Elder Gerrit W. Gong
April 2018 | Christ the Lord Is Risen Today
Elder Gong is a newly sustained member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He seems intelligent and humble. I heard him speak with his wife at BYU Women’s Conference and he also has a cute sense of humor.
Words — at least my words — cannot express the overwhelming feelings since President Russell M. Nelson lovingly took my hands in his, with Susan at my side, and extended this sacred call from the Lord that took my breath away and has left me weeping many times these past days.
This Easter Sabbath, I joyfully sing "Alleluia." The song of our risen Savior’s redeeming love celebrates the harmony of covenants (that connect us to God and to each other) and the Atonement of Jesus Christ (that helps us put off the natural man and woman and yield to the enticings of the Holy Spirit).
Together, our covenants and our Savior’s Atonement enable and ennoble. They help us hold on and let go. Together they sweeten, preserve, sanctify and redeem.
Said the Prophet Joseph Smith, “It may seem to some to be a very bold doctrine that we talk of — a power which records or binds on earth and binds in heaven. Nevertheless, in all ages of the world, whenever the Lord has given a dispensation of the priesthood to any man by actual revelation, or any set of men, this power has always been given” (Doctrine and Covenants 128:9).
And so it is today. Sacred covenants and ordinances, not available anywhere else, are received in 159 Holy Houses of the Lord in 43 countries. Promised blessings come through restored priesthood keys, doctrine, and authority, reflecting our faith, obedience, and the promises of His Holy Spirit, to us in our generations, in time and eternity.
Dear brothers and sisters, we belong to each other. We can be “knit together in unity and in love” in all things and in all places. As the Lord Jesus Christ invites to each of us, wherever we are, whatever our circumstances, please “come and see.'
Everything worthy and eternal is centered in the living reality of God our loving Eternal Father and His Son Jesus Christ and His Atonement, witnessed by the Holy Ghost. This is Easter Sunday, I reverently witness and solemnly testify of the living Christ — He who “died, was buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven.” He is Alpha and Omega — with us in the beginning, He is with us to the end.
I testify of latter-day prophets, from the Prophet Joseph Smith to our dear President Russell M. Nelson, whom we joyfully sustain. As our primary children sing, “Follow the prophet; he knows the way.
