Teach the Scriptures

Brethren and Sisters:

I feel very much at home here tonight. I’m going to speak more directly to you who are in the seminary and institute program, with the hope that what I say will be equally interesting to you from BYU and Ricks College and the other schools. On a previous occasion I spoke at a dinner for the teachers of religion at Brigham Young University, and what I said to them at that time might be of interest to all of you in the seminaries and institutes.

I hold on to a thread that goes back to the very beginning of the seminary and institute program. Twenty-eight years ago I began teaching seminary in Brigham City as one of three teachers there then. The principal at the time was Abel S. Rich; the other teacher was Albert Theodore Tuttle. I had been a student in that seminary in my high school days. Brother Rich had opened it, the second one in the Church, one year after Thomas J. Yates had opened the first, the Granite Seminary in Salt Lake City in 1912.

Brother Rich had lived through the history of the program and freely talked about it. Working closely with him during those years gave me an intimate insight into this program from the very beginning. Through him I became acquainted with the old “war horses,” as he called them.

I was something like our little boy who remembered very clearly the days when we lived in Brigham City, although he was born several years after we left. Our conversations about those olden days were so real and accurate that he had developed something like a memory of those things that had happened long before he was born.

Brother Rich was a wise observer and a good teacher. He had very carefully appraised the winds and the crosswinds that had blown over the seminary system in those thirty-six years. Later when I was appointed one of the seminary supervisors, I knew something about how it had all come to be. I was therefore acquainted not only with the chronological history of the development of the seminary and institute program, but with some of the moving and historic events that had occurred during the development of this very significant arm of the Church.

President Rich died in 1952. He was helping his son shingle a house in Ogden, and he fell from the roof, probably the victim of a heart attack.

LeGrand Horsely, another former student from that seminary, was transferred from Malad to be the principal. Brother Horsely and I were going through the records one day, filing the old roll books and the other records in chronological order, and we thought we would look at our grades. I found his and he found mine. We read them, and then with due ceremony swore one another to secrecy. When you see some kind of nonsensical, fractious, no‑account kid in class, be careful. Be patient!

I found something else in those records. In the back of the roll book was an accounting of the seminary fees. It was $1.25 for the year. Most fees were paid on the opening day of school; but some few, including mine and my brother’s, were paid by the end of the year, ten cents at a time. That brought back some memories and renewed a very tempering lesson of the past.

I learned much from Abel S. Rich. First, I learned to make decisions! He was a prominent, successful community and Church leader, and he was never hesitant. He taught me to consider a problem, determine what principle was involved, and then to make a decision. His philosophy was simply, “Do what is right; let the consequence follow.”

During the early days of this program there were great spiritual opportunities but little material security. There was virtually no provision for retirement. For instance, the salaries in those very early days of the seminary program were on a bare subsistence level. During the depression they had to be reduced, and since there was no other employment, the teachers just had to see themselves through it somehow. There were times when they couldn’t expect to receive their pay on time. The fringe benefits then were all spiritual. Besides the very small salaries and no retirement, there was no medical insurance and no almost everything else!

I recall an incident that sparked Brother Rich to do something about that. One of the old “war horses” had retired from the seminary several years earlier. Brother Rich found that he was working as a janitor in a saloon. He did that, it turned out, to accommodate a basic, physical frailty: he needed to eat three meals a day! He was doing the best he could with really nothing to live on.

Brother Rich had his wife teach his classes while he went to Salt Lake to see the Brethren. Doctor Franklin L. West was then Commissioner of Education. For some reason Brother Rich didn’t think he would get very far talking to Brother West, so he went to Elder Joseph F. Merrill, who was a former Commissioner of Education for the Church. Brother Merrill was then one of the senior members of the Council of the Twelve Apostles. Brother Rich himself needed no retirement funds because he had developed some land into a prosperous dry farm. He was the one man free to speak about adequate retirement without appearing to be self-serving.

Elder Merrill listened carefully and then called Commissioner West. “Brother Rich is in my office,” he said. “I’m going to send him over to see you, and I want you to listen to him.”

Doctor West had obviously asked, “Which Brother Rich?” because Elder Merrill responded, “Bishop Brother Rich, Mayor Brother Rich, Stake President Brother Rich, State Senator Brother Rich, Mission President Brother Rich, Seminary Principal Brother Rich. Which other Brother Rich is there?”

Elder Merrill then told Doctor West that he had talked about retirement with Brother Rich, that he had asked him about his own retirement—just what it consisted of. Brother Rich had answered that if he could get it all in a lump sum and spend it all at once, he thought he could buy Alice a box of chocolates. That did it!

Within a very short time we were authorized to participate in Social Security, and things began to improve. The old flower fund was not alone thereafter. Step by step things improved until we have the very substantial and adequate program that we have today. It takes half a page to list the professional benefits and programs available to you now.

The typical seminary buildings then were much different from the ones today. They had fir floors that were coated with oil once a year, a drop cord in the middle of each room, with a 100-watt bulb in it, and very little else. I recall one building that had fruit jar lids nailed over the knotholes to keep the heat from the potbellied stove from escaping. If you were fortunate, you had heavy, metal arm chairs; or in place of that, the old style desks that were bolted down to runners in a row. There was, of course, a blackboard, but there were no pictures, charts, graphs, projectors or record players; there were no libraries, offices, or restrooms. At our seminary we did have a large black-box-of-a-record-player that could be moved from one class to another with some effort, and a set of “The Fullness of Times” records which had some scriptural dramatizations on them.

The standard text for the Old Testament was Land and Leaders of Israel. That had been out of print for fifteen years. Whenever there was a faculty meeting in one of the seminaries, the teachers would carefully lock up their books for fear that a desperate fellow teacher might steal a copy or two; and they did! The text for the second course was the New Testament Speaks, and for Church History we had the one adequate text: The Restored Church, by William E. Berrett.

Supervision amounted to more or less troubleshooting. During the six years I taught, I think I had a supervisor in my room once. Of course, we had a system. When the supervisor appeared, the teacher would ask a question in class. The students were primed, and all of the hands went up—the right hand if they knew the answer, the left if they didn’t!

We always knew in those days where the supervisor was. It was said that when the supervisor’s car crossed the northern border of Arizona at Fredonia, automatically the telephone rang in Tucson.

For many years the administration of the seminary program consisted of the commissioner, his secretary, two supervisors who were usually on the road, and an office manager. During the school year about six to eight teachers from a particular area would meet monthly for some sort of inservice training; and each year prior to the opening of school, we all came to Salt Lake City for a one-day institute.

Well, from that, we can make a comparison and see that everything has changed. I think we can rightly say that everything has improved. Let me give you one example.

Today the resources for a single course—Church History—include the following: the text; a manual; a transparency kit; a teacher’s kit, containing such items as answers to questions, scripts for plays, and spirit duplicator master booklets; a media kit, with audio and fourteen filmstrips for special activities; a filmstrip series, with fourteen strips geared for specific lessons; and a student kit, containing special items exclusive of the teacher handouts. And that is by no means a complete list, because there are many films and texts and books and resources beyond that.

The seminaries were an outgrowth of the old religion classes, and the institutes of religion were an outgrowth of the seminaries and originally were called college seminaries. In the history of the Church there is no better illustration of the prophetic preparation of this people than the beginnings of the seminary and institute program. These programs were started when they were nice but were not critically needed. They were granted a season to flourish and to grow into a bulwark for the Church. They now become a godsend for the salvation of modern Israel in a most challenging hour. We are now encircled. Our youth are in desperate jeopardy. These are the last days, foreseen by prophets in ancient times.

I will read one clear, descriptive, accurate prophecy, so old as to be ancient but so timely that evidence of every statement can be seen in today’s news releases.

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

“For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents [can you imagine that being prophesied?], unthankful, unholy,

“Without natural affection [we see a tidal wave of sexual perversion now sweeping in around us, to say nothing of the hideous specter of child abuse that now is becoming common even among our people], trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

“Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

[When you think of what is happening in society today, the next verse has tremendous meaning.]

“For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,

“Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (2 Timothy 3:1–7.)

That prophetic description of our day is accurate. The evil circumstances it describes encircle every student you teach.

While studying one day, I read to that point and sat pondering about all the evidence that now confirms every element in that prophecy. There was a mood of very deep gloom and foreboding, a very ominous feeling of frustration, almost futility. I glanced down the page, and one word stood out, not accidently I think. I read it eagerly and then discovered that the apostle who had prophesied all of that trouble had included in the same discourse the immunization against all of it. Skipping a few verses, I will continue from the same chapter.

“But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived.

“But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou has learned them;

“And that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.

“All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

“That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.” (2 Timothy 3:13–17.)

And there you have it—your commission, your charter, your objective in religious education. You are to teach the scriptures. That is the word that stood out on the page—scriptures. If your students are acquainted with the revelations, there is no question—personal or social or political or occupational—that need go unanswered. Therein is contained the fulness of the everlasting gospel. Therein we find principles of truth that will resolve every confusion and every problem and every dilemma that will face the human family or any individual in it.

We live in a day of great events relating to the scriptures. It has been only a short time since two revelations were added to the standard works. Some have asked, “Why were they put in the Pearl of Great Price? Why not the Doctrine and Covenants?” They could have gone either place, but they were put in the Pearl of Great Price.

The first revelation, given to Joseph Smith the Prophet in the temple at Kirtland, Ohio, on January 21, 1836, is a vision of the celestial kingdom, in which the doctrine of salvation for the dead was revealed.

The second was a vision given to Joseph F. Smith on October 3, 1918. He saw how the gospel will be carried to those who have died without receiving it in mortality. Both are on the same subject, and that is not without very significant import.

I was surprised, and I think all of the Brethren were surprised, at how casually that announcement of two additions to the standard works was received by the Church. But we will live to sense the significance of it; we will tell our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren, and we will record in our diaries, that we were on the earth and remember when that took place.

For four years, there has been a great deal of work underway to devise means whereby the scriptures can be more easily studied by the members of the Church. The first part of this tremendous project involves cross-referencing the King James Version of the Bible with all of the standard works. This project, now well under way, is so monumental in its scope that it could not possibly have been attempted without the aid of computers. In addition to cross-referencing, there will be helpful material added to clarify the Hebrew meaning of some words and, where appropriate, some explanatory material from the Joseph Smith Translation. All of this material will be placed in very readable footnote format at the bottom of the Bible pages.

One of the major achievements of this project will be the inclusion in the Bible of what we have come to call the topical guide. In many of the biblical verses there are so many significant references available from the standard works, that it would be cumbersome to list them all in the footnotes. Therefore, it was determined to accumulate these references under major headings and list them alphabetically by topic for easy reference. For instance, under the word family in the topical guide, there are eight major headings. These are family; family, children, duties of; family, children, responsibilities toward; family, eternal; family, home evenings with; family, love within; family, managing finances in; family, patriarchal. In one of those categories alone there are over eighty references taken from all of the standard works. You can see why they could not all go into the footnotes.

Some months ago, a decision was reached that this topical guide would be printed in a preliminary form and distributed widely throughout the Church. Included on some printed pages in the guide is an appeal for the readers to send in comments and suggestions on the listing, so that major topics that may have been overlooked, or verses that may have been omitted, might be considered for inclusion. This topical guide, in book form (A Topical Guide to the Scriptures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), came off the press this month.

Now I make an appeal. I am very earnest about this, because for the last four years I have been working with those who have had some responsibility for this project. I make an earnest appeal to all of you in religious education to obtain a copy of the Topical Guide to the Scriptures of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and review it, and then respond with your suggestions. There have been several hundred people working on this project; some of you here have been involved. This preliminary printing will give it a review and a screening by literally thousands of others, and we know that those who can help the most are those who are teaching and using the scriptures daily. This refinement will benefit the Church for generations to come.

During the preliminary preparation of this topical index, three computer printouts were given to me at different times. Each time I found that some major topics had not been included, and that some others ought to be rearranged under different topic headings. In the few days I have had the hardback copy, I’ve found that another very major topic was somehow left out. Obviously, everything can’t be listed, but there may be some things that ought to be included in place of some that presently are there. So I repeat, you who are dealing with the scriptures every day, please help us!

In the Bible edition presently being prepared there will be included also a Bible dictionary that will reflect Latter-day Saint theology. Many items in existing dictionaries can be given further explanation because of the greater light shed through Latter-day Saint revelations; so our own Bible dictionary is in preparation, and it is excellent.

The Bible will also include a glossary of terms. Many English words used at the time the King James translators were at work have changed meanings, and the glossary will help explain the meaning of those words. Also, there is a concordance. Of course, you understand that a true concordance is a complete concordance. However, such a lengthy work would be impossible to include within the covers of one Bible. Therefore, a limited concordance, much better than anything we have now, will include as many important words as possible.

Let me make one thing clear: the text of the King James Bible is maintained absolutely without change. There never has been any thought given to changing this version of the Bible. Essentially, what we are doing is cross-referencing the basic doctrines of the Church so that we can have the revelations of the Almighty at our fingertips.

The present King James text is about fifteen hundred pages. With all that I’ve mentioned here, the new editions will contain about two thousand pages; so you can see there will be about five hundred pages of helps and aids. With the choice of paper and printing techniques, the expectation is that this new edition of the Bible with the additional pages will be only a quarter of an inch thicker than the old one. Everything is being done to make these Bibles available in the fall of 1979, for the Old Testament will be the course of study that year.

Now, these four years of tremendous, monumental effort are but a beginning. One day all the standard works will be so organized and prepared, to make them one monumental testimony that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father. The doctrines of salvation must be available to all mankind, not just in their hands, but in their heads and hearts. And you and I, all of us, are to be a part of this. Never since the foundation of the world has such a thing been attempted, but it is now well under way.

From the humble beginning fifteen years ago, the whole curriculum of the Church has been reconstructed, coordinated, and fastened permanently and securely on the foundation of the scriptures.

The standard works of the Church constitute the course of study for the Melchizedek Priesthood quorums; each year a special emphasis is given to one of the basic books of scripture. The Melchizedek Priesthood Personal Study Guide is designed to place upon the individual quorum member the responsibility for studying the scriptures, learning the gospel himself, and then teaching it to his family. All priesthood holders are encouraged to study prayerfully and regularly at home and then bring their scriptures to weekly meetings.

The Relief Society Spiritual Living lessons are similarly structured and follow a pattern closely related to the priesthood.

The family home evening is so structured. Parents are encouraged to study the scriptures with their children, and the lessons are tied to the revelations.

Both men and women share in studying the scriptures in Sunday School in the Gospel Doctrine class. The text there, likewise, is the standard works. In Sunday School classes the scriptures are studied historically. In priesthood and Relief Society classes the same scriptures are studied doctrinally to give a well-rounded education in the scriptures.

The introduction to and emphasis upon the scriptures is basic in both child and youth curricula. The content of all courses is based upon the scriptures. In the youth area, the major responsibility for scripture study is assigned to the seminaries. And you know from the helps and materials that you have in your hands now, how determined we are that we are going to put the revelations not only in the classroom, but also inside the members of the Church.

I said before that there isn’t a major problem we face that we can’t be immunized against if we know the revelations. There comes to mind one illustration that I’d like to mention.

In the presidential election about a year ago both major candidates wanted to be enough in favor of abortion to get half the votes, and enough opposed to get the other half. It was then, and is now, a significant political issue. Where do we in the Church stand? How do we know what to do? Where can we get information to help us decide? Well, if we know the revelations, we have read this: “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. Thou shalt not steal; neither commit adultery, nor kill, nor do anything like unto it.” (D&C 59:6. Italics added.)

Thou shalt not kill, “nor do anything like unto it.” Any Latter-day Saint familiar with the revelations need not be wafted to and fro by any issue that is about in the world.

Do you see, my brethren, do you see, my sisters, the tremendous, monumental work that is rolling forth in this church and kingdom of God? Do you see a mighty retrenching force preparing this people? Do you see glory? You and I, each of us, all of us, have a part in this. Your work in this great vineyard is the cultivation of the tender shoots. Guard them, guide them well, nourish them. Dig about them and prune them as required, and they will not bring forth wild fruit.

If you will read the allegory of the tame and wild olive tree in the book of Jacob and apply it to what I’ve been saying, you might for the first time understand some of the parts of it. In the early days of this dispensation the Lord brought us here to the nethermost part of the vineyard. And as the tree matured, cuttings were taken and formed into stakes and driven into the soil of every nation where the servants of the Lord could go. And they have flourished and have brought forth much fruit. Do you see the vision of it? Do you see your part in it? Do you not sense a feeling of warmth and glory to know that you are a part of such a thing?

These words are from the First Presidency in 1907: “Our motives are not selfish; our purposes not petty and earth-bound; we contemplate the human race—past, present, and yet to come—as immortal beings, for whose salvation it is our mission to labor; and to this work, broad as eternity and deep as the love of God, we devote ourselves, now, and forever.” (Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, and Anthon H. Lund, “An Address. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the World,” Improvement Era, May 1907, p. 495.)

I wish I had the power somehow to convey something of the vision that, in a quiet way, has been going on in the Church. We have seen tremendous attention given to the revelations; a great restructuring and a fitting in place of the foundations and the underpinnings have been accomplished; and now we are ready. And as we see that tidal wave moving around us, we could say, as President Brigham Young did when he was informed that Johnston’s army was approaching, “We ask no odds, let them come.” There was a quiet spiritual defiance in him because he knew in whom he trusted. And just as they were not asleep, we are not asleep now.

I think I have never talked to religious educators of the Church except I have quoted some verses of scripture from the document entitled The Charted Course of the Church in Education. It was in the form of an address given to the seminary and institute leaders of the Church by President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., and was approved by the First Presidency.

“In all this there are for the Church, and for each and all of its members, two prime things which may not be overlooked, forgotten, shaded, or discarded:

“First—that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father in the flesh, the Creator of the world, the Lamb of God, the Sacrifice for the sins of the world, the Atoner for Adam’s transgression; that He was crucified; that His spirit left His body; that He died; that He was laid away in the tomb; that on the third day His spirit was reunited with His body, which again became a living being; that He was raised from the tomb a resurrected being, a perfect Being, the First Fruits of the Resurrection; that He later ascended to the Father; and that because of His death and by and through His resurrection every man born into the world since the beginning will be likewise literally resurrected. This doctrine is as old as the world. Job declared:

“ ‘And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God:

“ ‘Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another.’ (Job 19:26–27).

“The resurrected body is a body of flesh and bones and spirit, and Job was uttering a great and everlasting truth. These positive facts, and all other facts necessarily implied therein, must all be honestly believed, in full faith, by every member of the Church.

“The second of the two things to which we must all give full faith is that the Father and the Son actually and in truth and very deed appeared to the Prophet Joseph in a vision in the woods; that other heavenly visions followed to Joseph and to others; that the gospel and the Holy Priesthood after the Order of the Son of God were in truth and fact restored to the earth from which they were lost by the apostasy of the primitive Church; that the Lord again set up His Church, through the agency of Joseph Smith; that the Book of Mormon is just what it professes to be; that to the Prophet came numerous revelations for the guidance, upbuilding, organization, and encouragement of the Church and its members; that the Prophet’s successors, likewise called of God, have received revelations as the needs of the Church have required, and that they will continue to receive revelations as the Church and its members, living the truth they already have, shall stand in need of more; that this is in truth The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; and that its foundation beliefs are the laws and principles laid down in the Articles of Faith. These facts also, and each of them, together with all things necessarily implied therein or flowing therefrom, must stand, unchanged, unmodified, without dilution, excuse, apology, or avoidance; they may not be explained away or submerged. Without these two great beliefs the Church would cease to be the Church.” (1994 rev. ed. [address to religious educators, Aug. 8, 1938], pp. 1–2.)

Now, my brethren and sisters, I mentioned the many things that have improved over the years, from the early days when I associated with Brother Rich to the later early days as I associated with many of you. There are some things that haven’t changed. We still have the young man and his wife struggling to get through school and then moving out to seek their fortune. That man makes a choice that he will be a teacher—a teacher of the gospel—that he will devote his life to that. With that decision at once comes the fact that all the other things that he might have chosen are therefore set aside, and the realities of his chosen life are then to be accepted. He lives on a modest income, about the middle of the middle class economically. He struggles, he has children—ordinarily too many children by the world’s standards. He has the realities of a worldwide program where he is moved here and there and everywhere. I remember one time after President Berrett and Eleanore moved into a home and settled down, he said, without complaint, that in their married life that had been their forty-first move. Well, in spite of all of those realities and challenges and the modest budgets and the problems—the difficulties in it all—you are involved in and attached to the greatest thing on this earth, the greatest thing that has ever been upon the face of this earth.

You have the complete trust of the Brethren. I say again that there is no greater evidence of the prophetic preparation of this people than the beginning of this religious education program, because when it was installed it was nice, but really not critically needed. It has had time to flourish and now helps to protect our youth from all that we face.

We meet each Thursday in the temple. At eight o’clock the members of the Council of the Twelve go to the fourth floor and sit in a semicircle facing the west wall. Three chairs are there, and above each one is a picture. On the left is a picture of the Crucifixion; in the center is a picture of the resurrected Christ in the Garden; and on the right is a picture of the Lord calling the Twelve. On the east wall of that room are portraits of the presidents of the Church, from Brigham Young to Spencer W. Kimball. The portrait of the Prophet Joseph Smith is on the north wall. We meet in that room and go through the agenda. At precisely ten o’clock the door on the west wall opens and the First Presidency enter. They shake hands with us, we prepare ourselves in sacred clothing for a prayer circle, and one is appointed to be voice at the altar; and there the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles enter into the true order of prayer. All of you are present by designation every time we kneel there; every time we are in that circle there ascends a prayer for you, my brethren and sisters.

Be patient with all the realities that you face, all the difficulties and challenges. You brethren be understanding, be helpful to your lovely wives and companions, the mothers of your children. Sisters, be patient with these brethren. They have chosen a better part. Encourage and sustain them. They are a part of the greatest thing that transpires on this earth this day.

I conclude with the closing words of President Clark in that scripture entitled The Charted Course of the Church in Education. I say scripture by applying the designation for scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants.

“May God bless you always in all your righteous endeavors. May He quicken your understanding, increase your wisdom, enlighten you by experience, bestow upon you patience, charity, and, as among your most precious gifts, endow you with the discernment of spirits that you may certainly know the spirit of righteousness and its opposite as they come to you. May He give you entrance to the hearts of those you teach and then make you know that as you enter there you stand in holy places that must be neither polluted nor defiled, either by false or corrupting doctrine or by sinful misdeed. May He enrich your knowledge with the skill and power to teach righteousness. May your faith and your testimonies increase, and your ability to encourage and foster them in others grow greater every day—all that the youth of Zion may be taught, built up, encouraged, heartened, that they may not fall by the wayside, but go on to eternal life, that these blessings coming to them, you through them may be blessed also. And I pray all this in the name of Him who died that we might live.” (p. 12.)

To this I add my testimony. What we teach in the courses of religious education in this Church is the truth. God lives. Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, the Only Begotten of the Father. Of him I bear witness. He has a body of flesh and bone as tangible as the bodies that we have. This I know.

I invoke the Lord’s blessings upon you as one called among those to hold the keys of authority in this generation. I turn those keys to the blessing of you who are in this monumental work of teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. I pray that you will be blessed in your homes—you wives as you struggle with your little children and your meager budgets, with your challenges and the sometimes disappointing and dreary and discouraging days. I pray for you brethren in the classroom, facing students who ofttimes do not understand. I bless you in those hours of discouragement when sometimes you do not seem to understand, and when after all your effort you come away wondering if any have heard at all. God bless you in this and in all the facets of your lives.

I know that God lives, and I invoke his blessings upon all of us, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

© 1978 by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA