thank you president Benson has felt that he would rather have this read than to read it we're grateful for his presence he honors us we love him as we know he loves us I shall Now read the message which he has prepared for the opening of this conference my beloved Brethren and sisters I Rejoice to be with you in another glorious General Conference of the church how grateful I am for the love prayers and service of the devoted members of the church throughout the world may I commend you Faithful Saints who are striving to flood
the Earth and and your lives with the Book of Mormon not only must we move forward in a Monumental manner more copies of the Book of Mormon but we must move boldly forward into our own lives and throughout the Earth more of its marvelous messages this sacred volume was written for us for our day its scriptures are to be likened unto ourselves the Doctrine and Covenants tells us that the Book of Mormon is the record of a fallen people why did they fall this is one of the major messages of the Book of Mormon Mormon
gives the answer in the closing chapters of the book in these words Behold the pride of this nation or the people of the Nephites hath proven their destruction and then lest we miss that momentous Book of Mormon Message from that Fallen people the Lord warns us in the Doctrine and Covenants beware of Pride lest ye become as the Nephites of old I earnestly seek an interest in your faith and prayers as I strive to bring forth light on This Book of Mormon Message the sin of Pride this message has been wne heavily on my soul
for some time I know the Lord wants this message delivered now in the premortal council it was Pride that faed Lucifer the son of the morning at the end of this world when God cleanses the Earth by fire the proud will be burned to stubble and the meek shall inherit the earth three times in the doctrine and Covenant the Lord uses the phrase beware of Pride including a warning to the second Elder of the church Oliver cry and to Emma Smith the wife of the Prophet pride is a very misunderstood sin and many are sinning
in ignorance in the scriptures there is no such thing as righteous Pride it is always considered a sin there therefore no matter how the world uses the term we must understand how God uses the term so we can understand the language of holy RIT and profit thereby most of us think of pride is self-centeredness conceit boastfulness arrogance or hotess all of these are elements of the sin but the heart or core is still missing the central feature of pride is enmity enmity toward God and enmity toward our fellow men enmity means hatred hatred toward hostility
to or a state of opposition it is the power by which Satan wishes to Reign Over Us pride is essentially competitive in nature we pit our will against against Gods when we direct our pride toward God it is in the spirit of my will and not thine be done as Paul said they seek their own not the things which are Jesus Christ's our will in competition to God's will allows desires appetites and passions to go unbridled the proud cannot accept the the authority of God giving direction to their lives they pit their perceptions of Truth
against God's Great knowledge their abilities versus God's priesthood power their accomplishments against his mighty Works our enmity toward God takes on many labels such as Rebellion hard-heartedness stiff nakedness unrepentant puffed up easily offended and sign Seekers the proud wish God would agree with them they aren't interested in changing their opinions to agree with God another major portion of this very prevalent sin of pride is enmity toward our fellow man we are tempted daily to elevate ourselves above others and diminish them the proud make every man their adversary by pitting their intellects opinions Works wealth talents
or any other worldly measuring device against others in the words of CS Lewis pride gets no pleasure out of having something only out of having more of it than the next man it is the comparison that makes you proud the pleasure of being Above the Rest once the element of competition has gone pride has gone in the pre-early council Lucifer placed his proposal in competition with the father's plan as advocated by Jesus he wished to be honored above all others in short his prideful desire was to Dethrone God the scriptures abound with evidence of the
severe consequences of the sin of Pride to individuals groups cities and Nations Pride goeth Before Destruction it destroyed the nephite nation and the City of Sodom it was through Pride that Christ was crucified the Pharisees were wroth because Jesus claimed to be the Son of God which was a threat to their position and so they plotted his death Saul became an enemy to David through Pride he was jealous because the crowds of Israelite women were singing that Saul hath slain his thousands and David his 10 thousands the proud stand more in fear of men's judgments
than of God's judgments what will men think of me weighs heavier than what will God think of me kingom was about to free the prophet of benadi but an appeal to his pride by his Wicked priests sent AB benedi to the Flames Herod sorrowed at the request of his wife to behead John the Baptist but his prideful desire to look good to them that sat with him at meat caused him to kill that kill John fear of God's judgment mat manifests itself in competition for men's approval the proud love the praise of men more than
the praise of God our motives for the things we do are where the sin is Manifest Jesus said he did always those things that pleased God would we not do well to have the pleasing of God as our motive rather than to try to elevate our elves above our brother and outdo another some prideful people are not so concerned as to whether their wages meet their needs as they are that their wages are more than someone else's their reward is being A Cut Above the Rest this is the enmity of Pride when pride has a
hold on our hearts we lose our independence of the world and deliver our freedoms to the bondage of men's judgment the world shouts loud louder than the whisperings of the Holy Ghost the reasoning of man overrides the revelations of God and the proud let go of the iron Rod pride is a sin that can readily be seen in others but is rarely admitted in ourselves most of us consider Pride to be a sin of those on the top such as the rich and the Learned looking down at the rest of us there is however a
far more common ailment among us and that is pride from the bottom looking up it is Manifest in so many ways such as fault finding gossiping backbiting murmuring living beyond our means envying coveting withholding gratitude and praise that might lift another and being unforgiving and jealous disobedience is essentially a prideful power struggle against someone in authority over us it can be a parent a priesthood leader a teacher or ultimately God a proud person hates the fact that someone is above him he thinks this lowers his position selfishness is one of the more common faces of
Pride how everything affects me is the center of all that matters self-conceit self-pity worldly self-fulfillment self-gratification and self SE seeking Pride results in secret combinations which are built up to get power gain and glory of the world this fruit of the sin of Pride namely secret combinations brought down both the jedite and nephite civilizations and has been and will yet be the cause of the fall of many nations another face of pride is contention arguments fights unrighteous Dominion generation gaps divorces spouse abuse riots and disturbance all fall into this category of Pride contention in our
families drives the spirit of the Lord away it also drives many of our family members away contention rages ranges from a hostile spoken word to world worldwide conflicts the scriptures tell us that only by Pride cometh contention the scriptures testify that the proud are easily offended and hold grudges they withhold forgiveness to keep another in their debt and to justify their injured feelings the proud do not receive counsel or correction easily defensiveness is used by them to justify and rationalize their frailties and failures the proud depend upon the world to tell them whether they have
value or not their self-esteem is determined by where they are judged to be on the ladders of worldly success they feel worthwhile as individuals if the numbers beneath them in achievement Talent beauty or intellect are large large enough pride is ugly it says if you succeed I am a failure if we love God do his will and fear his judgments more than men's we will have self-esteem pride is a damning sin in the true sense of that word it limits or stops progression the proud are not easily tou they won't change their minds to accept
truths because it implies they have been wrong Pride adversely affects all our relationships our relationship with God and his servants between husband and wife parent and child employer and employee teacher and student and all mankind our degree of Pride determines how we treat Our God and our brothers and sisters Christ wants us to lift up where he is do we desire to do the same for others Pride Fades our feelings of sunship to God and Brotherhood to man it separates and divides Us by ranks according to our riches and our chances for learning Unity is
impossible for a proud people and unless we are one we are not the Lords think of what pride has cost us in the past and what it is now costing us in our own lives our families and the church think of the repentance that could take place with lives changed marriages preserved and H strengthened if Pride did not keep us from confessing our sins and forsaking them think of the many who are less active members of the church because they were offended and their pride will not allow them to forgive or fully Su at the
Lord's table think of the tens of thousands of additional young men and couples who could be on missions except for the pride that keeps them from yielding their hearts unto God think how Temple work would increase if the time spent in this Godly service were more important than the many prideful Pursuits that compete for our time Pride affects all of us at various times in various degrees now you can see why the building in lehi's dream that represents the pride of the world was large and spacious and great was the multitude that did enter into
it pride is the universal sin the great Vice yes pride is the universal sin the great Vice the antidot antidote for pride is humility meekness submissiveness it is the broken heart and contrite spirit as rogard Kipling put it so well the tumult and the shouting dies the captain and the Kings depart still stands thine ancient sacrifice and humble and a contrite heart Lord God of hosts be with us yet lest we forget lest we forget God will have a humble people we can either choose to be humble or we can be compelled to be humble
Elma said blessed are they who humble themselves without being compelled to be humble let us choose to be humble we can choose to Humble ourselves by conquering Amity toward our brothers and sisters esteeming them as ourselves and lifting them as high or higher than we are we can choose to Humble ourselves by receiving counsel and chastisement we can choose to Humble ourselves by forgiving those who have offended us we can choose to Humble ourselves by rendering selfless service we can choose to Humble ourselves by going on Mission and preaching the word that can humble others
we can choose to Humble ourselves by getting to the temple more frequently we can choose to Humble ourselves by by confessing and forsaking our sins and being born of God we can choose to Humble ourselves by loving God submitting our will to his and putting him first in our lives let us choose to be humble we can do it I know we can my dear Brethren and sisters we must prepare to redeem Zion it was essentially the sin of Pride that kept us from establishing Zion in the days of the Prophet Joseph Smith it was
the same sin of Pride that brought consecration to an end Among the Nephites pride is the great stumbling block of Zion I repeat pride is the great stumbling block of Zion we must cleanse the inner vessel by conquering Pride we must yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit put off the prideful natural man become a saint through the atonement of Christ the lord and become as a child submissive Meek humble that we may do so and go on to fulfill our divine Destiny is my fervent prayer in the name of Jesus Christ amen
