marc wrote: ↑February 15th, 2018, 2:39 pm President Benson no longer stood up to give the clarion call. His final words personally uttered in the October 1988 General conference were, as I previously quoted:
Thereafter, general authorities have given us words of counsel, etc, but the admonishment to remove the condemnation ceased. There was only one other time since then that any general authority spoke on the subject, which I wrote in my OP six years ago:...My beloved Saints, I am now entering my ninetieth year. I am getting older and less vigorous...I do not know fully why God has preserved my life to this age, but I do know this: That for the present hour He has revealed to me the absolute need for us to move the Book of Mormon forward now in a marvelous manner. You must help with this burden and with this blessing which He has placed on the whole Church, even all the children of Zion...
...Moses never entered the promised land. Joseph Smith never saw Zion redeemed. Some of us may not live long enough to see the day when the Book of Mormon floods the earth and when the Lord lifts His condemnation. (See D&C 84:54–58.) But, God willing, I intend to spend all my remaining days in that glorious effort. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen...https://www.lds.org/general-conference/ ... n?lang=eng
Some facts remain:marc wrote: ↑May 11th, 2012, 7:50 am Elder Dallin H. Oaks gave a fireside talk, which originated at BYU on June 6, 1993. Some of his words:
Dallin H. Oaks
Along with other General Authorities, I have a clear recollection of the General Authority temple meeting on 5 March 1987. For a year, President Benson had been stressing the reading of the Book of Mormon. Repeatedly he had quoted these verses from the Doctrine and Covenants, including the Lord’s statement that the Saints’ conduct had “brought the whole church under condemnation” (D&C 84:55).
In that temple meeting, President Benson reread those statements and declared, “This condemnation has not been lifted, nor will it be until we repent.” He also repeated his declaration of a year earlier that “in our day the Lord has inspired His servant to reemphasize the Book of Mormon to get the Church out from under condemnation.”
Another Testament of Jesus Christ
-It has been twenty-five years since any prophet or apostle has sounded that clarion call.
-No prophet or apostle has declared that the condemnation has been lifted.
-Unlike the people at Bountiful, we are an unredeemed people (collectively).
-Some few people have found rest. They have rent that veil of unbelief.
It's interesting to note that with Pres. Benson, he was still the Prophet, leading the church for several years after the last time he spoke in General Conference. It was due to a stroke that kept him from being able to speak (it didn't stop him from having his talks read in General Conference--one of his very best on Pride was given this way) and his many health problems which plagued his last years serving as Prophet. Do you not think that if the Lord had wanted Pres. Benson to be able to give this 'clarion call' of condemnation, etc, don't you think the Lord could have blessed him with the ability to overcome the things that kept him from fulfilling his calling? Because if we truly believe that the Lord leads this church, then he can make sure his Prophet is healthy enough to deliver his message, I would think.
And, if the Lord wants to tell the church we are under condemnation, it's pretty easy. He has a prophet who can give this message, and the message can be given every time he addresses us.
https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865 ... speak.htmlPresident Ezra Taft Benson (Nov. 10, 1985, to May 30, 1994), after suffering a heart attack in mid-October 1987, spoke in both the opening and priesthood sessions of the subsequent general conference in April 1988. However, President Hinckley, then first counselor in the church’s First Presidency, read President Benson's closing remarks in the Sunday afternoon session, and President Benson wouldn’t speak himself in general conference again.
While President McKay used his sons to convey conference messages, President Benson’s counselors continued to do the same for him in subsequent years as poor health first limited his general conference attendance and then ultimately precluded it.
President Benson’s well-known “Beware of Pride” conference talk was actually read by President Hinckley in the opening session of the April 1989 general conference, with President Monson, then the second counselor in the First Presidency, reading the closing-session remarks. The two continued to speak on behalf of President Benson in subsequent conferences, reading talks attributed to him, paying tribute to him or sharing previous talks or quotes from him.
In October 1990 and at the age of 91, he was hospitalized in satisfactory condition with a subdural hematoma and gastrointestinal bleeding, missing general conference for the first time in his presidential tenure. He returned to attending all or part of the morning sessions of general conferences in 1991 and April 1992, but did not attend sessions again beginning in October 1992 until his death.