My beloved brethren and sisters, I want to bear you my testimony that I know Joseph Smith was a prophet selected by God for the purpose of establishing the Church and preparing the people for the second coming of Jesus the Christ.

The following revelation was given to the Prophet Joseph Smith, wherein the Lord said:

The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones . . .  D&C 1:19

The Church was established with a membership of six people, and in that day it was thought by many it would be only a short time until the Church would be destroyed, particularly after the life of the Prophet had been taken. Today, the membership of the Church is approximately 1,375,000, indicating to the world that it may have been weak in the beginning of its establishment, but out of it the Church has become strong and powerful because of the people who accepted the gospel.

In connection therewith, the Book of Mormon and the Pearl of Great Price were given to the world through revelation, and in every case, there still may be found in the thoughts of many the weakness of things, but these weak things are becoming strong and going forth and breaking down the mighty and strong ones in the world.

The Prophet Joseph never had the opportunity of attending great schools or universities. He was one of the common ones that the Lord selected because the Lord knew it would be possible to give him the assignments of establishing the Church and teaching the world the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ as it was about to be given to mankind.

I think of the great missions of the Church in the world, some forty-five of them, where the gospel is being preached to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. It is a great source of encouragement to everyone of us to know that the gospel is being taught to the people of the world, even in far-off Korea where ten years ago we very seldom thought or dreamed that the gospel would be taken to the Korean people. Yet, the people in Korea are accepting it, and the Church is being established. Some of the weak things are there, but they are being accepted, and the mighty and great things among that people are being broken down to the end that the people will come to an understanding of the gospel.

The same is true with reference to the Japanese and Chinese people. We know that Brother Henry D. Moyle, who has spent much time these past few months among the great people in South America, has done a great work among the missionaries and has taught the people the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The strong and mighty things in South America are being broken down, and the people there are anxious to accept the restored gospel and enjoy all the blessings therein.

In the revelations from the Lord to the Prophet, indicating to him the work that should be done for the dead, we are reminded of a statement of Paul, an apostle of the Savior, when he said,

Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?  1 Cor. 15:29

This has been a question in the minds of many individuals—something they cannot understand. Paul understood it; that is the reason he asked that question. So, again,

The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones  1 Cor. 1:19

One of the mighty and strong ones in the world has been the idea that the dead will not have an opportunity of accepting the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, or all of the opportunities that, no doubt, existed in the days of Christ himself, when he visited those people who had died and were held in prison because they were wicked during the days of Noah  1 Pet. 3:18-20 So, there was established, through the Prophet Joseph, the temples. At the present time we have ten of them. The Prophet Joseph, you will recall, established a temple in Nauvoo wherein work was done for the dead.

The Statement of Ordinances Performed in all the Temples, as compiled in the Salt Lake Temple, indicates that from the time when temple ordinances for the living and the dead were revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith until December 31, 1955, 18,607,876 baptisms have been done for the dead; 15,848,297 endowments for the dead; 4,138,706 sealings of dead couples; 8,198,061 sealings of dead children to parents; or a total of 46,792,940 ordinances done for the dead. This indicates to us again the truth of the words of the Lord when he said,

The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones  D&C 1:19

We must come to the understanding that through the Prophet Joseph, the temples have been established wherein the dead may have all of the blessings and opportunities which may be enjoyed by those who are now living. You and I have the same opportunities of going into the temples.

Also, according to the same Statement of Ordinances Performed in all the Temples, as previously mentioned, 56,649 baptisms have been done for the living; 478,711 endowments for the living; 231,139 sealings of living couples; 208,209 sealings of living children to parents, or a total of 974,708 ordinances.

Through the work for the dead and the opportunities for the living, my brethren and sisters, we all come to the knowledge that this is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ which has been given to us through the Prophet Joseph and all of the prophets who have followed him.

Let us consider what we are teaching our sons and our daughters in connection with their schoolwork. We now have twenty-seven institutes and 387 seminaries. In connection with these, we have our Church schools—Ricks College, Brigham Young University, LDS Business College, McCune School of Music, and for the people down in the Islands, we have the Church school in Hawaii, the Church school in Samoa, the Church school in New Zealand, and then the Church schools in Colonia Juarez, Mexico. These give the young people the opportunity to receive an education in connection with the Church and to become acquainted with the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Brigham Young University came through the direction of Brigham Young, an apostle and a prophet. This past year, 1955-56, there were 9,502 young people attending this great Church school. Their testimonies have been strengthened. They know Joseph Smith was a Prophet of God, that God lives, and that there stands at the head of this great organization a prophet of this day, an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, and other apostles who are interested in carrying on this great work in this great institution.

The Prophet received many revelations for the blessing and help of the people, particularly with reference to the Word of Wisdom. The great men of the time knew little of the detrimental effect of the use of tobacco, liquor, and foods that are harmful, but the Prophet Joseph knew and taught it to the people  D&C 89:8 The great scientists of today advocate that to partake of tobacco and liquor is not good. All of these teachings came through the Prophet Joseph Smith first. This brings us again to the thought that, "The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones.

The Prophet Joseph declared: "I saw the Father and the Son, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it: at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God and come under condemnation" (see  JS—H 1:25 He was willing to give up his life for the truth when he said to the world, "I saw the Father and the Son." They knew it, and he dared not say anything else other than that because to do so would bring him under condemnation. The Prophet Joseph has given to us the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and has so told us that while in the eyes of the world today there may be weak things in the gospel, yet as you and I and the world become acquainted with them, live them, and understand them, the time will come whereby these "weak things" will come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones  D&C 1:19

As a people living in Zion where we are close to the prophet, close to the apostles, and all of those who guide and direct our affairs, we should realize that we must live the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ in its fulness that we may be among those who might be called "the weak things of the world," and through the kind of lives we live make it possible to break down that which is contrary to the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We are all grateful that from the Prophet Joseph came also the establishment of the Book of Mormon, and with it the priesthood-the Melchizedek Priesthood and the Aaronic Priesthood- whereby every man has the opportunity to serve God as his servant and the opportunity to show to the world by the way we live here that we have the priesthood, we have all of the powers whereby there will come blessings to all the people in every land.

I have a prayer in my heart that sometime the day will come when our missionaries will have the opportunity to go into Russia and preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ to that people and say to them, "The weak things of the world shall come forth and break down the mighty and strong ones." We well know that in Russia there are mighty and strong things, but before that people can enjoy the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, some of that mightiness and some of those strong things must be broken down, that the Russian people can accept the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and enjoy all of the blessings. There are literally millions there who desire to know more about the Christ and be taught something about him. That opportunity will come to this people. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ has the priesthood, the authority, and the direction from on high to preach the gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people.

May God bless every one of us that we will so live that the world will say as an individual said who had the privilege of going through the beautiful temple at Los Angeles: "This temple is beautiful; it is marvelous; there is something about it that is different." And then she said, "The Mormon people have something." This individual acknowledges that the Mormon people have something different, and we do have something different. We have the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ; we have a prophet; we have the same organization that existed in the days of Peter, James, and John. These are our blessings; these are our opportunities; and I humbly pray that the Lord will bless us, that the world will accept us and will say that we do indeed have the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray this will be the blessing and the inspiration of each and every one of us, in his holy name. Amen.