D&C 1

In a special Ensign publication, President Spencer W. Kimball wrote -


"Brethren and sisters, my purpose in preparing this message is to encourage you to study the scriptures. As the Lord has said, "Search the scriptures; for . . . they are they which testify of me." (John 5:39 )

Perhaps you will have noticed that for many years the General Authorities have urged us all with increasing frequency and in a spirit of love to adopt a program of daily gospel study in our homes, both as individuals and as families. Also, the standard works have replaced all other materials as texts in the adult curriculum of the church, and scarcely a meeting comes to a close without an inspired admonition from priesthood leaders to read and study the scriptures...

Nevertheless, we are saddened to learn, as we travel about the stakes and missions of the Church, that there are still many of the Saints who are not reading and pondering the scriptures regularly, and who have little knowledge of the Lord's instructions to the children of men...

Besides the almost constant encouragement and prompting which we receive from our present-day Church leaders, the prophets of old seem to cry out to us in almost every page of the scriptures, urging us to study the word of the Lord, the holy scriptures, "which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus." (2 Tim. 3:15.) But we do not always hear, and we might well ask ourselves why.

Sometimes it seems we take the scriptures too much for granted because we do not fully appreciate how rare a thing it is to possess them, and how blessed we are because we do have them...

Lest the foregoing be lightly passed over, let me pause here to point out a common error in the mind of man—that is, the tendency, when someone speaks of faithfulness or success in one thing or another, to think "me," and when someone mentions failure or neglect, to think "them." But I ask us all to honestly evaluate our performance in scripture study. It is a common thing to have a few passages of scripture at our disposal, floating in our minds, as it were, and thus to have the illusion that we know a great deal about the gospel. In this sense, having a little knowledge can be a problem indeed. I am convinced that each of us, at some time in our lives, must discover the scriptures for ourselves—and not just discover them once, but rediscover them again and again." (First Presidency message, September 1976 Ensign)

With that direct counsel, let me also mention the testimony of Brigham Young as stated by Wilford Woodruff -

"I will refer to a certain meeting I attended in the town of Kirtland in my early days . . . some remarks were made . . . with regard to the living oracles and with regard to the written word of God . . . a leading man in the church . . . talked upon the subject, and said: "You have got the word of God before you here in the Bible, Book of Mormon, and Doctrine and Covenants; you have the written word of God, and you who give revelations should give revelations according to those books, as what is written in those books is the word of God. We should confine ourselves to them."

When he concluded, Brother Joseph turned to Brother Brigham Young and said, "Brother Brigham, I want you to take the stand and tell us your views with regard to the living oracles and the written word of God." Brother Brigham took the stand, and he took the Bible, and laid it down; he took the Book of Mormon, and laid it down; and he took the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, and laid it down before him, and he said: "There is the written word of God to us, concerning the work of God from the beginning of the world, almost, to our day." "And now," said he, "when compared with the living oracles those books are nothing to me; those books do not convey the word of God direct to us now, as do the words of a Prophet or a man bearing the Holy Priesthood in our day and generation. I would rather have the living oracles than all the writing in the books." That was the course he pursued. When he was through, Brother Joseph said to the congregation, "Brother Brigham has told you the word of the Lord, and he has told you the truth."

The Bible is all right, the Book of Mormon is all right, the Doctrine and Covenants is all right, and they proclaim the work of God and the word of God in the earth in this day and generation until the coming of the Son of Man; but the Holy Priesthood is not confined particularly to those books, that is, it did not cease when those books were made. (Wilford Woodruff, CR, October 1897, pp. 22-23.)

With the counsel of these brethren on the canonized scripture (standard works) and the living oracles, the word of the Lord in 1st Section of the Doctrine and Covenants, to me -

"...is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword, to the dividing asunder of both joints and marrow..." (Doctrine and Covenants Section 6:2)

"HEARKEN, O ye people of my church, saith the voice of him who dwells on high, and whose eyes are upon all men...For verily the voice of the Lord is unto all men, and there is none to escape..." (Doctrine and Covenants Section 1:1 - 2)

"...the voice of warning shall be unto all people, by the mouths of my disciples, whom I have chosen in these last days." (Doctrine and Covenants Section 1:4)

"Prepare ye, prepare ye for that which is to come, for the Lord is nigh..." (Doctrine and Covenants Section 1:12)

"...the arm of the Lord shall be revealed; and the day cometh that they who will not hear the voice of the Lord, neither the voice of his servants, neither give heed to the words of the prophets and apostles, shall be cut off from among the people..." (Doctrine and Covenants Section 1:14)

"I the Lord, knowing the calamity which should come upon the inhabitants of the earth, called upon my servant Joseph Smith, Jun., and spake unto him from heaven, and gave him commandments;
18 And also gave commandments to others, that they should proclaim these things unto the world; and all this that it might be fulfilled, which was written by the prophets—
19 The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones, that man should not counsel his fellow man, neither trust in the arm of flesh—
20 But that every man might speak in the name of God the Lord, even the Savior of the world..." (Doctrine and Covenants Section 1:17 - 20)

"Search these commandments, for they are true and faithful, and the prophecies and promises which are in them shall all be fulfilled.
38 What I the Lord have spoken, I have spoken, and I excuse not myself; and though the heavens and the earth pass away, my word shall not pass away, but shall all be fulfilled, whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same. (Doctrine and Covenants Section 1:37 - 38)