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  • Thank you, choir.

  • My beloved brothers and sisters, on this beautiful Sabbath day

  • we rejoice together in our many blessings from the Lord.

  • We are very grateful for your testimonies of the restored

  • gospel of Jesus Christ, for the sacrifices you've

  • made to stay on or return to His covenant path,

  • and for your consecrated service in His Church.

  • Today I feel compelled to discuss with you

  • a matter of great importance.

  • Some weeks ago, I released a statement

  • regarding a course correction for the name of the Church.

  • I did this because the Lord impressed upon my mind

  • the importance of the name He decreed for His Church,

  • even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

  • As you would expect, responses to this statement

  • and to the revised style guide have been mixed.

  • Many members immediately corrected

  • the name of the Church on their blogs and social media pages.

  • Others wondered why, with all that's going on in the world,

  • it was necessary to emphasize something so "inconsequential."

  • And some said it couldn't be done, so why even try?

  • Let me explain why we care so deeply about this issue.

  • But first let me state what this effort is not:

  • It is not a name change.

  • It is not rebranding.

  • It is not cosmetic.

  • It is not a whim.

  • And it is not inconsequential.

  • Instead, it is a correction.

  • It is the command of the Lord.

  • Joseph Smith did not name the Church restored through him;

  • neither did Mormon.

  • It was the Savior Himself who said, "For thus shall

  • my church be called in the last days,

  • even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints."

  • Even earlier, in AD 34, our resurrected Lord

  • gave similar instruction to members of His Church

  • when He visited them in the Americas.

  • At that time He said:

  • "Ye shall call the church in my name. ...

  • "And how be it my church save it be called in my name?

  • For if a church be called in Moses' name

  • then it be Moses' church; or if it

  • be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man;

  • but if it be called in my name then it is my church."

  • Thus, the name of the Church is not negotiable.

  • When the Savior clearly states what the name of His Church

  • should be and even precedes His declaration

  • with "Thus shall my church be called," He is serious.

  • And if we allow nicknames to be used or adopt or even

  • sponsor those nicknames ourselves, He is offended.

  • What's in a name or, in this case, a nickname?

  • When it comes to nicknames of the Church, such as "LDS

  • Church," the "Mormon Church," or the "Church of the Latter-day

  • Saints," the most glaring omission

  • is the absence of the Savior's name.

  • To remove the Lord's name from the Lord's Church

  • is a major victory for Satan.

  • When we discard the Savior's name,

  • we are subtly disregarding all that Jesus Christ did

  • for us--even His Atonement.

  • Consider this from His perspective:

  • Premortally He was Jehovah, God of the Old Testament.

  • Under the direction of His Father,

  • He was the Creator of this and other worlds.

  • He chose to submit to the will of His Father

  • and do something for all of God's children

  • that no one else could do!

  • Condescending to come to earth as the Only Begotten

  • of the Father in the flesh, He was brutally reviled,

  • mocked, spit upon, and scourged.

  • In the Garden of Gethsemane, our Savior

  • took upon Himself every pain, every sin, and all

  • of the anguish and suffering ever experienced by you and me

  • and by everyone that has ever or will ever live.

  • Under the weight of that excruciating burden,

  • He bled from every pore.

  • All of this suffering was intensified as He was cruelly

  • crucified on Calvary's cross.

  • Through these excruciating experiences and His subsequent

  • Resurrection--His infinite Atonement--He granted

  • immortality to all and ransomed each one of us from the effects

  • of sin, on condition of our repentance.

  • Following the Savior's Resurrection

  • and the death of His Apostles, the world

  • plunged into centuries of darkness.

  • Then in the year 1820, God the Father and His Son,

  • Jesus Christ, appeared to the Prophet Joseph Smith

  • to initiate the Restoration of the Lord's Church.

  • After all He had endured--and after all He had done

  • for humankind--I realize with profound regret that we have

  • unwittingly acquiesced in the Lord's restored Church being

  • called by other names, each of which expunges the sacred name

  • of Jesus Christ!

  • Every Sunday as we partake worthily of the sacrament,

  • we make anew our sacred promise to our Heavenly Father

  • that we are willing to take upon us the name of His Son, Jesus

  • Christ.

  • We promise to follow Him, repent, keep His commandments,

  • and always remember Him.

  • When we omit His name from His Church,

  • we are inadvertently removing Him

  • as the central focus of our lives.

  • Taking the Savior's name upon us includes declaring

  • and witnessing to others--through our actions

  • and our words--that Jesus is the Christ.

  • Have we been so afraid to offend someone who called us "Mormons"

  • that we have failed to defend the Savior Himself,

  • to stand up for Him even in the name by which His Church is

  • called?

  • If we as a people and as individuals are to have access

  • to the power of the Atonement of Jesus Christ--to cleanse

  • and heal us, to strengthen and magnify us,

  • and ultimately to exalt us--we must clearly acknowledge Him

  • as the source of that power.

  • We can begin by calling His Church by the name He decreed.

  • For much of the world, the Lord's Church

  • is presently disguised as the "Mormon Church."

  • But we as members of the Lord's Church

  • know who stands at its head: Jesus Christ Himself.

  • Unfortunately, many who hear the term Mormon

  • think that we worship Mormon.

  • Not so!

  • We honor and respect that great ancient American prophet.

  • But we are not Mormon's disciples.

  • We are the Lord's disciples.

  • In the early days of the restored Church,

  • terms such as Mormon Church and Mormons were often used

  • as epithets--as cruel terms, abusive terms--designed

  • to obliterate God's hand in restoring the Church of Jesus

  • Christ in these latter days.

  • Brothers and sisters, there are many worldly arguments

  • against restoring the correct name of the Church.

  • Because of the digital world in which we live and with search

  • engine optimization that helps all of us find information we

  • need almost instantly--including information about

  • the Lord's Church--critics say that a correction at this point

  • is unwise.

  • Others feel that because we are known so widely

  • as "Mormons" and as the "Mormon Church,"

  • we should make the best of it.

  • If this were a discussion about branding

  • a man-made organization, those arguments might prevail.

  • But in this crucial matter, we look

  • to Him whose Church this is and acknowledge

  • that the Lord's ways are not, and never will be, man's ways.

  • If we will be patient and if we will do our part well,

  • the Lord will lead us through this important task.

  • After all, we know that the Lord helps

  • those who seek to do His will, just

  • as He helped Nephi accomplish the task of building a ship

  • to cross the sea.

  • We will want to be courteous and patient in our efforts

  • to correct these errors.

  • Responsible media will be sympathetic in responding

  • to our request.

  • In a previous general conference,

  • Elder Benjamin De Hoyos spoke of such an event.

  • Benjamin said:

  • "Some years ago while serving in the office of public affairs

  • of the Church in Mexico, [a companion and I] were invited

  • to participate in a radio talk show. ...

  • [One of the program directors] asked [us],

  • 'Why does the Church have such a long name?' ...

  • "My companion and I smiled at such a magnificent question

  • and then proceeded to explain that the name of the Church

  • was not chosen by man.

  • It was given by the Savior.

  • ...

  • The program director immediately and respectfully responded,

  • 'We will thus repeat it with great pleasure.'"