My beloved brethren, how good it is to be with you once again.
I pray for heavenly help as I respond to the opportunity
to address you.
Beyond this Conference Center are additional thousands
assembled in chapels and in other settings
throughout much of the world.
A common thread binds all of us together,
for we have been entrusted to bear the priesthood of God.
We are here upon the earth at a remarkable period
of its history.
Our opportunities are almost limitless.
And yet we also face a multitude of challenges, some of them
unique to our time.
We live in a world where moral values have in great measure
been tossed aside, where sin is flagrantly on display,
and where temptations to stray from the straight and narrow
path surround us.
We are faced with persistent pressures
and insidious influences tearing down what is decent
and attempting to substitute the shallow philosophies
and practices of a secular society.
Because of these and other challenges,
decisions are constantly before us
which can determine our destiny.
In order to make the correct decisions,
courage is needed--the courage to say no when we should,
the courage to say yes when that is appropriate,
the courage to do the right thing because it's right.
Inasmuch as the trend in society today
is rapidly moving away from the values and principles
the Lord has given us, we will almost certainly
be called upon to defend that which we believe.
Will we have the courage to do so?
Said President J. Reuben Clark Jr.,
who for many years was a member of the First Presidency,
"Not unknown are cases where [those] of presumed faith ...
have felt that, since by affirming their full faith they
might call down upon themselves the ridicule
of their unbelieving colleagues, they must either modify
or explain away their faith or deceptively dilute it or even
pretend to cast it away.
Such are hypocrites."
Close quote.
None of us would wish to wear such a label,
and yet we're reluctant to declare
our faith in some circumstances.
We can help ourselves and our desire
to do that which is right if we put ourselves in places
and participate in activities where our thoughts are
influenced for good and where the Spirit of the Lord
will be comfortable.
I recall reading some time ago the counsel
a father gave to his son when he went away to school.
I'll quote it: "If you ever find yourself
where you shouldn't ought to be, get out."
Close quote.
I offer to each of you the same advice.
If you ever find yourself where you shouldn't ought to be,
get out.
The call for courage comes constantly to each of us.
Every day of our lives courage is needed--not just
for the momentous events, but we more often need that as we
respond to circumstances around us.
Said Scottish poet and novelist Robert Louis Stevenson,
and I quote, "Every courage has few witnesses.
Yours is no less noble because no drum beats for you
and no crowd shouts your name."
Close quote.
Courage comes in many forms.
Wrote the Christian author Charles Swindoll,
"Courage is not limited to the battlefield ...
or to bravely catching a thief in the house.
The real tests of courage are much quieter.
They are inner tests, like remaining faithful when nobody
is looking, ...
like standing alone when you're misunderstood."
Close quote.
I would add that this inner courage also
includes doing the right thing even though we may be afraid,
defending our beliefs at the risk of being ridiculed,
and maintaining those beliefs even when
threatened with the loss of friends or social status.
He who stands steadfastly for that which is right
must risk becoming at times disapproved and unpopular.
While serving in the United States Navy in World War II,
I learned of brave deeds, instances of valor,
and examples of courage.
One which I shall never forget was the quiet courage
of an 18-year-old seaman--not of our faith--who was not too
proud to pray.
Of 250 men in the company, he was the only one
who each night knelt down by the side of his bunk.
At times amidst the jeers of bullies
and the jests of unbelievers, with bowed head,
he prayed to God.
He never wavered.
He never faltered.
He had courage.
I listened not long ago to an example of one
who surely seemed to lack this inner courage.
A friend had told of a spiritual and faith-promoting sacrament
meeting she and her husband had attended in their ward.
A young man who held the office of priest
in the Aaronic Priesthood touched the hearts
of the entire congregation as he spoke of gospel truths
and of the joys of keeping the commandments.
He bore a fervent, touching testimony
as he stood at the pulpit, appearing clean and neat
in his white shirt and tie.
Later that same day, as this woman and her husband
drove out of their neighborhood, they
saw this same young man who had so
inspired them just a few hours earlier.
Now, however, he presented a completely different picture
as he walked down the sidewalk dressed in scruffy clothes
and smoking a cigarette.
My friend and her husband were not only
greatly disappointed and saddened,
they were also confused by how he
could be so convincingly one person is sacrament meeting
and so quickly seem to be someone else entirely.
Brethren, are you the same person wherever you are
and whatever you're doing, the person
our Heavenly Father wants you to be,
and the person you know you should be?
In an interview published in a national magazine,
well-known American NCAA basketball player Jabari
Parker, a member of the Church, was
asked to share the best advice he received from his father.
Replied Jabari, and I quote, ""[My father] said,
'Just be the same person you are in the dark as you are
in the light.'" I'll requote it. "Just be the same person
in the dark as you are in the light."
Close quote.
Important advice, brethren, for all of us.
Our scriptures are filled with examples
of the type of courage needed by each one of us today.
The prophet Daniel exhibited supreme courage
by standing up for that which he knew to be right
and by demonstrating the courage to pray,
though threatened with death were he to do so.
Courage characterized the life of Abinadi,
as shown by his willingness to offer his life
rather than to deny the truth.
Who can help but be inspired by the lives of the 2,000
stripling sons of Helaman, who taught
and demonstrated the need for courage
to follow the teachings of parents, to be chaste and pure?
Perhaps each of these scriptural accounts
is crowned by the example of Moroni,
who had the courage to persevere in righteousness
to the very end.
Throughout his life, the Prophet Joseph Smith
provided countless examples of courage.
One of the most dramatic occurred as he and other
brethren were chained together--imagine,
chained together--and held in an unfinished cabin next
to the courthouse in Richmond, Missouri.
Parley P. Pratt, who was among those held captive,
wrote of one particular night, and I
quote, "We had lain as if in sleep till the hour of midnight
had passed, and our ears and hearts
had been pained while we had listened
for hours to the obscene jests, the horrid oaths,
the dreadful blasphemies and filthy language of our guards,"
close quote.
Continued Elder Pratt, "I had listened
until I became so disgusted, shocked, horrified,
and so filled with the spirit of indignant justice
that I could scarcely refrain from rising upon my feet
and rebuking the guards; but I had said nothing
to Joseph or anyone else, although I lay next to him
and knew he was awake.
Of a sudden he rose to his feet, and spoke
in a voice of thunder, or as the roaring lion, uttering,
as near as I can recollect, the words, 'Silence!
...
In the name of Jesus Christ, I rebuke you,
and command you to be still; I will not live another minute
and hear such language.
Cease such talk, or you or I die this instant.'" Close quote.
Joseph stood erect in terrible majesty
as described by Elder Pratt.
He was chained without a weapon, and yet he
was calm yet dignified.
He looked down upon the quailing guards,
who were shrinking into a corner or crouching at his feet.
These seemingly incorrigible men begged his pardon
and remained quiet.
Not all acts of courage bring such spectacular or immediate
results, and yet all of them do bring
peace of mind and a knowledge that right and truth have
been defended.
It is impossible to stand upright
when one plants his roots in the shifting sands
of popular opinion and approval.
Needed is the courage of a Daniel, an Abinadi, a Moroni,
or a Joseph Smith in order for us to hold strong and fast
to that which we know is right.
They had the courage to do not that which was easy
but that which was right.
We will all face fear, experienced ridicule,
and meet opposition.
Let us, all of us, have the courage to defy the consensus,
the courage to stand for principle.
Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of God's approval.
Courage becomes a living and an attractive virtue when
it is regarded not only as a willingness
to die manfully but also the determination to live decently.
As we move forward, striving to live as we should,
we will surely receive help from the Lord
and can find comfort in His words.
I love His promise recorded in the book of Joshua:
"I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. ...
Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid,
neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy
God is with thee whithersoever thou goest."
Close quote.
My beloved brethren, with the courage of our convictions,
may we declare with the Apostle Paul,
"I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ."
And then with that same courage, may we
follow Paul's counsel: "Be thou an example of the believers
in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith,
in purity."
Catastrophic conflicts come and go,
but the war waged for the souls of men
continues without abatement.
Like a clarion call comes the word of the Lord,
to you, to me, and to priesthood holders
everywhere: "Wherefore, now let every man learn his duty,
and to act in the office in which he is appointed,
in all diligence."
Close quote.
Then we will be, as the Apostle Peter declared,
even a "royal priesthood," united in purpose
and endowed with power from on high.
May each one leave here tonight with the determination
and the courage to say, with Job of old,
"While my breath is in me ...
I will not remove mine integrity from me."
Close quote.
That this may be true is my humble prayer.
And I offer it sincerely in the name
of Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen.