Bruce R. McConkie Quotes & Sayings

Existence came from God; death came by Adam; and immortality and eternal life come through Christ. — Bruce R. McConkie

In speaking of these wondrous things I shall use my own words, though you may think they are the words of scripture, words spoken by other Apostles and prophets.
True it is they were first proclaimed by others, but they are now mine, for the Holy Spirit of God has borne witness to me that they are true, and it is now as though the Lord had revealed them to me in the first instance. I have thereby heard his voice and know his word. — Bruce R. McConkie

Plural marriage is not essential to salvation or exaltation. — Bruce R. McConkie

As long as man's beliefs, or any part of them, are based on error, he is not completely free, for the chains of error bind his mind. — Bruce R. McConkie

God ... is a personal Being, a holy and exalted man ... — Bruce R. McConkie

Wear modest, clean clothing. Your clothing doesn't need to be new and [it] should have some fashion of course, but [it] should be clean, modest, and neat. Be dignified in your outward manner and in your inward morality. — Bruce R. McConkie

The Holy Ghost, a personage of spirit, is their minister, who has been given the power and assigned the functions of bearing record of the Father and the Son, of revealing the truths of salvation to men on earth, and in due course, of revealing to them, all truth. — Bruce R. McConkie

All who believe and obey the glorious gospel of God, all who are true and faithful and overcome the world, all who suffer for Christ and his word, all who are chastened and scourged in the Cause of him whose we are - all shall become as their Maker and sit with him on his throne and reign with him forever in everlasting glory. — Bruce R. McConkie

Prayer is a great tower of strength, a pillar of unending righteousness, a mighty force that moves mountains and saves souls. Through it the sick are healed, the dead are raised, and the Holy Spirit is poured out without measure upon the faithful. — Bruce R. McConkie

Baptism is the gate through which all must enter to accomplish the Lord's desire to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. — Bruce R. McConkie

We do not know, we cannot tell, no mortal mind can conceive the full import of what Christ did in Gethsemane. — Bruce R. McConkie

I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears. But I shall not know any better than I know now that he is God's Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way. — Bruce R. McConkie

People who study the scriptures get a dimension to their life that nobody else gets and that can't be gained in any way except by studying the scriptures. There's an increase in faith and a desire to do what's right and a feeling of inspiration and understanding that comes to people who study the gospel - and who ponder the principles, that can't come in any other way. — Bruce R. McConkie

Woman's primary place is in the home, where she is to rear children and abide by the righteous counsel of her husband. — Bruce R. McConkie

As pertaining to this perfect atonement, wrought by the shedding of the blood of God - I testify that it took place in Gethsemane and at Golgotha, and as pertaining to Jesus Christ, I testify that he is the Son of the Living God and was crucified for the sins of the world. He is our Lord, our God, and our King. This I know of myself independent of any other person. I am one of his witnesses, and in a coming day I shall feel the nail marks in his hands and in his feet and shall wet his feet with my tears. But I shall not know any better then than I know now that he is God's Almighty Son, that he is our Savior and Redeemer, and that salvation comes in and through his atoning blood and in no other way. God grant that all of us may walk in the light as God our Father is in the light so that, according to the promises, the blood of Jesus Christ his Son will cleanse us from all sin. — Bruce R. McConkie

As Adam brought death, so Christ brought life; as Adam is the father of mortality, so Christ is the father of immortality. — Bruce R. McConkie

His rising from death on the third day crowned the Atonement. Again, in some way incomprehensible to us, the effects of his resurrection pass upon all men so that all shall rise from the grave. — Bruce R. McConkie

Yes, President Young did teach that Adam was the father of our spirits, and all the related things that the cultists ascribe to him. This [i.e., Brigham Young's teaching on Adam], however, is not true. He expressed views that are out of harmony with the gospel. — Bruce R. McConkie

Our work - is to do the part assigned to us in order to inherit the glory and honor and dignity of which I speak. — Bruce R. McConkie

Every person who walks uprightly, does the best that he can, overcomes the world, rises above carnality, and walks in paths of righteousness will have his acts and his deeds sealed and approved by the Holy Spirit. — Bruce R. McConkie

The most important single thing that any Latter-day Saint ever does in this world is to marry the right person, in the right place, by the right authority. — Bruce R. McConkie

Salvation is in Christ, not the Holy Ghost; our Blessed Lord redeemed us and the Holy Ghost is his messenger to carry the message of redeeming grace into the hearts of men. Thus, the joyous words spoken by the Holy Ghost are in reality the words of Christ. The Spirit is simply the one who delivers the word. — Bruce R. McConkie

Every mortal birth is a heaven-given reminder to prepare for the second birth. — Bruce R. McConkie

And Christ was born into the world as the literal Son of this Holy Being; he was born in the same personal, real, and literal sense that any mortal son is born to a mortal father. There is nothing figurative about his paternity; he was begotten, conceived and born in the normal and natural course of events, for he is the Son of God, and that designation means what it says. — Bruce R. McConkie

All our losses and sufferings will be made up to us in the resurrection. — Bruce R. McConkie

As starving men crave a crust of bread, as choking men thirst for water, so do the righteous yearn for the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is a Revelator: he is a Sanctifier; he reveals truth, and he cleanses human souls. He is the Spirit of Truth, and his baptism is one of fire; he burns dross and evil out of repentant souls as though by fire. The gift of the Holy Ghost is the greatest of all the gifts of God, as pertaining to this life; and those who enjoy that gift here and now, will inherit eternal life hereafter, which is the greatest of all the gifts of God in eternity. — Bruce R. McConkie

We expect to see the day when temples will dot the earth, each one a house of the Lord. — Bruce R. McConkie

Obviously the holy practice (of polygamy) will commence again after the Second Coming of the Son of Man and the ushering in of the millennium. — Bruce R. McConkie

We have made covenants so to do solemn, sacred, holy covenants, pledging ourselves before gods and angels. We are under covenant to live the law of obedience. We are under covenant to live the law of sacrifice. We are under covenant to live the law of consecration. It is our privilege to consecrate our time, talents, and means to build up his kingdom. We are called upon to sacrifice, in one degree or another, for the furtherance of his work. Obedience is essential to salvation; so, also, is service; and so, also, are consecration and sacrifice. — Bruce R. McConkie

Christ was Begotten by an immortal Father in the same way that mortal men are begotten by mortal fathers. — Bruce R. McConkie

The Atonement of Christ is the most transcendental event that has ever occurred or that will ever occur, since the sunrise of creation to all ages of eternity — Bruce R. McConkie

We make our own choices, and then we present the matter to the Lord and get his approving, ratifying seal. — Bruce R. McConkie

As far as this life is concerned, [Jesus] was born of Mary and of Elohim; he came here as an offspring of that Holy Man who is literally our Father in heaven. He was born in mortality in the literal and full sense as the Son of God. He is the Son of his father in the same sense that all morals are the sons and daughters of their fathers. — Bruce R. McConkie

Before an empty tomb, we will come to know that Christ our Lord has burst the bands of death and stands forever triumphant over the grave. — Bruce R. McConkie

I stand before the Church this day and raise the warning voice ... It is a voice calling upon the Lords people to prepare for the troubles and desolations which are about to be poured out upon the world without measure. For the moment we live in a day of peace and prosperity but it shall not ever be thus. Great trials lie ahead. All of the sorrows and perils of the past are but a foretaste of what is yet to be. And we must prepare ourselves temporally and spiritually. — Bruce R. McConkie

The most important doctrine I can declare, and the most powerful testimony I can bear, is of the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. His atonement is the most transcendent event that ever has or ever will occur from Creation's dawn through all the ages of a never-ending eternity. — Bruce R. McConkie

No one can argue with a testimony, it is not a debatable issue. It is there to be accepted or rejected. — Bruce R. McConkie

Salvation in its true and full meaning is synonymous with exaltation or eternal life and consists in gaining an inheritance in the highest of the three heavens within the celestial kingdom. With few exceptions this is the salvation of which the scriptures speak. It is the salvation which the saints seek. (Mormon Doctrine, 2nd ed., Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1966, p. 670.) — Bruce R. McConkie

The most important things that any member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ever does in this world are: 1. To marry the right person, in the right place, by the right authority; and 2. To keep the covenant made in connection with the holy and perfect order of matrimony-thus assuring the obedient persons of an inheritance of exaltation in the celestial kingdom. — Bruce R. McConkie

Adam and Eve and all forms of life, both animal and plant, were created in immortality; that is, when first placed on this earth, all forms of life were in a state of immortality. There was no death in the world; death entered after the fall. — Bruce R. McConkie

Religious music is by far the greatest music of the ages. What is there to compare-in rhythmic beauty, poetic sublimity, and inspired teachings-with the Psalms of David? — Bruce R. McConkie

Belief, humble belief, is the foundation of all righteousness and the beginning of spiritual progression. It goes before good works, opens the door to an eternal store of heavenly truth, and charts the course to eternal life ... Belief is the brilliant beacon that marks the course through the waves and woes of the world to that celestial harbor where rest and safety are found. — Bruce R. McConkie

I do not know all of the providences of the Lord, but I do know that he permits false doctrine to be taught in and out of the Church and that such teaching is part of the sifting process of mortality — Bruce R. McConkie

It is my province to teach to the church what the doctrine is. It is your province to echo what I say or to remain silent. — Bruce R. McConkie

What does it matter if a few barking dogs snap at the heels of the weary travelers? ... The caravan moves on — Bruce R. McConkie

Salvation is a family affair. — Bruce R. McConkie

We know that in some way, incomprehensible to us, his suffering satisfied the demands of justice, ransomed penitent souls from the pains and penalties of sin, and made mercy available to those who believe in his holy name. — Bruce R. McConkie

God stands revealed or remains forever unknown. — Bruce R. McConkie

There is no such thing as neutrality where the gospel is concerned. — Bruce R. McConkie

When the real history of the world is written, it will show god's dealings with men, and the place the gospel has played in the rise and fall of nations. — Bruce R. McConkie

The family unit is the most important organization in time or in eternity. — Bruce R. McConkie

Faith is a gift of God bestowed as a reward for personal righteousness. — Bruce R. McConkie

We cannot survive spiritually with one foot in the Church and the other in the world. — Bruce R. McConkie

We must search the scriptures, accepting them as the mind and will and voice of the Lord and the very power of God unto salvation. — Bruce R. McConkie

There are those who say that revealed religion and organic evolution can be harmonized. This is both false and devilish. — Bruce R. McConkie

Any who pretend to assume to engage in plural marriage in this day, when the one holding the keys has withdrawn the power by which they are performed, are guilty of gross wickedness. Thy are living in adultery, have already sold their souls to Satan, and (whether their acts are based on ignorance or lust or both) they will be damned in eternity. — Bruce R. McConkie

Music is given of God to further his purposes. Sweet melodies mellow the souls of men and help prepare them for the gospel. After men receive the truth, songs of praise to Deity help to sanctify and cleanse their souls. — Bruce R. McConkie

Our Lord might be described as the great Physician, Healer, Engineer, Chief Scout, Foreman, Builder, or the like - all showing his pre-eminence in the field concerned, and all pointing attention to his power to deal in the spiritual field with human souls as these mortal counterparts deal in their temporal pursuits. — Bruce R. McConkie

We are here on earth to work-to work long, hard, arduous hours, to work until our backs ache and our tired muscles knot, to work all our days. This mortal probation is one in which we are to eat our bread in the sweat of our faces until we return to the dust from whence we came. Work is the law of life; it is the ruling principle in the lives of the Saints. — Bruce R. McConkie

Believers in the doctrines of modern Christendom will reap damnation to their souls. — Bruce R. McConkie