Calling on members to be valiant witnesses of Christ, Elder Dallin H. Oaks of the Council of the Twelve quoted several scriptural commandments to testify of the Savior, to repent and to be baptized in His name.

Speaking Saturday afternoon, Elder Oaks said, "If we follow these commandments, we serve as witnesses of Jesus Christ through our baptism, our membership in His Church, our partaking of the sacrament, and our prayers and other actions in His name."But our duty to be witnesses of Jesus Christ requires more than this, and I fear that some of us fall short. [We] become so preoccupied with our own agendas that we can forget to witness and testify of Christ."

He referred to Joseph Smith's statement: "The fundamental principles of our religion are the testimony of the apostles and prophets, concerning Jesus Christ, that He died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven; and all other things which pertain to our religion are only appendages to it."

Elder Oaks said that President Joseph F. Smith, in his vision of the spirits of the dead, described "the spirits of the just" as those "who had been faithful in the testimony of Jesus while they lived in mortality." (D&C 138:12.)

In contrast, Elder Oaks explained, in his vision of the three degrees of glory, the Prophet Joseph Smith described those souls who go to the terrestrial kingdom as the "honorable men of the earth," who were "not valiant in the testimony of Jesus." (D&C 76:75,79.)

"All of us need to be valiant in the testimony of Jesus," said Elder Oaks.

He quoted from a 1971 address by President Harold B. Lee, who said that 50 years earlier the greatest responsibility of missionaries was to defend the truth that Joseph Smith was divinely called and inspired and that the Book of Mormon was the word of God.

By 1971, President Lee noted, "Our greatest responsibility and anxiety is to defend the divine mission of our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, for all about us . . . are those not willing to stand squarely in defense of the great truth that our Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, was indeed the Son of God."

Elder Oaks said a national magazine reported an innovation by a religious leader to administer the emblems of the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ in "nonsexist words." He wished to consecrate the eucharist in the name of the "Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer" rather than the "Father, Son and Holy Ghost."

"Such trendy and expedient tampering with the Christian faith is illustrative of the extent to which some are unwilling to witness of Jesus Christ, the Son of God," said Elder Oaks.

"Such deliberate deviations are not likely to be made by faithful Latter-day Saints. However, we need to be on guard against careless omissions and oversights in our personal testimonies of Jesus, in our formal instruction, and in our worship and funeral services."