Mormon Quotes

Us vs. them mentality

Brigham Young
I am at the defiance of the rulers of the greatest nation on the earth, with the United States all put together, to produce a more loyal people than the Latter‑day Saints.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 1:361
Brigham Young
I have taught for thirty years, and still teach, that he that believeth in his heart and confesseth with his mouth that Jesus is the Christ and that Joseph Smith is his Prophet to this generation, is of God; and he that confesseth not that Jesus has come in the flesh and sent Joseph Smith with the fulness of the Gospel to this generation, is not of God, but is anti‑christ.
Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 9:312
Joseph Smith
Before you joined this Church you stood on neutral ground. When the gospel was preached, good and evil were set before you. You could choose either or neither. There were two opposite masters inviting you to serve them. When you joined this Church you enlisted to serve God. When you did that you left the neutral ground, and you never can get back on to it. Should you forsake the Master you enlisted to serve, it will be by the instigation of the evil one, and you will follow his dictation and be his servant.
Joseph Smith, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, p. 324
Joseph Smith
I see no faults in the Church, and therefore let me be resurrected with the Saints, whether I ascend to heaven or descend to hell, or go to any other place. And if we go to hell, we will turn the devils out of doors and make a heaven of it.
Joseph Smith, History of the Church 5:517; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 316
Joseph Smith
The old Catholic church traditions are worth more than all you have said. Here is a principle of logic that most men have no more sense than to adopt. I will illustrate it by an old apple tree. Here jumps off a branch and says, I am the true tree, and you are corrupt. If the whole tree is corrupt, are not its branches corrupt? If the Catholic religion is a false religion, how can any true religion come out of it? If the Catholic church is bad, how can any good thing come out of it?
Joseph Smith, History of the Church, 6:478; Discourses of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 223; Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 375
Wilford Woodruff
As the Apostle Paul said 'If we or an angel from heaven preach any other gospel than that we have preached let him be accursed.'
Wilford Woodruff, Journal of Discourses 12:276
Ezra Taft Benson
It was boldly begun here in 1933 (November 16), when the United States announced our diplomatic recognition of atheistic Soviet Russia. For 15 years the United States had refused to recognize the godless Moscow Communists, for the reasons published at length in 1920 by Bainbridge Colby, Secretary of State in the administration of President Woodrow Wilson. In concluding his long letter of documentation and explanation, Colby had said this: "There cannot be any common ground upon which the Government of the United States can stand with a power whose conceptions are so entirely alien to our own, so utterly repugnant to our moral sense."
Ezra Taft Benson, Godless Forces Threaten Us (Ezra Taft Benson, 1969 Semi‑Annual General Conference, Improvement Era)
Mark E. Petersen
Is there reason then why the type of birth we receive in this life is not a reflection of our worthiness or lack of it in the pre‑existent life? We must accept the justice of God. He is fair to all. With that in mind, we can account in no other way for the birth of some of the children of God in darkest Africa, or in flood‑ridden China, or among the starving hordes of India, while some of the rest of us are born in the United States? We cannot escape the conclusion that because of performance in our pre‑existence some of us are born as Chinese, some as Japanese, some as Indians, some as Negroes, some as Americans, some as Latter‑day Saints. There are rewards and punishments, fully in harmony with His established policy in dealing with sinners and saints, rewarding all according to their deeds.
Mark E. Petersen, Race Problems as they Affect the Church
Orson Pratt
But who in this generation have authority to baptize? None but those who have received authority in the church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints: all other churches are entirely destitute of all authority from God; and any person who receives Baptism or the Lord's supper from their hands will highly offend God, for he looks upon them as the most corrupt of all people. Both Catholics and Protestants are nothing less than the "whore of Babylon" whom the Lord denounces by the mouth of John the Revelator as having corrupted all the earth by their fornications and wickedness. And any person who shall be so wicked as to receive a holy ordinance of the gospel from the ministers of any of these apostate churches will be sent down to hell with them, unless they repent of the unholy and impious act.
Orson Pratt, Apostle Orson Pratt, The Seer, p. 255
Orson Pratt
The people of Utah are the only ones in this nation who have taken effectual measures... to prevent adulteries and criminal connections between the sexes. The punishment, for these crimes is death to both male and female. And this law is written on the hearths and printed in the thoughts of the whole people.
Orson Pratt, The Seer, p. 223
Gerald N. Lund
Today, the world is permeated with philosophies similar to those taught by Korihor. We read them in books, see them championed in the movies and on television, and hear them taught in classrooms and sometimes in the churches of our time. Note just a few examples drawn from modern writings: "We believe that traditional dogmatic or authoritarian religions that place revelation, God, ritual, or creed above human needs and experience do a disservice to the human species. ... Traditional religions often offer solace to humans, but, as often, they inhibit humans from helping themselves or experiencing their full potentialities. ... Too often traditional faiths encourage dependence rather than independence." ("Humanist Manifesto II," The Humanist, Sept./Oct. 1973, pp. 5—6; compare Alma 30:14, 16, 27—28.) "Science affirms that the human species is an emergence from natural evolutionary forces. As far as we know, the total personality is a function of the biological organism transacting in a social and cultural context." (Ibid; compare Alma 30:17.) Here we see clear evidence of Mormon's inspiration to give us a full account of Korihor and his teachings. Korihor's teachings are old doctrine, and yet they are ideas as modern as today's high‑speed printing presses and satellite dishes.
Gerald N. Lund, Ensign, Countering Korihor's Philosophy, July 1992
Heber C. Kimball
Will the President [James Buchanan] that sits in the chair of state be tipped from his seat? Yes, he will die an untimely death, and God Almighty will curse him; and He will also curse his successor, if he takes the same anti‑Mormon stand.
Heber C. Kimball, Journal of Discourses 5:133
Erastus Snow
The extremists of the north, the anti‑slavery agitators heeded it not; and neither party approached the subject with any earnest determination to effect an honorable settlement of this question.
Erastus Snow, Journal of Discourses 23:34
Daniel C. Peterson
There's still that Zion‑building ideal. When we go and work for the welfare cannery, the welfare farm, there's still that sort of thing there. Fast offerings and that sort of thing are still there. But I worry that we may become too assimilated to the surrounding model. I glory in the distinctives of 19th‑century Mormonism. I don't want to return to all of them. Certainly it's not my prerogative to call any of them. I'm not calling for the restoration of plural marriage. But I do think that we need to remember that we were in tension with the surrounding society and that there always ought to be some. We ought to be bothered if everybody always thinks we're just peachy‑keen.
Daniel C. Peterson, PBS, The Mormons
LeGrand Richards
God is calling to the Jews. He invites them into the fold of Christ. He wants them to come and take their place in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter‑day Saints, the Kingdom of God which 'shall stand forever.' (Daniel 2:44)
LeGrand Richards, Israel! Do You Know?, 1954, p. 209
Vaughn J. Featherstone
Those who espouse perverse principles and deviant behavior are living in sin. Consenting adults that teach contrary to the gospel are wrong even if the majority accepts them. Sin is sin, and that is God's truth.
Vaughn J. Featherstone, Apostle Vaughn J. Featherstone, "Carry the Torch," October 1999 General Conference, also New Era, Mar. 2001, page 40
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