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Show - p EDITORIAL PA JE f America's Mew Approach clearly and which inflame tempers and cause tongues to babble meaninglessly? How many in America are willing to observe the moral laws laid down by the God to whom they pray? Can prayers be meaningful and persuasive in heaven if they are uttered out of gluttony, dish onesty. and lust ? Can a nation which pleads for divine help do so with any degree of effectiveness when it upholds a new morality which is no morality at all, and which opens the door to sex inaugural ceremonies of President sounded a distinctly , spiritual tone. Five prayers were offered by leading clergymen representing as many faiths.. The Salt Lake Mormon Tabernacle Choir sang as though inspired. The Marine Band played and the Presidents God Bless America, address pointed to a new horizon of spiritu- The v ality. It was all both satisfying and pleasing to thoughtful citizens. But the impressive prayer of the Rev. Billy Graham struck a note which deserves special consideration. He pointed to our need of national repentto obtaining divine ance as a evils on a scale so wide that a plague of cial disease descends upon us? te help. He was right. There can be no true spirituality without good morals. Neither can there be any divine assistance without compliance with the laws of heaven. Thii all . Americans must learn and accept. It is frighteningly true that the blessings of God are predicated upon obedience to His law, and without that obedience, there can be no bestowal of His favor. It is not enough merely to pray to the Lord, or to mention him in our speeches, because neither prayer alone nor lip service will save anyone. The Lord is a God of works as well as of faith. Mere appeals for divine aid, urgent though they may seem to be, will not bring the desired results. Righteous .works must accompany them. It was once' said that this nation cannot survive if it is half slave and half free. But j we can no more be halfway in our spirituality than we can be halfway about our froe-- : ' dom. In Lincolns day that grea leader called his people to repentance and told them that they had forgotten God in the midst of their , people now really put God first in their lives? How many Americans who listened in on the inaugural ceremonies are willing to set aside selfish interests to truly achieve peace on a basis of common brotherhood? 1IOW MANY are willing to do unto others as they would be done by? How many will turn the other cheek or go the extra mile? How many are strictly honest? How many soberly eschew liquor, drugs and other stimulants which destroy the ability to think i f BILLY GRAHAM was right. If we are to expect divine aid in solving our problems, then as a nation we must turn quickly to the divine law and live it. John the Baptist taught the wicked of his day, as they asked for divine guidance, to repent and bring forth fruits to prove that repentance had actually taken place. James, in his straightforward epistle, taught that the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God and added, be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. Can anyone misunderstand him when he says: Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone . . . For as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also. With a new president, America has an opportunity now to open a new era. It can be one or righteousness and success; it can be a passive period with little change from the status quo; or it can become a hiorass of distress and failure brought about by the wickedness of the people. Now is the time of deci- ' sion. THE ALMIGHTY indeed has called this a land of promise, but he has said that we who live here can receive his bereficience only as we serve the God of the land who is Jesus' Christ. He will protect us from our enemies abroad if we serve Him. He will defeat our enemies from within if we serve Him. - He will inspire our President if he himself and if we in our prayers are sus- tained by righteous works. And He will bless and guide our lawmakif they will put His divine purpose ers first in their lives. Then indeed can God bless America bebecause she deserves it come a reality prosperity, that they had forgotten the gra-- ' cious Hand that made them. ' Such is nearly the case today. How many ' so- . . No more meaningful batile has been fought than when Christ in Gethsemane placed the will of His Father paramount, in order to bring about the salvation of mankind. The planting of the seeds of His Gospel have brought hope, peace, and the opportunity for exaltation. We can look also to Moses in the plains of Midian, Paul on the . - road to Damascus, or Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove. Each of these men made decisions V " ' Aj . i s. which not only altered the course of their own lives, but also the course of mankind. Each day of our own lives we are faced with similar decisions. Though they may not seem as dramatic as a Gethsemane or a Sacred Grove," they nevertheless determine the ultimate course of our lives. Excerpts from an address by Elder Alma Sonne at General Conference of the Church, October 1968. More than a century ago, in the 1841, the excitement about year religion in Moroni: Mighty General At 25 Moroni became supreme commander of th armies of the Nephites, and for 18 years led them ir battles and wars against the evil Lamanites. Amalickiah, the Lamam'te king, so came to hat Moroni because of his unending string of victories, tha the wicked ruler swore to drink Moronis blood. In stead, Amalichkiah died at the hand of one of Moro nis generals, Teancum. . Yet, during this same period, the Church pros pored and grew under the leadership of Helam&n, Shib Ion, Corianton, Ammon, and others, to such a dogre that Helaman wrote: , . . never was a happier time among the peopl of Nephi, since the days of Nephi, than in the days o Moroni . the United States p;ob- - ably reached its highest point. It was during those days of agitation and conflict that the editor of the Chicago Democrat, John Wentworth, asked Joseph Smith, the Prophet, for a statement of his religious, beliefs. The Prophets reply included the now famous Articles of Faith. We know little or nothing of the immediate Influence of the Wentworth letter, but we do know that today thousands have read and pondered these declarations of faith. Many have examined and believed them, for they are in harmony with the Holy Bible. . That this could occur despite the constant fightini is a mark of the high character of. the general Heia man describes him thusly: -- . "And Moroni was a strong and mighty man; h was a man of a perfect understanding; yea, a ma who did not delight in bloodshed; a man whose sou did joy in the liberty and the freedom of his country and his brethren from bondage and slavery; Yea, a man whose heart did swell with thanksgiv ing to his God for the many privileges and blessing which he destowed upon his people; a man who dii labor exceedingly for the welfare and safety of hi people. Yea, and he was a man who was firm in the fait of Christ, and he had sworn with an oath to defen his people, his rights, and his country, and his rel gion, even to the loss of his blood. Such a man would be slow to anger, but when cor fronted with persecution and slavery, no man cou! , Our Right to Self Discipline Excerpts from an address by Bishop John Vandenberg Ml Central Conference. Chtober 1 96$. BOOK OF MORMON PROFILES . . withstand his righteous indignation. To his great Nephite general goes the distinctio of probably raising the first flag of liberty in th Western Hemisphere. When he heard of the dissensions and rebellion among the Nephites, Moroni, in anger, tore apart hi coat and wrote upon one piece: " In memory of our God, our religion, and fret dom, and our peace, our wives and our children . . . This he fastened to a pole and called it the till of liberty. Then bowing himself before the Lord, h prayed mightily for liberty to rest upon his peopli The faithful identified as Christians ra lied to his support and drove the disscnlei promptly from their midst One can but wonder what this liberty-lovipatriot would think and do to those who dese crate and profane the banners of freedom in our daj - n Illustration , WEEK ENDING. JAGUAR 25, ' 1969 - r' adapted from T7t Book of Mormon S'orv (C) Desert Book Co.. Ronald Crosby, ark |