I add my welcome to Elder Gong and Elder Soares
to the unparalleled brotherhood of the Quorum of the Twelve.
In sustaining President Russell M.
Nelson as the Lord's prophet and as President of The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
we were part of a divinely decreed solemn assembly--solemn
because the events of this past hour have been anticipated
in the heavens since before the world was.
The Lord Jesus Christ, who directs His work,
has today, through President Eyring,
presented His prophet, His anointed leader, to us,
His covenant people, allowing us publicly
to manifest our willingness to sustain him and follow
his counsel.
Our heaven-directed assembly is not in this Conference Center
alone, but across the world--in chapels in Asia, Africa,
and North America; in homes in Central and South America
and Europe; on covered patios in the Pacific and the islands
of the sea.
This assembly is in whatever part of the world you might be,
even if your connection is no more than the audio
of your smartphone.
Our raised hands were not counted by our bishops,
but they were surely noted in heaven,
as our covenant is with God and our action is
recorded in the book of life.
The selection of a prophet is made by the Lord Himself.
There is no campaigning, no debates;
no posturing for position; no dissension, distrust,
confusion, or commotion.
I too confirm that the power of heaven
was with us in the upper room of the temple
as we prayerfully encircled President Nelson
and felt the undeniable approval of the Lord upon him.
President Nelson's selection to serve as God's prophet
was made long ago.
The Lord's words to Jeremiah also apply to President Nelson:
"Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee;
and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee,
and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations."
Only three years ago, Elder Nelson, at age 90,
was fourth in seniority, with two
of the three senior Apostles being
younger in age than he was.
The Lord, who controls life and death, selects His prophet.
President Nelson, at age 93, is in amazing health.
We hope he will be with us for another decade or two,
but for now we are trying to persuade
him to stay off the ski slopes.
While we sustain the prophet as the Lord's anointed,
let it be clear that we worship only God, our Heavenly
Father, and His divine Son.
It is through the merits, the mercy,
and the grace of our Savior, Jesus Christ,
that we can one day enter again into Their presence.
But Jesus taught an important truth
about the servants He sends to us.
"He that receiveth you," He said, "receiveth me,
and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me."
The most important role of the Lord's prophet
is to teach us of the Savior and lead us to Him.
There are many logical reasons to follow President Russell M.
Nelson.
Even those not of our faith would call him brilliant.
As Elder Stevenson explained, he was a medical doctor
at age 22, an esteemed cardiac surgeon,
and a renowned pioneer in the development
of open-heart surgery.
Most would acknowledge his wisdom and judgment:
nine decades of learning about life and death,
living unselfishly, loving and teaching God's children
in every corner of the globe, and the maturing experiences
of having 10 children, 57 grandchildren, and 117
great-grandchildren.
(This final number changes frequently.
A great-grandson was born this past Wednesday.)
Those who know him well would speak
of President Nelson facing the difficulties of life
with faith and courage.
When cancer took the life of his 37-year-old daughter, Emily,
leaving a loving husband and five small children,
I heard him say, "I was her father, a medical doctor,
and an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ,
but I had to bow my head and acknowledge,
'Not my will but thine be done.'"
Although we admire all of these noble qualities,
we follow President Nelson because the Lord Jesus Christ
has called him and designated him
as His watchman on the tower.
Carcassonne is a remarkable walled city in France that
has stood since medieval times.
Tall towers surge upward from its protected walls,
built for watchmen who stood on those towers day and night,
keeping their attention riveted in the distance for the enemy.
When the watchman saw an enemy approaching,
his warning voice protected the people of Carcassonne
from the impending danger they could not see.
A prophet is a watchman on the tower,
protecting us from spiritual dangers we may not see.
THE LORD SAID TO EZEKIEL: "I have
set thee a watchman unto the house of Israel;
therefore thou shalt hear the word [from] my mouth,
and warn them from me."
We often speak of our need to follow the prophet,
but consider this heavy burden the Lord places upon His
prophet: "If thou dost not speak to warn the wicked ... ,
[and] that wicked man ... die in his iniquity; ...
his blood will I require at thine hand."
We embrace President Nelson as we
would have embraced Peter or Moses
if we had lived in their day.
God told Moses, "I will be with thy mouth,
and teach thee what thou shalt say."
We listen to the Lord's prophet with the faith
that his words are "from [the Lord's] own mouth."
Is this blind faith?
No, it is not.
We each have a spiritual witness of the truthfulness
of the restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
By our own will and choice we raised our hand this morning,
declaring our desire to sustain the Lord's prophet with
our "confidence, faith, and prayer[s]"
and to follow his counsel.
We have the privilege as Latter-day Saints
to receive a personal witness that President Nelson's call is
from God.
While my wife, Kathy, has known President Nelson personally
for nearly three decades and has no question
about his divine mantle, upon his setting apart,
she began reading all his general conference talks
of the past 34 years, praying for an even deeper assurance
of his prophetic role.
I promise you that this greater witness
will come to you as you humbly and worthily seek it.
Why are we so willing to follow the voice of our prophet?
For those diligently seeking eternal life,
the prophet's voice brings spiritual safety
in very turbulent times.
We live on a planet clamoring with a million voices.
The internet, our smartphones, our bloated boxes
of entertainment all plead for our attention
and thrust their influence upon us,
hoping we will buy their products
and adopt their standards.
The seemingly endless array of information and opinion
remind us of the scriptural warnings
of being "tossed to and fro," "driven with the wind,"
and overcome by the "cunning craftiness" of those
who "lie in wait to deceive."
Anchoring our souls to the Lord Jesus Christ
requires listening to those He sends.
Following the prophet in a world of commotion
is like being wrapped in a soothing, warm blanket
on a freezing cold day.
We live in a world of reason, debate, argument, logic,
and explanation.
Questioning "Why?" is positive in so
many aspects of our lives, allowing
the power of our intellect to guide a multitude of choices
and decisions we face each day.
But the Lord's voice often comes without explanation.
Long before academics studied the impact of infidelity
upon trusting spouses and children, the Lord declared,
"Thou shalt not commit adultery."
Beyond the intellect alone, we treasure
the gift of the Holy Ghost.
The prophet's voice, while spoken kindly,
will often be a voice asking us to change, to repent and return
to the Lord.
When correction is needed, let's not delay.
And don't be alarmed when the prophet's warning
voice counters popular opinions of the day.
The mocking fireballs of annoyed disbelievers
are always hurled the moment the prophet begins to speak.
As you are humble in following the counsel of the Lord's
prophet, I promise you an added blessing of safety and peace.
Don't be surprised if at times your personal views are not
initially in harmony with the teachings of the Lord's
prophet.
These are moments of learning, of humility, when
we go to our knees in prayer.
We walk forward in faith, trusting in God,
knowing that with time we will receive more spiritual clarity
from our Heavenly Father.
One prophet described the incomparable gift of the Savior
as "the will of the Son being swallowed up
in the will of the Father."
The surrender of our will to God's will
is in fact not surrender at all but the beginning
of a glorious victory.
Some will try to overly dissect the prophet's words, struggling
to determine what is his prophetic voice
and what is his personal opinion.
In 1982, two years before being called as a General Authority,
Brother Russell M. Nelson said: "I never ask myself,
'When does the prophet speak as a prophet and when does he
not?'
My interest has been, 'How can I be more like him?'" He added,
"My [philosophy is to] stop putting question marks behind
the prophet's statements and put exclamation points instead."
This is how a humble and spiritual man
chose to order his life.
Now, 36 years later, he is the Lord's prophet.
In my personal life, I have found
that as I prayerfully study the words of the prophet of God
and carefully, with patience, spiritually
align my will with his inspired teachings,
my faith in the Lord Jesus Christ always increases.
If we choose to set his counsel aside and determine
that we know better, our faith suffers
and our eternal perspective is clouded.
I promise you that as you remain resolute in following
the prophet, your faith in the Savior will increase.
The Savior said, "All the prophets ...
have testified of me."
A prophet does not stand between you and the Savior.
Rather, he stands beside you and points the way to the Savior.
A prophet's greatest responsibility
and most precious gift to us is his sure witness,
his certain knowledge that Jesus is the Christ.
Like Peter of old, our prophet declares, "[He is] the Christ,
the Son of the living God."
In a future day, looking back on our mortality,
we will rejoice that we walked the earth at the time
of a living prophet.
At that day, I pray that we will be able to say:
We listened to him.
We believed him.
We studied his words with patience and faith.
We prayed for him.
We stood by him.
We were humble enough to follow him.
We loved him.
I leave my solemn witness that Jesus
is the Christ, our Redeemer and Savior,
and that President Russell M. Nelson is His anointed prophet
upon the earth.
In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.