David M. Bresnahan April 05, 2008 Salt Lake City, Utah Elder D. Todd Christofferson, 63, was sustained by Mormons, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as the newest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
The more than 13 million Latter-day Saints believe that their church is a literal restoration of the original Church of Jesus Christ. Those members believe that President Christofferson is one of 12 men who are currently apostles of Jesus Christ. The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is the second highest governing body of the Church.
Elder Christofferson received a bachelor´s degree from Brigham Young University, and a law degree from Duke University. He practiced law in Washington, D.C. and has been a senior vice president and associate general counsel for major banking institutions, including Nations Bank Corp, now Bank of America.
During a press conference following the solemn assembly, President Christofferson remarked about his unique opportunity to server as a law clerk for U.S. Supreme Court Judge John Sirica in 1972 during the Watergate hearings.
Because of his banking background, he was asked by this reporter to comment on news reports of pending economic difficulties around the world, and the long standing counsel by the LDS Church to it´s members to get out of debt and to store a year´s supply of food.
Elder Christofferson said that when we know that rain is coming we get out an umbrella. "Prepare for rain," he stated.
"The counsel of the brethren for 70 plus years has not changed," he added. He reminded members that the Church has created two pamphlets and distributed them to all church members to help them know how to get out of debt and how to gather food for storage. The pamphlets are available on the Internet. He told members that "the message is there for anyone who wants to listen."
He said members should save money, store food, eliminate debt, and eliminate all the "stuff" and the unnecessary clutter in their lives. "Be prudent in the way you live," he said. Recent news stories have predicted bank failures and food shortages by September of this year. The LDS Church operates canneries located in many areas. Members of the public can purchase bulk food items, or bring their own to can for storage. E-mails from some of those canneries in the past week have indicated that most items are in short supply, and wheat is not available at all.
Sorry Mirk for the edit, but the long url made it impossible to read on my screen. The url still works, but is now much shorter.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
I think that anyone who is not doing whatever they can now for storage, whether all they can afford is an extra can of food a week or an entire year's supply for a family of six from Walton Feed, has spiritual blinders on. The Lord, through His church, is pushing hard right now for people to start getting prepared.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
Did anyone watch the news conference? I did. And frankly, he didn't "warn" Mormons. He answered a question. One question of many. It took no longer to answer that question than it did of any other question. In fact, I think he spent longer answering some question about a monument in a park than he did on this one.
I just thinks it's interesting that this article focused on this one aspect and used the headline to highlight something political currently--our economy.
Again, I think the advice is good and we would be wise to heed the counsel of our prophets.
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It takes a big man to cry, but it takes a bigger man to laugh at that man.
But that doesn't have to be some kind of apocalyptic or natural disaster hell. The counsel has been there for years, and we need to follow it as well as any. I don't see any usefulness in looking toward bad times with either panic or glee. We need to prepare, period. Just like we've needed to prepare for the last several decades.
I agree that tough economic times are ahead.
But in regards to becoming Celestial beings:
If you are constantly growing, improving and doing your best you will have experienced enough adversity to get you there. If you are taking it easy and just getting by sometimes you will be blessed with enough adversity in the way of suffering and problems that you will get there and sometimes you won't and you won't get there... So I don't think health, social, money, etc... problems are required unless we are NOT doing our best to live the gospel and improve as a person. AND there is the added element of an imperfect world that is built to generally and randomly give adversity (illness, natural disasters, etc...) So OFTEN major adversity is SIMPLY CHANCE (although you can pray to get protection from this). So, in the end if you are striving to live the gospel but not doing it with enough effort you might have adversity given to you so you can receive all the blessings available, other than that I think the remainder is chance. (Oh, and yes there can be/is suffering from doing your best all the time... there is a price to everything that is proportional to the gain ... so I'm sure you have to struggle a certain amount to be deemed worthy enough for the savior to make up the difference...)
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"There is order in the way the Lord reveals His will to mankind. . .we cannot receive revelation for someone else's stewardship." L. Tom Perry
