Recently we came on some hard financial times which threatened the security that we’d come to expect every month. I am retired and the company that manages my disability informed me that they were going to start offsetting my check by the amount of my social security check and they were also going to be offsetting my check for an ‘overpayment’ of tens of thousands of dollars.

My wife and I prayed and prayed about a way out of this situation. In about 3 days our prayers were answered. The company called us to inform us that they would only be offsetting my check by the amount that I got from social security and would NOT be pursuing any back pay that I’d received over the last two years. I testify to you all. Prayers ARE answered and God knows each one of us and what we need. He answers prayers.

As a side note, when I first came back to Church (after being away from the Church for almost 40 years), our Bishop told us that he expected a full tithing from us in order to receive the blessings that tithing brings. We thought it would be totally impossible to pay tithing, pay our bills and build up our food storage so that we would have the necessary items to feed five of us. We initially resisted tithing and then relented and started paying faithfully every time we got a check. To our surprise, not only were we able to pay our bills, but we managed to build up our food storage so that we now have at least a three month supply of food. Another prayer was answered for us and a blessing received because we are being faithful.

Brothers and sisters, I don’t think prayers are answered, I KNOW they are. I know that Jesus Christ loves us and wishes only the best things for us in this temporal probationary state. I know that Joseph Smith was our Prophet on earth and that through him, the only true Church of Christ is now established in this, the last dispensation. I know the power of the priesthood and what miracles can be achieved in the name of Christ. I leave this testimony with you in His, Jesus the Christ’s name. Amen.

I believe we existed in a spiritual form before we were born. I believe in Adam and Eve and in the Garden of Eden.

I believe that God reveals his will to us through revelation and inspiration. I believe the words of the Old Testament, New Testament, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, and Pearl of Great Price.

I believe in Prophets including a living Prophet.

I believe that God answers our prayers. I believe that my prayers have been answered by God many times.

I believe in the Holy Ghost and the Light of Christ which inspire men to do good.

I believe that Jehovah created the Earth under the authority of God. I believe that Jesus Christ is Jehovah. I believe that Jesus Christ walked the Earth and atoned for our sins. I believe that it is through His great atonement that we can be forgiven of our sins and return to God.

I believe that Satan is real and seeks to destroy the souls of all men. I believe that we are in a real and literal war against Satan. I believe that we have the power and ability to win this war.

I believe in the Priesthood, the authority to act in God’s name.

I believe that the family unit (a man, a woman and their children) is sacred and eternal.

I believe that we will continue to exist after we die. I believe that we must perform some physical ordinances in order to prepare ourselves for the next life. I believe in baptism. I believe in temples and in the ordinance work performed in temples.

I believe this life is a test. I believe that we will be resurrected and our life will be judged.

-Maxwell J. Drown (http://www.break-line.net/?page_id=23)

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My beloved brothers and sisters, I am pleased with the opportunity to speak to you. I thank each of you for your prayers in my behalf. I am so very deeply grateful to you. In my 49 years as a General Authority, I have spoken well over 200 times in general conference. I am now in my 97th year. The wind is blowing, and I feel like the last leaf on the tree.

Actually my health is quite good, despite all the rumors to the contrary. Skillful doctors and nurses keep me on the right track. Some of you may go before I do. However, with my age in mind, I wish to give you my testimony of the basic truths of this work.

I confess that I do not know everything, but of some things I am certain. Of the things of which I know, I speak to you this morning.

When the emperor Constantine was converted to Christianity, he became aware of the divisiveness among the clergy concerning the nature of Deity. In an attempt to overcome this he gathered the eminent divines of the day to Nicaea in the year 325. Each participant was given opportunity to state his views. The argument only grew more heated. When a definition could not be reached, a compromise was made. It came to be known as the Nicene Creed, and its basic elements are recited by most of the Christian faithful.

Personally I cannot understand it. To me the creed is confusing.

How deeply grateful I am that we of this Church do not rely on any man-made statement concerning the nature of Deity. Our knowledge comes directly from the personal experience of Joseph Smith, who, while yet a boy, spoke with God the Eternal Father and His Beloved Son, the Risen Lord. He knelt in Their presence; he heard Their voices; and he responded. Each was a distinct personality. Small wonder that he told his mother that he had learned that her church was not true. And so, one of the great overarching doctrines of this Church is our belief in God the Eternal Father. He is a being, real and individual. He is the great Governor of the universe, yet He is our Father, and we are His children.

We pray to Him, and those prayers are a conversation between God and man. I am confident that He hears our prayers and answers them. I could not deny that. I have had too many experiences of answered prayers.

Alma instructed his son Helaman, saying, “Counsel with the Lord in all thy doings, and he will direct thee for good; yea, when thou liest down at night lie down unto the Lord, that he may watch over you in your sleep; and when thou risest in the morning let thy heart be full of thanks unto God; and if ye do these things, ye shall be lifted up at the last day” (Alma 37:37).

The second great certitude of which I am sure also has its foundation in the vision of the Prophet Joseph. It is that Jesus lives. He is the Living Christ. He is the Jehovah of the Old Testament and the Messiah of the New. Under His Father’s direction, He was the Creator of the earth. The gospel of John opens with these remarkable words: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

“The same was in the beginning with God.

“All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1–3).

Note particularly that last verse, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”

He was the great Creator. It was His finger that wrote the commandments on the Mount. It was He who left His royal courts on high and came to earth, born under the most humble of circumstances. During His brief ministry, He healed the sick, caused the blind to see, raised the dead, and rebuked the scribes and Pharisees. He was the only perfect man ever to walk the earth. All of this was part of His Father’s plan. In the Garden of Gethsemane, He suffered so greatly that he sweat drops of blood as He pleaded with His Father. But this was all a part of His great atoning sacrifice. He was taken by the mob, appeared before Pilate with the mob crying for His death. He carried the cross, the instrument of His death. On Golgotha He gave His life, crying out, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

His body was tenderly laid in the tomb of Joseph of Arimathaea. But three days later, on that first Easter morning, the tomb was emptied. Mary of Magdala spoke to Him, and He spoke to her. He appeared to His Apostles. He walked with two disciples on the road to Emmaus. And, we are told, He was seen by some 500 others (see 1 Corinthians 15:6).

He had said, “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd” (John 10:16). Accordingly, He appeared to those assembled in the land Bountiful in the Western Hemisphere. Here, He taught the people as He had taught them in the Old World. This is all recorded in detail in the Book of Mormon, which stands as a second witness of the divinity of our Lord.

And to repeat, both He and His Father appeared to the boy Joseph, the Father introducing the Son, saying: “This is My Beloved Son. Hear Him!” (Joseph Smith—History 1:17).

Now, the next thing of which I am certain, and of which I bear witness, is the Atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Without it life is meaningless. It is the keystone in the arch of our existence. It affirms that we lived before we were born in mortality. Mortality is but a stepping-stone to a more glorious existence in the future. The sorrow of death is softened with the promise of the Resurrection. There would be no Christmas if there were no Easter.

I speak next of the great certitudes that have come with the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is the restoration of the priesthood, or the authority given man to speak in the name of God. This priesthood is of two orders: the lesser, also known as the Aaronic, was restored under the hands of John the Baptist. The higher order of priesthood, the Melchizedek, was restored under the hands of Peter, James, and John.

In restoring the Aaronic Priesthood, the resurrected John the Baptist laid his hands on the heads of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and said, “Upon you my fellow servants, in the name of Messiah I confer the Priesthood of Aaron, which holds the keys of the ministering of angels, and of the gospel of repentance, and of baptism by immersion for the remission of sins” (D&C 13:1).

President Wilford Woodruff in his old age spoke to the young men of the Church and said: “I desire to impress upon you the fact that it does not make any difference whether a man is a Priest or an Apostle, if he magnifies his calling. A Priest holds the keys of the ministering of angels. Never in my life, as an Apostle, as a Seventy, or as an Elder, have I ever had more of the protection of the Lord than while holding the office of a Priest” (in Millennial Star, Oct. 5, 1891, 629).

The Melchizedek or Higher Priesthood empowers men to lay their hands upon the heads of others and give blessings. They bless the sick. As James declared in the New Testament: “Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord” (James 5:14).

Now finally, I mention the blessings of the house of the Lord, which have come of the Restoration of the ancient gospel.

These temples, which we have greatly multiplied in recent years, offer blessings that are had nowhere else. All that occurs in these sacred houses has to do with the eternal nature of man. Here, husbands and wives and children are sealed together as families for all eternity. Marriage is not “until death do ye part.” It is forever, if the parties live worthy of the blessing. Most remarkable of all is the authority to do vicarious work in the house of the Lord. Here, ordinances are performed in behalf of the dead who did not have opportunity to receive them while in life.

I was recently told of a woman in Idaho Falls, a widow. Over a period of 15 years she acted as proxy in giving the temple endowment to 20,000 individuals in the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple. She completed her 20,000th endowment on a Friday and returned on Saturday to do five more. She passed away the following week.

Just think of what this one little woman did. She performed these vicarious endowments for as many people as are assembled in this Conference Center this morning. Think of the reception she must have received on the other side.

Now, my brothers and sisters, this is my testimony, which I solemnly bear before you.

God bless you, every one, you faithful Latter-day Saints. May there be peace and love in your homes and faith and prayer to guide you in all that you undertake is my humble prayer in the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.

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I know that prayer is our connection to heaven. There is always somewhere I can turn, no matter what the fear, the frustration, the pain, or the joy, the victory, the celebration may be. I know my Father in Heaven cares, and every time I go to my knees it strengthens my bond with Him. We are strangers here on earth. We came from our home in Heaven. We will return to our home in Heaven. That is where we belong, and through prayer we can visit there in our souls and find peace, comfort, guidance, direction, wisdom, and love. Our Father in Heaven is a God of LOVE, and He is waiting to bless us in so many ways…we just need to ask!

I know that our family is the most important thing in our lives. Our Father wants us to be happy and to rejoice in our lives! We find that happiness and joy in the relationships with those in our families…not from material posessions or worldly praise. There is so much more meaning in our lives as we turn off the TV and just spend good old fashion time together, playing games, riding bikes, serving others, reading and laughing together. That is what we were meant to do…be together, connect with each other, share our lives in meaningful ways. Our loving Father in Heaven wants us to have those relationships and value those relationships more than anything the world offers. He blesses our family as we strive to put first things first. I know that as our family prays together, reads the scriptuers together, attends church together, and strives together to be more like our Exemplar Jesus Christ, our hearts become knit together in unity and love. I don’t know of anything else that brings the peace and fulfillment to a family than the Gospel of Jesus Christ does.

I know that the scriptures are the word of God! There is a real power that comes into my life because I choose to study them. They are filled with LIGHT and TRUTH, and they fill those that read them with LIGHT and TRUTH. In a world that is filled with so much darkness, confusion and contention, it is such a blessing to have that connection with the word of God to help us navigate through the dangers and temptaions that can distract us from all that God has in store for us! Our loving Father in Heaven has given us the scriptures because He loves us and wants us to know how to live, how to pattern our relationships, how to return to Him!

The gospel of Jesus Christ is true. I know it. It radiates in my life and blesses me every day! The way to tell if a seed is a good seed is to watch and see the fruit it bears. All of the many beautiful, delicious fruits in my life are a part of my life because of the gospel of Jesus Christ! It is good! it is delicious! It is true!

Part 2

My wife and I are fifth generation Latter-day Saints, but although I love and respect my ancestors, I don’t consider my testimony as having come because I am emulating them or merely following in their footsteps. My knowledge of the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ has come into my own heart and soul in many powerful, personal ways. I feel a strong desire to share my testimony of this process in case it may help someone else who is searching in their own life to find truth and happiness through knowing what God wants them to do with their life.

As a young boy growing up in Utah (U.S.A.), I prayed many times to have the feeling of the Holy Ghost confirm to my heart that the LDS Church was true, or to hear the “still, small voice” and thus be able to stand in testimony meeting and bear testimony that I knew the Church was true. I didn’t seem to get the answer I was seeking, but I knew that living the gospel felt right, so I was disappointed but not disillusioned. I still lived the gospel in every way.

As a young college student at Brigham Young University, I finally began to understand what it meant to feel the confirming inspiration of the Holy Ghost as I read the Book of Mormon and pondered the experiences of Nephi more deeply than I had as a high school student. What an eye-opener! I could begin to feel the truths of the gospel and the truths found in the scriptures, and it was exciting for me. Many verses from each of the standard works—the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price, made indelible impressions on my heart, mind, and soul as I read them. Each time I would read them I gained new insights and felt the truth of the words I was reading.

I have come to love each of the standard works, and to know that each of them is true, and that a loving Heavenly Father grants unto each of us as His children spiritual knowledge as we seek it with pure motives and as we allow seeds of truth to grow in our hearts. It makes so much sense that He would not make the truths of the gospel be so obvious or so readily available that thinking people would not have to yearn and struggle in some way to find those truths, since one of the most important reasons for this life is to learn to understand truth versus error in a way that makes our spiritual self more mature, so we can have greater faith than when we were innocent children.

I hope that people who use the Internet in their search for spiritual knowledge in their own life will go to the primary sources—the scriptures, including both the Old and New Testaments of the Bible, and the Book of Mormon which is such a powerful witness of the mission of Jesus Christ and our relationship to Him; and personal prayer to Heavenly Father, who will guide their searching if they sincerely ask in faith. Why rely on the words of some who criticize the LDS Church? Why not find out for yourself through a deep and sincere study without letting someone else do your thinking for you? Many critics climb an intellectual ladder without understanding that God wants them to climb a spiritual ladder, and they get lost in intellectual arguments and entanglements just like Isaiah and the Apostle Paul prophesied that they would.
Nothing that I have read on the Internet (including some of the attempts by intellectuals to criticize the LDS Church) has made me doubt the truthfulness of the gospel, the reality that Jesus Christ lives and is our personal Savior, the divine calling of Joseph Smith, the truth of the Book of Mormon and of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I feel saddened that people could be led by critics to misunderstand if they don’t seek to sincerely find out for themselves, by humbly reading and prayerfully considering the Bible (preferably the King James Version if reading in English) and the Book of Mormon on their own.