Thank you ...Aprilyn!

The better part of yesterday I spent reading the comments on the news articles published online regarding the fallout of the passage of Prop 8 in California. It was then that I learned the protesters were coming to Utah... to march on Temple Square.

I read with horror the hateful comment by those who wished to "kill Mormons." I read one chilling remark from a man who said, "I can't wait until Mormon Missionaries come to my door again, they will wish they had never met me!" Having had two of my children serve full time missions it sent shivers down my spine.

I read comments from valiant Saints who tried to calmly and rationally explain the beliefs of the Church,it's members and it's leaders. And some not-so-great comments from the well meaning but misinformed types.

But then came the dissenters - those who said they were good upstanding members of the Church who cannot follow the Prophet any longer and because of the results of this election and the position of the church they have no choice but to leave. There was even a website set up to denounce your membership in solidarity with the gay and lesbian community. What!!!?? You are kidding me, right?

As I sat there stunned and amazed I kept hearing the words of a Prophet of God foretelling this event in my head. I could hear the words and the voice but I was totally unable to place the talk. Then this morning, in answer to prayer, a friend of mine posted it to her blog. She had a different, but similar, take on the same event that caused her to post the talk.

What is the most stunning to me is the talk was given in 1978 while I was still in college! Somehow the words stayed with me down through the ages to be brought to the forefront of my mind by the power of the Spirit just when I needed them most. Reading all that garbage was simply horrible but I just couldn't stop myself in the disbelief of it all!

As I read, the words of the talk rested like dew distilling peace to my soul - I am so thankful for Prophets of God, and in this case, Apostle Neal A. Maxwell. I miss him, but I am so glad his words were recorded for all to hear and remember. So before anyone goes crazy-off-the-deep-end and wants to denounce their membership they should read this -

"Discipleship includes good citizenship. In this connection, if you are a careful student of the statements of the modern prophets, you will have noticed that with rare exceptions—especially when the First Presidency has spoken out—the concerns expressed have been over moral issues, not issues between political parties. The declarations are about principles, not people; and causes, not candidates. On occasions, at other levels in the Church, a few have not been so discreet, so wise, or so inspired.

Make no mistake about it, brothers and sisters, in the months and years ahead, events are likely to require each member to decide whether or not he will follow the First Presidency. Members will find it more difficult to halt longer between two opinions. (See 1 Kgs. 18:21.)

President Marion G. Romney said, many years ago, that he had “never hesitated to follow the counsel of the Authorities of the Church even though it crossed my social, professional or political life” (in Conference Report, Apr. 1941, p. 123). This is a hard doctrine, but it is a particularly vital doctrine in a society which is becoming more wicked. In short, brothers and sisters, not being ashamed of the gospel of Jesus Christ includes not being ashamed of the prophets of Jesus Christ!

“What the secularists are increasingly demanding, in their disingenuous way, is that religious people, when they act politically, act only on secularist grounds. They are trying to equate acting on religion with establishing religion. And—I repeat—the consequence of such logic is really to establish secularism. It is in fact, to force the religious to internalize the major premise of secularism: that religion has no proper bearing on public affairs.” (Human Life Review, Summer 1978, pp. 51–52, 60–61.)

Brothers and sisters, irreligion as the state religion would be the worst of all combinations. Its orthodoxy would be insistent and its inquisitors inevitable. Its paid ministry would be numerous beyond belief. Its Caesars would be insufferably condescending. Its majorities—when faced with clear alternatives—will make the Barabbas choice, as did a mob centuries ago when Pilate confronted them with the need to decide.

Your discipleship may see the time when such religious convictions are discounted. M. J. Sobran also said, “A religious conviction is now a second-class conviction, expected to step deferentially to the back of the secular bus, and not to get uppity about it” (Human Life Review, Summer 1978, pp. 58–59).

This new irreligious imperialism seeks to disallow certain opinions simply because those opinions grow out of religious convictions. Resistance to abortion will be seen as primitive. Concern over the institution of the family will be viewed as untrendy and unenlightened.

It may well be that as our time comes to “suffer shame for his name” (Acts 5:41), some of that special stress will grow out of that portion of discipleship which involves citizenship. Remember, as Nephi and Jacob said, we must learn to endure “the crosses of the world” and yet to despise “the shame of it” (2 Ne. 9: 18; Jacob 1:8). To go on clinging to the iron rod in spite of the mockery and scorn that flow at us from the multitudes in that great and spacious building seen by Father Lehi, which is the “pride of the world” (1 Ne. 11:36)—is to disregard the shame of the world. Parenthetically, why, really why, do the disbelievers who line that spacious building watch so intently what the believers are doing? (See 1 Ne. 8:33.) Surely there must be other things for the scorners to do. Unless deep within their seeming disinterest. … Unless. …

If the challenge of the secular church becomes very real, let us, as in all other relationships, be principled but pleasant. Let us be perceptive without being pompous. Let us have integrity and not write checks with our tongues which our conduct cannot cash.

Before the ultimate victory of the forces of righteousness, some skirmishes will be lost. Even in these, however, let us leave a record so that the choices are clear, letting others do as they will in the face of prophetic counsel.

There will also be times, happily, when a minor defeat seems probable, but others will step forward, having been rallied to rightness by what we do. We will know the joy, on occasion, of having awakened a slumbering majority of the decent people of all races and creeds which was, till then, unconscious of itself.

Jesus said that when the fig trees put forth their leaves, “summer is nigh” (Matt. 24:32). Thus warned that summer is upon us, let us not then complain of the heat!"

Read the entire talk here.