The Prophetic Vision of Zion Part 1 The Doctrine & Covenants Lecture 05 by Hyrum Andrus
Channel: Light and Truth
Date: 2016-06-25

Hyrum L. Andrus All rights reserved August 15-18, 1991
LECTURE – 5 THE PROPHETIC VISION OF ZION - PART 1
The Book of Mormon is the keystone of our religion and the idea of Zion. We want to come to the subject of the prophetic vision. I’d like to begin by calling your attention again to some of the statements that President Benson has made. He has given some very positive and pointed statements in relation to the last days and our responsibility in connection with the last days.
In one of them, he says, “Repentance was the cry of our late and great prophet, Spencer W. Kimball. This theme permeated his talks and the pages of his writings, such as his marvelous book, The Miracle of Forgiveness. And it must be our cry today, both to member and non-member alike--Repent! ‘Watchmen, what of the night?’ We must respond by saying that all is not well in Zion. As Moroni counseled, we must cleanse the inner vessel, beginning first with ourselves, then with our families and finally, with the Church.
“A prophet of God stated, ‘Ye shall clean away the bad according as the good shall grow, until the good shall overcome the bad.’“
There is one bit of counsel by President Benson. Here’s another one, and here he cites several other earlier brethren. He says, “Considering some of the challenges which the Church faces currently and which it will continue to face in the future, three statements of former Church leaders come to mind. There are at least three dangers which threaten the Church within,” and he is quoting here, President Joseph F. Smith. “They are: Flattery of prominent men in the world. False educational ideas. And sexual impurity. These three dangers are of greater concern today than they were when identified by President Smith.” [Come Unto Christ pg. 14]
A second statement was a prophecy of Heber C. Kimball, counselor to President Brigham Young, speaking to members of the Church who had come to the Salt Lake Valley. He said, “To meet the difficulties that are coming, it will be necessary for you to have a knowledge of the truth of this work, and this for yourselves. The difficulties will be of such a character that the man or woman who does not possess this personal knowledge or witness, will fall. If you have not got the testimony and light of the Lord in your life, then you will fall. If you do not, you cannot stand. The time will come when no man or woman will be able to endure on borrowed light. Each will have to be guided by the light within himself. If you don’t have it, you will not stand. Therefore, seek for the testimony of Jesus, and cleave to it. And when the trying times come, you may not stumble and fall.” [Come Unto Christ pg. 16]
The third statement, he says, is from President Harold B. Lee, “my boyhood companion and friend and eleventh President of the Church.” “We have some tight places to go before the Lord is through with the Church and the world in this dispensation, which is the last dispensation which will usher in the coming of the Lord. The gospel was restored to prepare a people ready to receive him. The power of Satan will increase. We see it in evidence on every hand. There will be inroads within the Church. We will see those who profess membership, but secretly are plotting and trying to lead the people not to follow the leadership that the Lord has set up to preside in his Church.
“The only safety we have as members of this Church is to do exactly what the Lord said to the Church in that day when the Church was organized. We must learn to give heed to the words and commandments that the Lord shall give through his prophet as he receiveth them, ‘walking in all holiness before me, saith the Lord.’ There will be some things that will take patience and faith. You may not like what comes from the authorities of the Church, but if you listen to these things as if from the mouth of the Lord himself, with patience and faith, the promise is that the gates of hell shall not prevail against you. ‘Yea, and the Lord will disperse the power of darkness before you and cause the heavens to shake for your good and for his Name’s glory.’
“It seems to me that we have within these three prophetic statements the counsel that we need, the counsel that is necessary to stay valiant in our testimony of Jesus and of the work of his Church in these troubled times. One who rationalizes that he or she has a testimony of Jesus Christ but cannot accept direction and counsel from the leadership of His Church is in a fundamentally unsound position and is in jeopardy of losing exaltation.” [Come Unto Christ pg. 14]
These are statements by the President of the Church, President Ezra Taft Benson. Let me just give you one more. He says, “We may expect to see the righteousness of the Saints and the progress of the Kingdom of Ö Get the full transcription from www.hyrumandrus.com!