BYU–Idaho President Kim B. Clark addressed students and the campus community on Tuesday, January 21, 2014, focusing his remarks on truths revealed through living prophets. His talk, entitled “Joseph Smith: The Prophet of the Restoration,” focused on the life and work of the prophet Joseph Smith.
President Clark shared an experience about when he saw President David O. McKay, then president of the LDS Church, as a boy. At that time, he realized the connection between this prophet and Joseph Smith.
“When President McKay walked down the aisle and up onto the stand, I was a few feet from him. I remember his eyes, his bearing, and his voice. I listened to him speak, and I listened to him pray. Through the power of the Holy Ghost, I knew in my little-boy heart that David O. McKay was the prophet of God. I also knew that there was an unbroken chain linking President McKay to Joseph Smith. My testimony of David O. McKay was a testimony of Joseph Smith and all the prophets in between. Since that day, every time we have sustained a new prophet, I have received that same witness: this is the prophet of God; he stands where Joseph stood.”
Joseph’s work, as called upon by the Lord Jesus Christ, was “to be the great prophet of the Restoration.” This work was a fulfillment of prophesies from Isaiah, Joseph of Egypt, and other prophets of God, said President Clark.
President Clark taught about the spiritual truths, principles, and ordinances that were brought back to the Earth through Joseph Smith, including faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, and the receiving of the gift of the Holy Ghost. These principles and ordinances were part of the Articles of Faith written by Joseph Smith in 1842.
President Clark closed by asking the audience if they would have defended, supported, and stood by Joseph Smith through the challenges of opposition in the early days of the Church. “We cannot stand by Joseph if we do not stand by the Lord’s living prophet,” he said. Our promise is that if we will stand by Joseph Smith and the living prophet, Thomas S. Monson, by “being valiant in the testimony of Jesus and true to the to the covenants we have made, … the Lord Jesus Christ will stand by us and encircle us in the arms of His love.”
See President Kim B. Clark’s complete Devotional address from January 21, 2014.
BYU–Hawaii Devotionals are held each Tuesday at 11 AM in the Cannon Activities Center. Previous Devotionals can be viewed at http://devotional.byuh.edu/.