A Non-Member Asked Me What the Prophet Teaches. How Would YOU Respond?

[Third Hour]

I was walking out of the temple. There were two ladies waiting just outside the main gate. They hollered at me and asked something to the effect of, "We understand your church has a bonafide prophet. What does he teach?" As I recall I gave some boring and rote answer. Looking back, the answer I gave wasn't necessarily incorrect, but I cringed at my lack of preparation. I believe that the Lord speaks to His children through a living prophet and yet I was unable to relay those messages with any specificity. From that point on I made sure that I always held in remembrance the words that I had received from the living prophet. The following are crucial lines pulled from each of President Nelson's conference addresses from the last ten years. 2009 "Our prayers follow patterns and teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. He taught us how to pray. From His prayers we can learn many important lessons. We can begin with the Lord’s Prayer and add lessons from other...

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[Guest Mores]

13 hours ago, Third Hour said:

I was walking out of the temple. There were two ladies waiting just outside the main gate. They hollered at me and asked something to the effect of, "We understand your church has a bonafide prophet. What does he teach?" As I recall I gave some boring and rote answer. Looking back, the answer I gave wasn't necessarily incorrect, but I cringed at my lack of preparation. I believe that the Lord speaks to His children through a living prophet and yet I was unable to relay those messages with any specificity. From that point on I made sure that I always held in remembrance the words that I had received from the living prophet.

I've heard this same tale from many sources over the years.  Since the time I recognized the tell-tale signs of an urban legend, I've treated them as such.  Nevertheless, it does teach a valuable lesson.  We do need to pay attention to what our Prophet actually says.

Tanner provides these abstracts from the three addresses Pres. Nelson gave in the latest conference.

Quote

“Jesus Christ teaches the way back to our eternal home. He understands our Heavenly Father’s plan of eternal progression better than any of us. After all, He is the keystone of it all.”

“God’s objective should be our objective. He wants His children to choose to return to Him, prepared, qualified, endowed, sealed, and faithful to covenants made in holy temples.”

“Too many people consider repentance as punishment—something to be avoided except in the most serious circumstances. But this feeling of being penalized is engendered by Satan.”

I found a couple of interesting notes that I'd like to share.

One common pattern was the title of his first talk. "We Can Do Better and Be Better."  All three of his addresses touched on this topic. 

• The first speech was obvious. 
• The second spoke specifically of how we can improve our families.  But he also spoke of his friend who accepted the gospel, but refused to be baptized because... reasons.  Then he asked that his temple work be done for him after his death.  Didn't make much sense.
• The third spoke of improvements and rennovations to various temples (improving that which is good).  And he spoke of our need to make use of temples more in our lives.

The second common pattern was his closing lines:

Quote

• We are engaged in the work of Almighty God. Jesus is the Christ. We are Their servants. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
• I testify that God lives! Jesus is the Christ. His Church and the fulness of His gospel have been restored to bless our lives with joy, here and hereafter. I so testify in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
• I so bless you and bear my testimony that God lives! Jesus is the Christ! This is His Church. We are His people. In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Notice the commonality to his closing testimony.  God, Christ, His Church (missing in the first speech), His people (only hinted in the second speech).