It has been asked, and well it might be, how many of us would have jeered, or at least been privately amused, by the sight of Noah building his ark: Presumably, the laughter and heedlessness continued until it began to rain—and kept raining! How wet some people must have been before Noah's ark suddenly seemed the only sane act in an insane, bewildering situation! To ponder signs without becoming paranoid, to be aware without frantically matching current events with expectations, using energy that should be spent in other ways, these are our tasks.

Joseph Smith made many prophetic statements that last to our day. Some of them seemed preposterous at the time. Lillie Freeze recalls one such. "He said the time would come when none but the women of the Latter-day Saints would be willing to bear children."

In large measure this is already happening today-before our eyes. He said on another occasion that the Saints would be driven and would suffer, but they would go to the Rocky Mountains and there become a great and mighty people. Other recollections of that prophecy do not say a great and "mighty" but a great and "wealthy" people who would be tried more with riches than they ever had been with poverty. This too is happening before our eyes.

One can refuse to bear (beget) children. And one can refuse to bear (love and nurture) begotten children. Both refusals are epidemic in our time.

Should the Lord Almighty send an angel to re-write the Bible, it would in many places be very different from what it now is. And I will even venture to say that if the Book of Mormon were now to be re-written, in many instances it would materially differ from the present translation. According as people are willing to receive the things of God, so the heavens send forth their blessings. If the people are stiff-necked, the Lord can tell them but little

We frequently speak of our right to the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. We are generally left without any explanation as to what this means...

To enjoy the “constant companionship of the Holy Ghost” means, for instance, that, as you fill your assignments as a teacher in the Church (if you are prepared properly), you will be taught things from on high as you teach others.

Such an experience will require more of you than the kind of presentation in which you simply repeat or rearrange the thoughts of others. The fact that every member of the Church is given the gift of the Holy Ghost is the evidence that the Lord wants to reveal things to you and through you.

I have heard my father observe that he learned the gospel by listening to what he was directed to say when he preached the gospel. That experience should be universal among Latter-day Saints.

As you young men lay your hands on the heads of your wives to bless them before they give birth to your children or as you take those children in your arms to give them a father’s blessing, if you hold yourself open to them, thoughts and promises will flow into your mind and you will become an instrument for the Lord in conveying or giving His blessing.

As you serve in positions of leadership or trust and seek direction as to who should be called or what should be done, that same Spirit will lead you far beyond your own thought process and mark a course that reaches beyond that which you can see even by the light of day. This is the companionship of which we speak.

That book was written for our day. Mormon, who compiled it, saw us in vision and was directed to put into the book those things God felt we would especially need in our time.... Not only should we know what history and faith-promoting stories it contains, but we should also understand its teachings. If we really did our homework and approached the Book of Mormon doctrinally, we could expose the errors and find the truths to combat many of the current false theories and philosophies of men, including socialism, humanism, organic evolution, and others.

I have noted within the Church the difference in discernment, in insight, in conviction, and in spirit between those who know and love the Book of Mormon and those who do not. That book is a great sifter.

The Book of Mormon narrative is a chronicle of nations long since gone. But in its descriptions of the problems of today's society, it is as current as the morning newspaper and much more definitive, inspired, and inspiring concerning the solutions of those problems.

Elder Jesse W. Fox, Sen., received the narration from Father Taylor, the father of the late President John Taylor. The old gentleman said that one time the Prophet Joseph was in his house conversing about the battle of Waterloo, in which Father Taylor had taken part. Suddenly the Prophet Joseph turned and said, "Father Taylor, you will live to see though I will not, greater battles than that of Waterloo. The United States will go to war with Mexico, and thus gain an increase of territory. The slave question will cause a division between the North and the South, and in these wars greater battles than Waterloo will occur. "But," he continued, with emphasis, "when the great Bear (Russia) lays her paw on the lion (England) the winding up scene is not far distant."

These words were uttered before there was any prospect of war with Mexico, and such a thing as division in the United States was never contemplated. Yes, these fierce struggles came, and though Joseph himself was slain before they occurred. Father Taylor lived to witness some of the world's most remarkable battles.

The struggle between the Bear and the Lion has not yet happened, but as surely as Joseph the Prophet ever predicted such an event so surely will it not fail of its fulfillment.

There are among us many loose writings predicting the calamities which are about to overtake us. Some of these have been publicized as though they were necessary to wake up the world to the horrors about to overtake us. Many of these are from sources upon which there cannot be unquestioned reliance. Are you priesthood bearers aware of the fact that we need no such publications to be forewarned, if we were only conversant with what the scriptures have already spoken to us in plainness?

Let me give you the sure word of prophecy on which you should rely for your guide instead of these strange sources which may have great political implications. Read the 24th chapter of Matthew, particularly that inspired version as contained in the Pearl of Great Price. (JS-M 1.) Then read the 45th section of the Doctrine and Covenants where the Lord, not man, has documented the signs of the times. [D&C 45] Now turn to section 101 and section 133 of the Doctrine and Covenants and hear the step-by-step recounting of events leading up to the coming of the Savior. [D&C 101; D&C 133] Finally, turn to the promises the Lord makes to those who keep the commandments when these judgments descend upon the wicked, as set forth in the Doctrine and Covenants, section 38. [D&C 138]

Brethren, these are some of the writings with which you should concern yourselves, rather than commentaries that may come from those whose information may not be the most reliable and whose motives may be subject to question.