Sunday morning session: Do not fear future as good life can await
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The moral values that sustain civilization spiral downward at an ever-increasing pace, said President Boyd K. Packer, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve. "Nevertheless, I do not fear the future."
In his Sunday morning address, President Packer recalled having recently spent time with his two-year-old grandson. The Church leader admitted to a moment of anxiety when he wondered what sort of world awaited the little boy. Then a feeling of assurance came over him.
"That bright-eyed, little two-year-old can have a good life — a very good life — and so can his children and his grandchildren, even though they will live in a world where there is much wickedness," President Packer said. "They will see many events transpire in the course of their lifetimes. Some of these will tax their courage and extend their faith. But if they seek prayerfully for help and guidance, they shall be given power over adverse things."
President Packer spoke of a mother who heard that the neighbor children had chicken pox. The mother knew her own children would likely come down with chicken pox themselves at some point. So she decided to "get it all over with at once," and sent her children to the neighbor's to play and let them be exposed to the disease.
"Imagine her horror when the doctor finally came and announced that it was not chicken pox the (neighbor) children had — it was smallpox," President Packer said. "The best thing to do then, and what we must do now, is to avoid places where there is danger of physical or spiritual contagion."
Parents are concerned about moral and spiritual diseases that can have "terrible complications" when standards and values are abandoned, President Packer said. "We must all take protective measures. With the proper serum, the physical body is protected against disease. We can also protect our children from moral and spiritual diseases."
The word inoculate, said President Packer, has two parts: In — "to be within" and oculate meaning "eye to see."
"When children are baptized and confirmed, we place an eye within them — the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost. With the Restoration of the gospel came authority to confer this gift."
A knowledge of the restored gospel and a testimony of Christ can spiritually immunize children, President Packer said. "One thing is very clear: the safest place and the best protection against the moral and spiritual diseases is a stable home and family. This has always been true. It will be true forever."
Young people should not fear what is ahead, he added. Fear is the opposite of faith. President Packer encouraged Church members to find happiness in ordinary things and always keep a sense of humor.
"Do not be afraid to bring children into the world," he counseled. "We are under covenant to provide physical bodies so that spirits may enter mortality. Children are the future of the restored Church."
"Put your homes in order. If Mother is working outside the home, see if there are ways to change that, even a little. It may be very difficult to change at the present time, but analyze carefully and be prayerful. Then expect to have inspiration, which is revelation."
As prophesied, the last days are "perilous times," President Packer said. The Church remains a safe harbor.
