Doctrine and Covenants

Doctrine and Covenants 160

President Wallace B. Smith submitted the following letter of instruction to the World Conference on Sunday, April 14, 1996, and to the quorums, councils, and orders of the church the following day. Conference delegates voted on April 15, 1996, to include this document in the Doctrine and Covenants. The pastoral letter referred to in the document is published in Rules and Resolutions—1996 supplement. W. Grant McMurray was ordained April 15, 1996, as president of the high Priesthood and as prophet, seer, and revelator to the church. President McMurray presented a letter the following day to the World Conference reconstituting the...

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Doctrine and Covenants 161

On April 21, 1996, I brought to the church words of counsel which I felt led to share, without any specific instruction as to their ultimate disposition. I felt it was important that the church live with the words and not feel compelled to make any urgent decisions about them. During the intervening four years I have been led back to them many times and have pondered their meaning and their timeliness. Without clinging to every word or phrase, I have remained assured of the rightness of the message, but I have also sensed that it was incomplete, that there...

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Doctrine and Covenants 162

For many months I have struggled with a persistent conviction that God is calling the church to a clearer understanding of what it means to be a prophetic people. I have sensed as never before that we are uniquely called to be faithful witnesses to Jesus Christ and to claim again the principles of Restoration in our own time. These thoughts have haunted me, perhaps in part because I have resisted expressing them, painfully aware as I am of my own sinfulness and personal shortcomings. But still the urgency rested upon me, until one night I tossed fitfully in my...

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Doctrine and Covenants 163

Every day since being ordained as prophet-president, I have carried the needs of the church on my heart. Sometimes the weight of concern has seemed almost unbearable. Perhaps this is as it should be, because the heaviness of responsibility has pressed me to seek the mind and will of God as never before. Striving to be open to the guidance of the Spirit, while attempting to lay aside my own preconceived notions, has been a challenging but necessary learning experience. And, as I have sought to perceive God’s will for the church through prayer, study, and listening for the Creator’s...

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Doctrine and Covenants 164

President Stephen M. Veazey released counsel to the church on January 17, 2010, at the Temple in Independence, Missouri. Counsel also was printed in the February 2010 Herald. The church had time to consider the counsel and its implications before World Conference. President Veazey formally submitted the following counsel to the World Conference on Sunday, April 11, 2010. On Wednesday, April 14, 2010, the World Conference voted to accept the inspired document as the mind and will of God for the church and ordered its inclusion in the Doctrine and Covenants. President Veazey prefaced paragraphs of the inspired document with...

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