. , Addresses given in the two Friday sessions and the Saturday .morning session, with the exception of those given by Elder Bruce R. McConkie and Elder Paul H. Dunn, were reported in the April 7 edition. Highlights of talks given by Elder McConkie and Elder Dunn are included in this weeks edition. is impor- tant, Elder McConkie affirmed. But still we must put an approving, divine seal on the facts we teach by bearing testi ; He assured listeners that the church does indeed operate under authority from God in the' latter days, and closed quoting another of his poems, In An' Upper Room, that recalls the. deep conviction expressed by the 11 remaining apostles after " they had Seen the resurrected ,Lotd and Savior. Ph0, bv Howa''c, Gods Concern: Save Individual I understand from what the Lord has revealed to us through the propnets that people are his greatest concern, Elder Paul H. Dunn of the First Council of the Seventy said in his talk during the Friday afternoon session of conference. He then related an experience he had a few years ago when he had been given the responsibility to secure some property in California for an institute program which the youth attending a nearby college could attend. Ho found the property, but some legal problems developed, and he found it necessary to go to court to try to win the property for the institute. On ing, the day of the final hearElder Dunn said he had about eight hours of work he needed to do, and only four hours in which to do it, when a student college knocked at his door. Ive got to see you Elder Dunn said . . now, t!ie boy stated. I invited him, thinking about all that I had to do. I was tempted to say, Cant you see that Im busy? But I didnt say it, and told him to sit down. I heard myself asking these questions: Why are you going to court today, Paul? To win some property, I answered myself. Why do you want the proper, ty, Paul? . To build a building. . Why do you want the Paul? t ' I i ) ' CHURCH build-.ing- !'' f , , WEEK Elder Paul H. Dunn . individual important To teach some students. What just knocked at your door, Paul? Elder Dunn said that when his legal adviser came four hours later, the boy was still there. We lost the case, Elder Dunn said. But we saved the boy. Elder Dunn said that programs, like the Sabbath, exist to help people. If we are not careful, it is very easy to put the mechanics of the program ahead, of people. Jesus was constantly trying" to put the spirit bade into the letter of the law. Our first priority ac parents, , leaders and 1 teachers shou-- be the individual ' within the church program or' 'the home. ENpi ARIL J4,r1973 - 5 |