It is now my privilege to introduce tonight's speaker. Elder M. Russell Ballard was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 8, 1928, to Melvin R. and Geraldine Smith Ballard. He attended the University of Utah, where he met, courted, and married Barbara Bowen in the Salt Lake Temple on August 28, 1951. As a young man, he served a mission to England where he was a counselor in the mission presidency. He has served as a bishop twice. In 1974, he was called to serve as president of the Canada Toronto Mission. This is where I first met Elder Ballard. He was my mission president. People have asked me what it was like having him as a mission president. I tell them that I feel the same way about him as they feel about their mission president. He was wonderful. He has always had a great love and zeal for missionary work. While serving as mission president, he was called to the First Quorum of the Seventy in April 1976. He later served as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy. In October 1985, he was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Prior to his call as a General Authority, Elder Ballard had interest in the automotive, real estate, and investment businesses. He has served on many Church and civic committees and boards and is the author of several books. Elder and Sister Ballard are the parents of two sons and five daughters. They have 43 grandchildren and 37 great-grandchildren. Elder Ballard.

Well, I'd like to thank the choir. I have a grandson in the choir. Thanks, Tom, for bringing the choir to open this wonderful conference. I appreciate that. These grandchildren are terrific; They can do all kinds of things. You're a wonderful sight, and the very best young men and young women in the whole world. You have the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to guide your footsteps of faith in today's ever-increasingly wicked world. It's good for me and Sister Ballard to be with you this evening, both here in the Marriott Center and with all of you gathered in other buildings around the world. With modern technology, I suppose some of you are also listening via podcast feeds, or other electronic marvels. But regardless of where you are tonight, I'm grateful to speak to you. And I pray the Lord will be with us so what I say will be of help to each of you and your lives at this time. I express thanks to the Utah State University Institute of Religion choir for the beautiful music, and a special appreciation that I express to Tom Mullen, one of the stake presidents here and one of my assistants when I served as mission president. He served with us in Toronto. And I'm very proud of him. Tonight I want to follow up on what I said at general conference. Those of you who were listening— and I hope that some of you might qualify—

remember that you received counsel from the General Authorities and from the general officers of the Church. You may remember in my talk I compared the artificial flies used by a fly fisherman to those artificial lures used by Satan to catch us and to reel us in to his awful world of misery. I received a letter a few days after conference from a wonderful young man. His name is Chayton Snider. He's 11 years old. He listened to me and sent the drawing that you see on the screen along with this personal note: "Fisherman reeling in a fish with an artificial lure symbolizes how Satan is reeling us in with addiction, the artificial lure. When the fishermen throws the fish on to the beach and the fish tries to flop back to the water, that flopping, I think, symbolizes how we struggle to get back to the safety of the water of the gospel. But we need help from Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ to get away from those additions." Close quote. Thank you, Chayton, for your succinct synopsis of my conference address. I quote from that talk: "like the fly fisherman who knows that trout are driven by hunger, Lucifer knows also our hunger, our weaknesses, and our temptations. And he tempts us with counterfeit lures which, if taken, can yank us from the streams of life into his unmerciful influence. And unlike a fisherman who catches and releases the fish back unharmed into the water, Lucifer will not voluntarily let go. His goal is to make his victims as miserable as he is." I pray the Lord will bless me in teaching a very important principle to you. The principal is this: keep the gospel of Jesus Christ simple. Paul the Apostle had the same concern in his day when he said, "but I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ." The Book of Mormon, the prophet Nephi explains the doctrine and gospel of Christ in these simple terms. I'm referencing and referring to statements from Second Nephi, the 31st chapter. I'm just going to pick out a few statements. You may read the full text later on. Among other things, Nephi said, "for my soul delighteth in plainness." Can we follow Jesus save we be willing to keep the commandments of His Father? "And the Father said: Repent ye, repent ye, and be baptized in the name of my Beloved Son." "He that is baptized in my name, to him will the Father give the Holy Ghost." "And I heard a voice from the Father, saying: Yea, the words of my Beloved are true and faithful. He that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved." "For ye have not come thus far save it were by the word of Christ with unshaken faith in him." "My beloved brethren. . .and there is none another way nor name given under Heaven whereby man can be saved in the Kingdom of God." "And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ." The Prophet Joseph Smith defined the first principles and ordinances of the gospel in the fourth article of faith: "First, faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Second, repentance. Third, baptism by immersion for the remission of sins. And fourth, the laying out of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost." I want to focus on the doctrine and gospel of Christ tonight. Now, my dear young people, there are many things going on in the world today that are in direct opposition to the principles of the gospel. You must know the doctrine of Christ and live and defend it all the days of your life. Some years ago, one of my missionaries came to see me. He said this: "President, I'm losing my testimony. I have some questions that no one will answer for me. My bishop and stake president just told me to forget them. And they had no answers." I asked for his questions to be written down and then suggested that he come to see me in 10 days. And I would answer every one of them. As he was leaving my office, I was prompted to ask him this question: "Elder, how long has it been since you have read from the scriptures?" He acknowledged that it had been a long time. I said, "you have given me an assignment, it's only fair that I give you one. You read at least one hour from the scriptures each day until you come back for your answers." He agreed to do this. When it came back, I was ready. And he said to me, "President, I don't need the answers. I know the Book of Mormon is true. I know Joseph Smith is a prophet. I'm OK now." And I responded, "you will get the answers to your questions anyway. I've worked hard on them."

All this anti-Mormon stuff was what we were dealing with.

I asked him after our discussion, "Elder, what have you learned from all of this?" And he gave a very significant response. "I've learned, President, to give the Lord equal time." Now together, let's review the basic doctrines and gospel of Christ. The first doctrinal principle is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Having faith in Christ includes having a firm belief that He is the Only Begotten Son of God and the Savior and Redeemer of the world. Our doctrine teaches that we can return to live with our Heavenly Father only by relying on His Son's grace and mercy. When we have faith in Christ, we accept and apply His Atonement and His teachings. We trust Him and what he says. We know that he has the power to keep His promises. Heavenly Father blesses those who have faith to obey His Son. We believe in Christ, and we believe that He wants us to keep His commandments. We want to show our faith by obeying Him. Through our faith in Jesus Christ, He can heal us both physically and spiritually. Now tonight, my dear young friends, take a minute and concentrate on your own personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Think about yourself as I ask you just a few questions. Are you happy with the direction your life and your faith in Jesus Christ is going? Do you love God with all of your heart, soul, strength, and mind, as the Lord taught the lawyer in the 10th chapter of Luke? Are you doing the simple things in your everyday life? Are you saying your prayers every morning and every night? Are you reading every day from the holy scriptures? Are you using appropriate language? Are you honest? Are you living the Word of Wisdom? Are you being kind and thoughtful of those needs of others around you? Are you following the counsel of the Brethren emphasized in this past conference, to avoid completely any kind of pornography? Pornography cannot exist in our lives if we have a true faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And I say with all the strength I have, if this is a problem in your life, leave it alone. Are you living worthy of a temple recommend? Are you actively participating in your Sunday meetings, especially sacrament meeting, partaking of the sacrament worthily and renewing your covenants with the Lord? Are you returned missionaries that are here— within the sound of my voice— are you maintaining the dignity of a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ in your dress and in your personal demeanor? Are you preparing for and actively pursuing finding your eternal companion? Now, I could spend the rest of the night on this question. But I'm sure by now you understand we do not endorse hanging out. If you haven't got that yet, get it tonight.

In your vernacular, cool it.

We recommend the proper dating. You know, it's simple. A boy asks a girl for a date and you have a good time together. Are you're really looking for a companion who loves the Lord and honors His holy name? And those of you who are married, are date nights a regular occurrence as you continue to build and strengthen your relationship?

Now, there are other things, of course, that I could add to the list. But however, if you are seriously striving to do your very best to follow Christ, then you can answer these questions and others like them with a resounding yes. As you have thought tonight about your personal faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, is there anything in your life now that you know is not what you want it to be? If there is anything that you know in your heart is not consistent with one who has real faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, then let me tell you how to fix it. Repentance is the second principle of the gospel. Our faith in Christ and our love for Him lead us to repent, or to change our thoughts, beliefs, and behaviors that are not in harmony with His will. When we repent, we feel godly sorrow, and we stop doing things that are wrong, and increase our efforts to do things that are right. Sincere repentance brings several results. We feel God's forgiveness and his peace in our lives. Our guilt and sorrow are swept away. Brothers and sisters, be so grateful that the gospel of Jesus Christ provides an escape from mistakes we may make by sincere repentance. If one does not master the ability to repent, oftentimes little habits then become an addiction. All of us can easily avoid being trapped by addiction simply by not partaking of addictive substances or addictive practices. Make no mistake my dear young friends, all of us are targets of Satan and his minions. He will use every deceitful lure or tactic he has to cause you and me to falter and drift in our commitments, in our faithful devotion to the Lord. The third doctrinal principle of the gospel is baptism. This principle most all of you in the sound of my voice have participated in. Baptism by immersion for the remission of sin, what a wonderful thing. And this is the first covenant that we make between ourselves and the Lord Jesus Christ and our Heavenly Father. Baptism is an ordinance. It is a sacred ceremony or rite that shows that we have entered into a covenant with God. And God has always required His children to make covenants. A covenant is a binding and solemn agreement between God and man. God promises to bless us. And we promise to obey him. Keeping covenants brings blessings in this life and exaltation in the life to come. Remember, Christ set the example for us by being baptized himself. And we are blessed with the privilege of partaking of the sacrament each week, which helps us remain worthy to have the Spirit with us at all times. It is a weekly reminder of our covenants. And it helps us to build our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. The fourth doctrinal principle is the gift of the Holy Ghost. Jesus taught that we must be baptized of water and also of the Spirit. Baptism by water must be followed by baptism of the Spirit, or it is incomplete. Only when we receive baptism and the gift of the Holy Ghost can we receive a remission of our sins and become completely spiritually reborn. The Holy Ghost testifies of Christ and helps us recognize the truth. He provides spiritual strength and helps us to do what is right. He gives us peace and comfort. He comforts us during the times of trial and sorrow. He warns us of spiritual or physical danger. Through the power of the Holy Ghost, we can feel God's love and direction for all of us. This gift is a foretaste, my brothers and sisters, of the eternal joy and promise of eternal life. And finally, the fifth doctrinal principle, we must endure to the end. Once we have entered into the straight and narrow path by our faith in Jesus Christ, repentance, and the ordinance of baptism, and receiving the Ghost, we must exert every effort to stay on the path. Years ago, our faithful stake patriarch, who was in his 90s, stood in fast and testimony meeting and said something I shall never, ever forget. I'll always remember it. He said, "I pray every night that God will see me safely dead with my testimony burning brightly." I said to him after the meeting, "Patriarch, of all the people I know, certainly you don't need to worry about that anymore." With which he took hold of my lapels of my coat, jerked right up to where we were about that far apart. And he looked me in the eye and he said these words. "My boy— I was married had two children— my boy, no one is secure until the very end." May it be so that we are faithful to the very end. So the doctrine of faith in Christ, repentance, and making and renewing and keeping covenants, and being directed by the Spirit will become a pattern of living. Our actions in daily life are shaped and governed by these doctrinal principles. Now, I know some of you returned missionaries are saying to yourself, "Elder Ballard is quoting some of this from the doctrine in the inspired Preach My Gospel." And I hope you recognize some of these words, and that you have internalized their meaning in your lives. Those of you young men and young women who have not served missions, may I suggest that it would be well for you to have a copy of Preach My Gospel. Study chapter three, the lesson entitled "The Gospel of Jesus Christ." It lays out very clearly, and in more detail than I've done tonight, the steps necessary to avoid being caught by the lures of Satan, and being dragged away from the pathway that leads to eternal life. How simple the gospel of Jesus Christ is. How important it is for us to stay on the only pathway defined by God as a way back home to His eternal presence. The gospel is the plan of happiness. It is simple and beautiful. Let me see if I can illustrate how the first principles of the gospel are like a bridge between pre-mortal life, as represented as I raise my left hand, and eternal life, as I raise my right hand. Now, the bridge between the two is the gospel, the doctrine, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. We have come from the pre-mortal world to strive to know and to live the principles of the gospel. And we have found ourselves now down here in the earth. And we're making our way back, hopefully, to the presence of God. This requires understanding and obedience. Our goal, as we strive to live the gospel, is to become candidates to receive all of the blessings our Father has in store for his faithful and worthy children. Jesus himself said this. "Now this is the commandment, repent all ye ends of the earth, and come unto me and be baptized in my name, that ye may be sanctified by the reception of the Holy Ghost, that ye may stand spotless before me at the last day. Verily, verily I say unto you, this is my gospel. And ye know the things ye must do in my Church." Close quote. Now, I come back and ask you again to think of your own life. How are you doing? Again, is there anything in your life causing you to drift from the teachings of the gospel into the influences of Satan? Are you giving the Lord equal time? You live in a world that's filled with technology, where there is such easy access to electronic information, entertainment, social networks on your home computers, your iPad, or your iPhone. No generation before you has had so much technology available at their fingertips. Through Facebook and the other networks, you can stay in touch with friends all over the world. While these are marvelous tools, I caution you not to let the use of technology capture your time to the point that you become addicted to constantly using them. Somehow, you need to limit their use so they do not steal away from you what is essential, precious, and eternal. We need only watch the nightly news and read the newspapers to realize that the world is in enormous distress. There are earthquakes, hurricanes, and tornadoes in diverse places. There are wars and rumors of wars. There's famine, and suffering, and genocide, and not to mention, murders and other acts of violence. Some of you may think, in today's world, the future doesn't hold much for you to strive toward. I can remember as a young 13-year-old boy coming home from priesthood meeting on Sunday, December 7, 1941, to learn from my parents that Japan had just bombed Pearl Harbor. This propelled the United States into a World War that had already been raging in Europe for two years. Then it seemed like life as we knew it was going to come to an end. There was much uncertainty as many young man were swept up into the military service. However, now, just as then, amidst all of the conflicts, struggles, and evil influences in the world, there is still much good. When I was born a long time ago— when all of you were still in the spirit world—

there were only about 20 countries in the whole world that plausibly could call themselves as having democracies, where citizens could enjoy even a fraction of the freedoms we take for granted. Now today, there are more than 90 of the world's peoples can live their lives in freedom and according to their own beliefs. Today, worldwide poverty is on a decline and health strides have been extraordinary pertaining to sanitation and improved drinking water in the developing countries. It's remarkable what's happening. Educational opportunities are also becoming more widely available. There are many reasons for you to be filled with hope tonight and filled with optimism. Don't let Satan influence you and cause you not to believe in the great future you have to look forward to. We all prepare to enjoy life by daily decisions we make. If you are true and faithful to the doctrine and gospel of Christ, many wonderful opportunities in life will be yours. In the Church, your leaders at the stake, and ward, and general levels will be inspired to call you to serve in callings that you have been prepared for, and as you prepare yourself now for, as a result of your wise choices to keep the commandments of God. 30 years from now, the leadership of the Church will be largely dependent on how well each one of you is prepared to fulfill the calls to serve that will come to you in the Church. I think about this. Just think about this. It took the Church 98 years from 1830 to 1928, the year I was born, to organize the first 100 stakes. The second 100 stakes were organized during the next 24 years. Then we start to see a very interesting picture unfold. At the end of 1960, just eight years later, the 300th stake was organized in Toronto, Canada, during the time President Thomas S. Monson was the mission president there. Two weeks ago, Sister Ballard and I attended stake conference in Toronto, celebrating its jubilee, or 50th year. And in 1964, just four years after the creation of the 300th stake, the 400th stake was organized. 200 more stakes were organized during the next nine years. And the 900th stake was organized in March of 1978. And soon, young people, the 3000th stake will be organized. How does this relate to you young men and young women sitting here tonight? Suppose the Church creates 100 stakes a year. That would mean that in 2040, just 30 years from now, the number of stakes will have doubled to approximately 6,000. You will be in your late 40s, early 50s. Now ask yourself, where are the 6,000 stake presidents? Where are their first counselors, second counselors, executive secretaries, clerks? Where are the 6,000 times 12— or 72,000— high counselors? And suppose that every stake had an average of 10 units, which is about the average in the stakes today. Where are the 60,000 bishops, first counselors, second counselors, executive secretaries, clerks, elders quorum presidents and their counselors, high priests group leaders and their assistants, Relief Society, Young Women, and Primary presidents and their counselors, and on and on? Where are they? I'm speaking to them right now. You are they. Will you be ready to accept the callings that the Lord will extend to you? Heavenly Father has an eternal plan for each one of you. Your birthright, the privilege you have of being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is likened to a miracle in a world of some 6 billion people. You made some very important promises and commitments to Heavenly Father while living with Him in the pre-mortal world. You may wonder how the names of auxiliary leaders, bishops, stake presidents, and General Authorities come to the mind of those who have the responsibility for extending calls to serve. How does a stake president know who the bishop should be? How does a General Authority know who the stake president should be? Today, just today, I had my hands on the head of a brand new stake president. We reorganized the stake over the weekend.

What a privilege that is. What an awesome responsibility.

How does the President of the Church know who the General Authorities of the Church should be? It's by revelation that names are made known of those who have proven they are a faithful, trustworthy, and living the basic doctrines of the gospel of Christ. Do not let one day go by you do not strive to be ready to serve. Remember, mortality is a member for all of us to prepare to meet God. In fact, Amulek taught it this way: "For behold, this is the time for men to prepare to meet God. Yea, behold the day of this life as the day for men to perform their labors. And now, as I've said unto you before, as ye have had so many witnesses, that therefore, I beseech you that you do not procrastinate the day of your repentance until the end. For after this day of life, which has given us to prepare for eternity, behold, if we do not improve our time while in this life, then cometh the night of darkness wherein there can be no labor performed." Close quote. So every day of your life, the Lord will help you if you will trust in Him and keep His commandments. The Lord makes it known to the responsible leader that you're ready to serve because you stayed on the gospel path. And you have lived up to the commitments that you made before you were ever born, and the commitments you have made through the doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which will guide you all the days of your life. May I suggest you begin now by accepting callings. They'll prepare you for future callings to serve in the Church. Do what's necessary to build a real relationship, my beloved young people, with your Heavenly Father. You are His spiritual sons and daughters. Your divine parents love you with all Their hearts, as does the Lord Jesus Christ. They want you to follow the great plan of happiness that will lead you back safely home to Their presence. Now, as we come to the close of this meeting together, I pray that each of you will strive always to stay anchored to the doctrinal principles and ordinances of the gospel.

Brothers and sisters, always give the Lord equal time so your testimonies will not drift to the false teachings of the world. Listen to the Brethren. We're doing everything we know how to teach you the truth and encourage you to be anchored to those things that will keep you safe and free. Do the right things every day for the right reasons and you'll be just fine. Prepare in every way to be ready when the Lord needs your service to His Church. And as you get out into the world, you'll continue to be tested. That is one of the purposes of life. We've been sent here to determine just how committed and dedicated we really are. And to me, it's exciting to believe that we can become— in fact, we can rise up and be great in following the example of the Lord Jesus Christ. I like this poem. It applies to all of us. It's entitled "The Oak Tree," by Johnny J. Ryder Jr. "A mighty wind blew night and day. It stole the oak tree's leaves away, then snapped its boughs and pulled its bark until the oak was tired and stark. But still the old tree held its ground while other trees fell all around. The weary wind gave up and spoke, how can you still be standing, Oak? The oak trees said, I know that you can break each branch of mine in two, carry every leaf away, shake my lambs and make me sway. But I have roots stretched in the earth, growing stronger since my birth. You'll never touch them, for you see, they are the deepest part of me. Until today, I wasn't sure of just how much I could endure. But now I've found, with thanks to you, I'm stronger than I ever knew." My beloved young brothers and sisters, be like the strong oak tree. Come to know how strong you are, push your faith and trust in God and Christ down deep in the gospel soil. Always be aware of the artificial flies being presented to us by the counterfeit fisher of men, Lucifer. May we have the wisdom and the spiritual insight to discern and refuse his many dangerous offerings. Live the doctrine of Christ, the simple and basic principles of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, honor the covenants of baptism, live worthy of the Holy Ghost as your companion, and endure to the very end. Do this every day and the spirit of the Lord will be with you to keep you safely on the pathway that leads to eternal life. I bear my witness and testimony to you. I want you to know we love you. You will carry off on your shoulders the future of this Church. You have a great destiny. I pray with all of my heart that you'll do those things tonight that you need to do if you need to make course corrections in the way you're living. And I bear my witness and testimony to you that Jesus is the Christ. He does live. This is His Church. We are on His errand. We are His covenant people. I know that. I bear that witness and pray now the Lord to bless you, and invoke that blessing upon you and His holy name that you may find peace, joy, and calm assurance in your own heart that you're doing the very best that you can to be worthy of His holy name. May this be your blessing now and through all the days of your life is my humble prayer, testimony, and blessing in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.