Unfortunately, there has been fostered in the minds of some an expectation that …we should look to either the Church or government to bail us out. Forgotten by some of our members is an underlying principle of the Church welfare plan that “no true Latter-day Saint will, while physically able, voluntarily shift from himself the burden of his own support.”
“…what is the real cause of this trend toward the welfare state, toward more socialism? In the last analysis, in my judgment, it is personal unrighteousness. When people do not use their freedoms responsibly and righteously, they will gradually lose these freedoms.”
“…There is the feeling that the government should step in and take care of one’s needs, one’s emergencies, and one’s future. …[Thus] can an entire people be imperceptibly transferred from individuals, families, and communities [responsible for their own sowing and planting] to [placing those responsibilities on] the federal government”
Moral values are being neglected and prayer expelled from public schools on the pretext that moral teaching belongs to religion. At the same time, atheism, the secular religion, is admitted to class, and our youngsters are proselyted to a conduct without morality. …Because we do know and because we do care, we must teach the rules of happiness without dilution, apology, or avoidance. That is our calling.
“…we should not…expect our leaders to organize projects for us. But as youth, men, women, and families, we can join in this great humanitarian endeavor.”
“Nothing happens in this world until there is work… What a dismal station we have reached in this nation where we have borrowed and spent and failed to repay. At the close of 1994, every man, woman, and child in the United States owed as his or her part of the national debt $17,805.64. Think of it. It is a disgrace. It affects all of our monetary policies and all of our commerce. It burdens us with taxes from which there is little or no relief.”
“…why does any honest, patriotic, intelligent citizen of America prefer socialism to free enterprise? Is it not in free enterprise that free agency, a divine gift to every human being, finds an environment favorable to growth and development and to living in harmony with our beautiful doctrine of eternal progression? …Yes, it is repentance or industrial slavery. Which will you choose?”
To have been on the wrong side of the freedom issue during the war in heaven meant eternal damnation. …The issues [in this life] are the same: “Shall men be compelled to do what others claim is for their best welfare” or will they heed the counsel of the prophet and preserve their freedom?
This preparation must consist of more than just casual membership in the Church. You must learn to be guided by personal revelation and the counsel of the living prophet so you will not be deceived…
Around 41 b.c., many Nephites joined the Church, and the Church prospered. But secret combinations also began to grow, and many of their cunning leaders hid among the people and were difficult to detect… Those same threats are among us today. The somber reality is that there are “servants of Satan” embedded throughout society. So be very careful about whose counsel you follow.