Five years ago, I stood at this pulpit trembling from head to foot, when I accepted a call to the Council of the Twelve. I have lived now these five years, in close association with the men you sustained today as the leaders of this Church. I have come to know them well. I knew most of them well before I came to this position, but not nearly so well as I now know them.

GREAT MEN

I have discovered that these men are great men—great in the sense of true greatness. I know that in the Presidency of the Church are men who are great in the same sense in which Lincoln was great. I know they are prophets of God in the same sense in which Moses and Jeremiah and Elijah, Peter and Paul were prophets of God. I have discovered that these men do not have any selfish motives, that they are giving of their time and their talents, of their physical and mental and spiritual strength, giving all they have for the upbuilding of the kingdom of God. I have discovered that they are honest and true; that they are faithful and devoted; that they love the Lord their God with all their hearts, and with all their souls. I know that they are men of God in the real sense of the word.

And so I was thrilled as you voted here today on these men, thrilled to see this vast ocean of hands come up in a sustaining vote for these men whom you accept as your prophets, seers, and revelators. As I saw those hands, and raised mine with yours, I couldn't help thinking of some of the insulting letters that come to these brethren from men and women who think that these men would lead you astray—letters from men and women who do have selfish motives—letters from people who would trip up the prophets of God if they only could.

GUIDED BY HOLY GHOST

I want to bear you my testimony, and I do it with God as my witness, that these men who lead your Church are honest, true, great men of God; that they do receive the revelation and the inspiration of the Almighty; that they are guided by the Holy Ghost: that this is God's Church; and that if you desire to have guidance from heaven, then you follow the guidance of these men whom you sustain as the prophets of God. They are prophets. They are prophets just as Jeremiah and Moses were prophets. They are Apostles in the same sense in which Peter, James, and John were Apostles, because those three gave the powers of the apostleship to modern men, and those powers have been handed down to the men who stand and sit before you today.

I think it is a very serious thing when anybody raises his hand against the prophets of God. Have you read carefully the story, of Jeremiah in the Old Testament and seen there how men and women raised their hands and their voices and their heels against the prophet  Jer. 20:1-2  Jer. 26:8-11 I want you to know that it is just as serious for us who live today to raise our hands against these modern prophets as it was for ancient Israel to raise their hands against Jeremiah whom they put in a dungeon and whom they would have been glad to see die  Jer. 37:15-16  Jer. 38:6-13

A GREAT CHURCH

This is a great Church. It is indeed the kingdom of God. We have a great man at the head of the Church. He is the revelator, the seer, and the prophet of God in this day. It is a reality that we walk in the presence of a living prophet of God. Let us be willing to accept him as such. And these others who uphold his hands and sustain him, likewise are the prophets of the Lord.

I am grateful for the experience of the past five years. I have learned a better appreciation of this, the great restored Church, of its principles, of the men who lead it. I humbly submit to you my solemn testimony that Mormonism is true, that the restored Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, is God's own Church, and that through it we find salvation.

May we have the courage to live the gospel. May we have the courage to keep the commandments. May we have the loyalty to stand by and follow the leaders, whom God has placed in the earth in these last days is my humble prayer, and I ask it in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.