May 5, 2005

Mormon General Conference: Gordon B. Hinckley reviews decade of leadership

Fifteenth president of Church of Jesus Christ warns against the danger of gambling

By Sheila Sanchez
Staff Writer

Warning against the evils of gambling and pornography, LDS Church leaders took center stage last month to counsel church members to “strive for holiness making faith in Jesus Christ the answer to worldly concerns, cares and suffering.”

More than 100,000 people gathered inside the 5-year-old Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, to hear spiritual messages from the First Presidency of the LDS Church, which as been together for 10 years. Photo by Mario Sanchez

More than 100,000 people gathered inside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City, Utah, the weekend of April 2-3 to receive spiritual instruction from their leaders during the faith’s 175th Annual General Conference.

Thousands more convened outside the giant and impressive auditorium located north on what is commonly known as Temple Square.

The Conference Center also served as the broadcast midpoint for the church’s sophisticated satellite system to reach its nearly 13 million members worldwide who watched the two-day in regular chapels or church meetinghouses around the world.

“Holiness is the strength of the soul. It comes by faith and through obedience to God’s laws and ordinances. God then purifies the heart by faith, and the heart becomes purged from that which is profane and unworthy,” said Elder James E. Faust, second counselor to LDS Church President Gordon B. Hinckley, revered by Mormons worldwide as prophet, seer and revelator.

Prophets, seers and revelators
“What brings people to Salt Lake City and church meeting houses around the world is their faith that those who speak in these meetings are speaking as servants of God,” said LDS Church spokesman Dale Bills.

Mormons believe the three-member First Presidency and its Quorum of the Twelve Apostles are modern-day prophets, seers and revelators.

“It comes down to personal faith and devotion. It’s a belief that we’re being taught what God wants us to know and how to live our life in these challenging times according to God’s will,” Bills said.

San Jose South LDS Stake President Richard A. Hunter, a 40-year resident of Almaden Valley and the presiding officer and spiritual leader of several congregations in Almaden and the South Bay, said because Mormons believe in a living prophet, attending the event is extremely valuable to church members.

“It’s important for us to hear what the prophets have to say so that we can figure out how to live our lives,” he said. “We all learn something different during the church’s conferences. We usually wind up with something that connects with our circumstances in life, but just the idea of being able to listen to a prophet of God is a real opportunity.”

San Jose LDS Stake President Charles McClellan attended the conference with his wife, Eva. He said the event provides direction for the church for the next six months when leaders will convene again to address its worldwide membership in the Beehive State.

“Church leaders throughout the world look to the prophets who are the seers and revelators that speak to us in conference to provide the direction for the church to meet the challenges of society and the needs of our communities,” McClellan said.

Hinckley lauds Pope
Hinckley, a friend of all religious denominations, opened the event Saturday morning by expressing sympathy to “our Catholic neighbors and friends” mourning the loss of Pope John Paul II, praising the late pontiff for working tirelessly to advance the cause of Christianity, lift the burdens of the poor and to speak fearlessly in behalf of moral values and human dignity.

Hinckley also remembered the Catholic leader as “an extraordinary man of faith, vision and intellect, whose courageous actions have touched the world in way that will be felt for generations to come.”

“The Pope’s voice remained firm in defense of freedom, family and Christianity. On matters of principle and morality he was uncompromising. On his compassion for the world’s poor, he has been unwavering,” he said.

Decade of service
The gathering was historic for Mormons worldwide, with Hinckley, called as the prophet of the church in March of 1995, recounting the success his decade as the worldwide leader of what’s considered the second largest denomination in California and the fourth-largest denomination in the country. There are about 84,000 church members in the Bay Area.

San Jose LDS Stake President Charles McClellan, the presiding officer and spiritual leader of several South Bay wards or branches (congregations) for the past eight years, attended the conference with his wife, Eva. Photo by Mario Sanchez

Hinckley, who in 2004 was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civil award, credited the church’s growth to the “faith, prayers, efforts and dedicated service” of its members who worship in 26,670 wards and branches (congregations) in 2,665 stakes or regional areas worldwide.

Hinckley, who will turn 95 June 23, noted there are more members of the Church today outside North America, where Joseph Smith established the faith in Fayette, N.Y., April 6, 1830. “We have become a great international family,” he said.

Enrollment in the church’s educational system has doubled, increasing by approximately 200,000 students and the church’s Perpetual Education Fund, a program started in 2001 to help fund the education of returned missionaries from low-income families in Third World countries, has assisted nearly 18,000 young people who live in 27 different nations. Hinckley said they’re being trained and “are moving out of the slough of poverty in which they and their forebears have lived for generations.”

The faith has also greatly increased the number of temples, considered holy sanctuaries necessary for the performance of sacred ordinances, rites and ceremonies by faithful Mormons with a temple recommend.

In 1995, there were 47 temples. Today, there are 119, with three more being dedicated this summer in Nigeria,
Samoa and California.

The Aba, Nigeria, and the Newport Beach temples are new buildings and the Apia Samoa temple is a reconstruction and rededication. The two new buildings, along with one in San Antonio, Texas, that will be dedicated May 22, bring the total number of the church’s temples worldwide to 122.

The Book of Mormon, one of four texts considered divinely inspired and authoritative scripture by the faith, was first published in March of 1830 and has been translated from 47 languages in 1995 to 106 languages today. More than 51 million copies have been distributed throughout the world, Hinckley said.

In the past 10 years, the church has also supplied millions of dollars in cash and commodities for humanitarian aid to those not of the faith. Hinckley, who became a widower last year after losing his wife of 67 years, Marjorie, has traveled nearly a million miles and has visited more than 70 countries spreading the church’s message which focuses strong emphasis on the family unit, eternal marriage, chastity, the Word of Wisdom (caring for one’s body by eating healthy foods, abstaining from alcohol, tobacco, tea, coffee and illicit drugs, tithing (donating 10 percent of one’s income to the church), modesty in dress and behavior, lay leadership and condemnation of fornication, or sexual relations outside marriage. The church opposes abortion and pornography.

Longtime Almaden resident Christine Smith, who traveled to Salt Lake City with her two oldest sons to attend the conference, said the event was a “spiritual feast” and a faith building experience.

“It was an amazing thing to see 21,000 people all together (for one session) in that beautiful conference center,” she said. “It is a reverent, beautiful, peaceful place.”

Smith was impressed with how organized and orderly conference participants were before, during and after the event. “We had a feeling of peace and comfort and were built up and made stronger in our faith and testimonies by hearing the words of these men who are called of God.”

The conference was also meaningful for Mormons worldwide because this year the faith celebrates the 175th anniversary of the organization of the church and the 200th anniversary of Smith’s birth.

“As we remember and honor the prophet Joseph Smith, my heart reaches out to him in gratitude,” said Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, a German national and one of the newest LDS apostles. “In response to his humble prayer, the heavens opened again.”

Conference themes
Mormon leaders stressed the importance of kindness, faith, missionary work, the worth of souls, tithing and warned against the enticements of evil.

A couple take a lunch break after the Sunday morning session of the 175th LDS General Conference. Photo by Mario Sanchez

“Kindness is the essence of greatness and the fundamental characteristic of the noblest men and women I have known. Kindness is a passport that opens doors and fashions friends. It softens hearts and molds relationships that can last lifetimes,” said Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, another LDS apostle.

Speaking to the men of the church who gathered the evening of April 2 for what’s normally called the “priesthood session,” Hinckley also warned the three million men who hold the priesthood in the church about the dangers of gambling and called it as addictive as illegal drugs. “In many cases it robs wives and children of financial security,” Hinckley said, noting that poker is dangerously becoming a college and a high school craze.

Hinckley referred to several letters he’s received from concerned parents whose under-age children are playing poker on the Internet. Utah and Hawaii are the only states in the country that have not legalized lotteries and gambling of various forms. “Is it gambling? Of course, it is. Gambling is simply a process that takes money and does not offer a fair return in goods and services,” he said.

He added: “The pursuit of a game of chance may seem like harmless fun. But there attaches to it an intensity that actually shows on the faces of those who are playing. And in all too many cases this practice, which appears innocent, can lead to an actual addiction. The church has been and is now opposed to this practice.”

The meeting also helped leaders encourage young men to serve two-year full-time proselytizing missions by persevering and being faithful and obedient to God’s laws. There are more than 51,000 such missionaries around the world who serve without pay. “Let us reach out to rescue those who need our help and lift them to the higher road and the better way,” said Monson, Hinckley’s first counselor in the church’s first presidency.

The 360-voice Mormon Tabernacle Choir provided music for most of the conference’s sessions. The choir will perform in the Bay Area June 28 at the Coliseum Arena in Oakland and June 30 at the HP Pavilion in San Jose as part of its summer concert program.