President Mutter will make the address. I'm pleased to be here tonight, brothers and sisters, and to rejoice with you. Blessings of the Lord. Gratitude for his work. We realize the Lord's blessings are a result of him and his work. Now we have constantly placed before you the proposition of getting and keeping the Spirit of the Lord. This, of course, would solve all our problems, would it not?

This would solve everyone's problem. It would make everyone trustworthy. Complete confidence could be imposed in every character. If we knew how, I actually had the desire of getting and keeping the Spirit of the Lord. Now, in my observations, I have found that one reason we don't keep the Spirit of the Lord is because we have refused to actually receive as doctrine and truth the things that have been placed before us by the Lord and his servants. We have become so disposed in our lives and customs to treat what the Lord has said lightly that we find ourselves doing it unknowingly, and we hear a thing and we don't hear it.

It passes before us like an airplane might in the sky, but we don't see it. We don't receive it into the nature of our characters as doctrine that must be put into practice every moment of our lives. And because of this, we become subject to adverse spirits. And it is when we are subject to adverse spirits that we become not dependable, and cannot be trusted, and are not fit for the society of one another, let alone the Lord. And it's upon this subject that I'd like to draw a few things to your attention. And if you will receive them, you'll never have to go without the Spirit of the Lord again. If you do find yourselves without it for a moment, you can immediately regain.

its influence in your life now the first instance one of the first things that the lord revealed to the prophet joseph smith in the restoration of all things was the fact that the work and glory of god is to destroy evil and to bring his children back into his presence So the work of God is to destroy Satan. Now what is the work of Satan? To destroy God. His work and his glory is to destroy the work and glory of God. So there are two powers placed here upon the earth. Two influences. God and Satan. And we are engaged in a natural warfare.

One could not conceive that if you were over in France on the battlefield, that every waking and sleeping hour of your life you would be alert, because you would know that the moment you made a mistake, your life might be taken, or you'd be taken prisoner and subjected to humility and other desperate measures.

And so you would be so trained and you would so govern your lives that there wouldn't be a waking or sleeping second that you wouldn't be alerted against your common enemy. Any soldier can tell you that that's the condition he has to arrive to in order to protect himself. Well, now our Father has said, Children, you are engaged in a great battle between good and evil. On one hand stands the heavenly host, myself, and an innumerable company of associates. On the other hand is arrayed Satan with his innumerable company of associates.

And you are engaged in this great war to bring to pass the complete destruction of evil in your own life, in the lives of others, and in the earth, which means the destruction of the devil. The Lord revealed this to the prophet Joseph Smith in the very first instance for a purpose. Let me review this to you.

You remember that he was poor, and as he approached the hill Cumorah and opened the hill and found the golden plates and the wealth, hid there that many thoughts run through his mind as to what this gold would do for his family and so forth. I won't read that. But at this instance, and these thoughts were going through his mind, he looked to the Lord in prayer, and as he prayed, darkness began to disperse from his mind, and his soul was lit up, as it was the evening before, and he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and again did the Lord manifest his condescensions and mercy. The heavens were opened, Now here's the two pictures. Note, the heavens were opened, and the glory of the Lord shone around about and rested upon him. While he thus stood gazing and admiring, the angel said, Look, and as he thus spake, he beheld the prince of darkness. The other side.

surrounded by his innumerable train of associates. Think of that. All this passed before him, and the heavenly messenger said, All this is shown, the good and the evil, the holy and the pure, the impure, the glory of God and the... power of darkness that you know hereafter the two powers and never be influenced or overcome by the wicked one. Now there's one of the first revelations as to the restoration that the Lord made in a very dramatic way.

I show you my glory and my power and my associates. And I'll show you the wicked one, his power and his associates so that you will know that you are to be engaged in a great war and that it will be your responsibility never to be overcome by the wicked one. Now, how many of us have received that truth as pure truth and the doctrine of the Lord, as an actual reality in this life? The fact that we go skipping and jumping and singing along the length and breadth of the battlefield indicates that we don't know that a war is going on and thus we are caught unawares by the adverse powers and brought into a humiliating condition. And thus when we are brought into this humiliating condition is a time when we are not trustworthy, when the brethren have to call us down, when we commit many crimes that

are very serious in the eyes of each other and in the eyes of the Lord. Now another revelation that was given to us in regard to this. Joseph Smith was relating to the brethren how much trouble he had had and how some men had turned against him and some women. And he felt saddened. And Brother Behunin stepped forward and said, Oh Joseph, my prophet, I promise you that if I should ever grow cold in this work, I'll never turn against you. But I'll take my body and I'll travel to a far corner of the earth and never molest you. Now one of the most important revelations of this dispensation was then given by the prophet Joseph Smith.

He said, Brother Behunin, you don't know what you would do. Before men and women make their choice, the Lord allows them to be neutral. But after they have once made the choice of either serving God or the devil, they never, no never, can become neutral again. So if you desert the ranks of God, you immediately become subject to the adverse spirit and you don't know what he will ask you to do. Knowing that his work is to destroy the work and glory of God naturally, the first thing he will ask you to do is to try to destroy God and his work. Just like the first thing that our Father has asked us to do is to destroy evil. Can't you see? The prophet Joseph Smith once said that man might be influenced by one of three spirits. Either the spirit of God, his own spirit, or the spirit of the devil.

And once in a while, a man or a woman will take satisfaction in the fact that if they might lose the Spirit of the Lord, they'll be subject to their own spirit and won't become very mischievous. Now, I don't think there's one person in ten million whose spirit is strong enough without the Spirit of God that they can be trusted with.

And in view of the revelation to Brother Behunin, it would appear that the moment we lose the spirit of the Lord, we become subject to the adverse spirit and become his servant. You think, anyone, any one of you, myself included, from the smallest to the greatest crime that we have ever committed in our lives, You suppose that if we had thought that we would have committed it, we never would have prompted this to. We were commanded to and instructed to, and the way was open for us to accomplish it by our head, the devil. Just like we are commanded to, we're given strength to.

And the Lord opens up the way for us to accomplish whatever he commands us to do. And upon one occasion, the Spirit of God said to Nephi, cut this man's head off. So when you and I begin to say or try to determine what either God or the devil will ask us to do, we don't know what we're talking about.

We know that our Father in heaven will ask us to do everything necessary to purify us and prepare our character to go through the veil into his presence. We know he'll do that, even if it's to giving our life as a sacrifice. And we do know that the evil one will ask us to do everything that's possible to destroy the work and glory of God. And yet, we will deliberate, we will willfully cause ourselves to lose the spirit of God and become subject to the adverse spirit. And you cannot lose the spirit of God without becoming subject to some degree to the adverse spirit.

How do we lose the Spirit of God? What causes us to lose the Spirit of God? Long subject, but we might bring it down to the family relationship and the relationship of the brethren to their priesthood. What causes us to lose the Spirit of the Lord? You know that you can lose, some people say that geographic conditions causes them to lose the Spirit of the Lord.

This is one of the silliest things in the world. Other people say, well, I have to go and mingle among these rascals, and they robbed me of the Spirit of the Lord. Don't you know that you can lose the Spirit of the Lord sitting alone a thousand miles from anybody in the temple of the Lord? Don't you know that you can lose the Spirit of the Lord there?

Is there anybody in the world that can actually rob you of the Spirit of the Lord? Is there actually anybody here in this building that can force you to get a stomachache? And yet when you wake up in the morning with a stomachache, what is your reaction? You begin to blame one another. You begin to blame the wind. You begin to blame your bed.

You begin to blame every conceivable element and force except your gluttonous and careless appetite. Or because you forgot that certain things don't agree with you. Why turn over in the bed and blame me? Or why come over to my office and blame me that you've got a spirit? I've locked myself in the house and I haven't done no harm to anybody. Every day that happens.

The person will get the stomachache and begin to blame other people and other elements. Now, what happens when we lose the Spirit of the Lord? How is it lost? The Lord says, draw near to me and I'll draw near to you. Resist me and I'll resist you. The Lord does not have any other recourse, neither does a husband or a mother, regarding the wife and their children. There's no other recourse but to resist. If I resist the Lord in order for him to give me my agency, there's only one thing for him to do, and that's to resist me by withdrawing himself from me.

his spirit, or his mind and will. He still has to bless me with food, clothing. He has to speak to me kindly. He has to give me the blessings I need and are entitled to. But the one thing that he can do under the law, and it is automatic in its reaction when I resist him, is that he withdraws his mind and will from me, which is his spirit. And although he continues his great physical blessings upon me, he has withdrawn his mind and will from me. And I am left to become subject to the adverse power. So what am I bound to do? Well, I'm bound to criticize.

I'm bound to be mischievous. I'm bound to lie. I'm bound to cheat. I'm bound to sow discord. I'm bound to be a false witness. All those elements are part of the character of the adverse spirit. And to the extent that he can use my character to do these things, he influences me. so nothing is right. When I lose the spirit of the Lord, my eyes are blind. The adverse spirit immediately takes hold of me, and I can't see anything good in my brother. I can't see anything good in my wife. I can't see any blessings in my home. The car is old. The house is old. My clothes are old.

I have the spirit of ingratitude. Why? Because I'm being influenced by the adverse spirit to bring to an end in my life and in the lives of those I influence the work and glory of God. Can't you see that? Why has it happened? Because I have resisted the Lord, either physically, spiritually, or mentally.

and he has withdrawn his spirit from me, and I am left to be influenced by the adverse power. I can sit in the temple, and I can begin to have suggestions and imaginations made to me, and I can begin to imagine evil things regarding my brethren or my family or the Lord, and I can develop a critical attitude.

and begin to mentally criticize and find fault. What is the result? I am resisting the Lord and he immediately withdraws his spirit from me. And if I don't hurry and get it back, I become subject to the power of the adverse spirits. Injury is added to insult and I go on and on through the hours committing mental and physical crimes.

against the Lord. That's why I say, you don't have to be in a certain place or among certain people to lose the Spirit of the Lord. Naturally, it might be easier to keep the Spirit of the Lord with being surrounded completely with people who do keep it and have it all the time. But to justify yourselves in saying, I lost the Spirit of the Lord because I went downtown, or because I don't live here or there, or because I have to put up with an old car, or I have to put up with this old house or these clothes, the conditions that are surrounding me. I've lost the Spirit of the Lord because of these things, because of the excessive heat, or the failure of my crop, or the rain or the wind. These are all excuses.

Excuses manifested by the power, by the adverse power in our lives. We lose the Spirit of the Lord by resisting the Lord. That's how we lose it. By resisting him. Either by committing a sin physically or spiritually or mentally. And we can do it in the midst of the saints or in private just as well.

And that's how we lose it. And the way we keep the Spirit of the Lord is to draw ourselves to him and to receive with gratitude everything that he gives us and he teaches us and does all things whatsoever he tells us to do. That's how we keep the Spirit of the Lord. And we lose his Spirit.

or we lose the influence of his mind and will by resisting him, even though it's a soft resistance and merely a mental resistance. Haven't you been going along feeling peaceful and happy in your automobile, and all at once you begin thinking about certain things, and maybe in ten minutes peace has left you?

You are in a condition of confusion and agitation. You've lost the spirit of the Lord. Why? Because you have committed this mental trespass. You have begun to think of your hurts. The evil one has suggested certain things to you and your imagination has begun to work and in ten minutes time you are mentally criticizing something or somebody.

relating to the work and the glory of the Lord. Even if it's the spirit of ingratitude, the spirit of ingratitude mentally expressed is resisting the Lord, and he will withdraw his mind and will from it. And then you become subject to the adverse spirit, and it will unfold to you a great justification.

of why you should be ungrateful, and so forth, with a husband and a wife. It's against the law of God, man and the priesthood, for a man to beat a woman, or to starve her, or to make her go naked, or to drive her out of a home. There's only one recourse that he has a right to use, and that's the recourse that his Father in Heaven uses. The moment that she resists him, In any way, it is automatic that he withdraws his mind. He continues to smile. He continues to be kind. He continues to provide and help her in a physical way. His power and his mind and will has been withdrawn from her. What takes place immediately, the adverse spirit takes over.

fun with her. What does he do? Well, the work and glory of God is to see to it that these two people become one so that they can dwell eternally in the presence of God. So what is the work of this adverse spirit? It is to bring disunity, discord, a lack of unity, to have her criticized, to have her lied, To have her say things that under normal conditions she would never dream that she would ever say. He'll have her say things that it will take months for her husband to forget. In two hours time, influence of the adverse spirit. And that's just exactly what he wants. Because if he can drive the wedge in that union, And that wedge finally results in disunity. If it takes a year's time, he has won the battle. It's the last battle that's important. And if we can become one in the last battle before the Lord, he'll receive us. And if we become disunited in the last battle, he'll reject us and receive us. And so it is the man with the Lord. Why he can say enough, he can offer enough criticism.

and expressions of ingratitude to the Lord in a day's time that it will take months for the Lord to watch him under strict scrutiny, wondering when he's going to throw up again all over. It will take months to be watched for him to prove himself, to get back into the grace of the Lord. And so it is with the women and children. Mothers, what do you do if your child Expresses the spirit of ingratitude. Do the only thing the law allows you to do and that's withdraw your spirit from that child. Continue to express it to fix its meal. Continue to tuck it in bed. Your mind is far from natural reaction. That's what the Lord does. So, what's the situation? When you lose the spirit of the Lord, is it my fault?

Is it the dog's fault? Is it the cow's fault? Is it the car's fault? Do all those elements dispense the Spirit of the Lord? Why no? No one can come between you and the Spirit of the Lord, the mind of God, except yourself. So when he withdraws his mind from you and his spirit, no one is to blame but yourself.

It's a controversy between you and him. If a wife loses the spirit of the Lord, the controversy isn't between her and her husband. It's between her and the Lord. He is a dispenser of his own mind and his own will. Naturally, these things are obtained through the righteous lineage of priesthood head and government. So the thing that you have to worry about is how are you getting along with God? And if you husbands were on your toes and understood these things yourself, instead of reacting like the adverse spirit wants you to react when your wife or your child loses the spirit, you'll immediately suggest, well, how are you getting along with the Lord this morning? How do you feel?

towards him. Well, what do you mean, how do I feel? He's all right. I feel all right towards him. Well, then why don't you have his spirit? How come that he has withdrawn his mind and his will from you? He's with the man and has a bellyache because of what the priesthood is doing. Where's his controversy? It isn't with me. It isn't with the president. It's with the Lord.

When you have his spirit, you have the spirit of peace. And everything is lovely. You understand everything. Everything is revealed to you and interpreted to you. And you have a condition of peace in your character. Now, if you have lost this condition of peace, where's the controversy? It's between you and the mind of God. First, why has he withdrawn his spirit from you?

and left you in a wretched condition to feel uneasy with the lack of peace in your soul. Why has he done that situation? That's where your controversy is. And why shouldn't you criticize me? Why shouldn't you criticize what God has done for you? Why shouldn't you be ungrateful? Why shouldn't you try to sow discord? Why shouldn't you try to give your sorrow to others like the measles and the mumps. Why, I would lose confidence in the devil if he didn't use you to the furthest extent that he could. Why, I would feel like complaining to the Lord that his servant was remiss of his duty. That's what I'd feel like doing. If he didn't do that, what else can we expect?

If we believe what the Lord has said, that there is no further neutrality for me in this life or the next, there's not one split second that I can be neutral again. Why, Satan would be remiss of his duty if he didn't take the opportunity the moment that that mind of God was withdrawn to act upon that person and cause it to commit further trespass and sin against the work and the glory of God. Just like the Lord would be remiss of his duty if he didn't use us, if we were capable of being used to destroy and put down evil. The picture of the problem, so that if we feel uneasy, instead of adding injury, To what we have done, an insult to what we have done, we should immediately say, Father, Father, pardon me. My thoughts have been in the wrong place. I've been imagining things. I've been criticizing you mentally and your work and your glory. I feel that I have the spirit of ingratitude and you have a right and you are perfectly justified.

in withdrawing your mind and will from me, but please, please forgive me and draw near to me again. The solution is simple, is it not? But if we go on for 24 hours or 24 days, the cancerous conditions become such it's nearly impossible to regain the proper attitude and spirit. The longer we go, the greater influence the adverse spirit will have upon us. And the more he will get us to complain, to sow discomfort and discord, until we're saying things that we would never dream of saying under normal conditions. Until sometimes we become so humiliated, we dare not go back.

and ask forgiveness. And the devil then takes the glorious opportunity of saying, well, what's the use? What's the use of even trying? And if you even get the priesthood to forgive you and to forget this, do you think that they can ever forget it or that they'll ever have confidence in you again? He says to the woman, what's the use? You know that he doesn't love you.

and that he won't work with you? And what makes you think that he's going to forget what you said and the mean things that you said about him? So what's the use of even trying? And so at the moment that your Lord, the devil, needs, you need him the most, he deserts you. Foundation out from underneath it and lets you go. More strength. He has a lot of strength.

while he's bringing you into that place. And that's just exactly how you feel. And so you continue to procrastinate the day of your repentance. You go on and on, month in and month out, until finally you become a complete stranger. When someone asks you, where have you been? And why did you do this? Why should we think they can answer and give any just answer?

and pure excuse. The power of the adversary dictates what they say and what do they say? Well, the brethren don't teach good doctrine or the brethren do this or the brethren do that or the brethren don't treat me right and they weren't very kind to me. What else is he expected to say? Why, I wouldn't be such a fool as to ask him his excuse because I would have it memorized.

I wouldn't be that big of a fool to ask him what his excuse was. I know. Now, brethren and sisters, these are the secrets of getting the keeping of the Spirit of the Lord and how we lose it and what takes place. Name, blood, and position. No influence in regard to these things. The pure-blooded a person is, the more the power of the devil wants to get them.

The higher man or woman climbs, the greater effort the devil will use to influence. You can't say, I'm so-and-so, so I won't be subject to these like other people. No, sir. If you resist the Lord, he withdraws his mind from you, and you become subject to the adverse power, and you become its servant. Just remember it. Let us see to it that we learn how to live.

This is the way Brother Johnson lived. You wonder why. He can always be the same. He can always be dependent upon. You can meet him at any time and he can perform his work. Why? Because he has received these instructions from the Lord and is practicing them. And if he abuses the Lord, if he resists the Lord, it's only for a second.

Just like Brigham Young said, there was only a second that I resisted the Lord. If you resist the Lord, it's only a second, because he knows that the moment the Lord withdraws his mind and will from him, he becomes subject to the adverse spirits, and he doesn't know what those spirits will ask him to do, but he'll become their servant. The nature is that he has a terrific temper.

They'll use that temper. If his nature is that he can sow discord, they'll have him sowing discord. If he has certain secrets and his nature is in such a condition that they can use him to reveal secrets, they'll have him reveal enough secrets in 24 hours that he'll be a lifetime. Just according to the nature of our character. They can use more disastrous purposes than others.

because of the nature of our character. But this is it. This is the simple truth. I plead with you so that we could get the people to realize that this is a bloody battlefield. Pure and impure. God and the devil. And that we have taken our cross up and our service up with the Lord. And we have signed in and have become soldiers under the direction of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And we have challenged the evil one and told him in uncertain terms that we are out to wipe him off of the face of this earth, that it might rise up to become a celestial earth filled with a paradisiacal glory. That's what we have done. And if we could just realize that he and his innumerable train, of experts are seeking everything they can, every means and method they can to destroy our faith. The only way that they can test us and try us and influence us is by the withdrawal of the Spirit of God or His mind and will, either by Him deliberately or because we have resisted him. The devil complained about Job. He says he has your spirit and you won't withdraw from him. In other words, he's hedged up against me. There's no conceivable way to be influenced by the adverse powers except the spirit of God is withdrawn from you. Remember that. And it is only withdrawn either to test you by him

or because you have resisted him physically, spiritually, and mentally. So get all the old Christian cobwebs out of your customs and traditions and minds and understandings regarding these things. And from this moment, dear brethren and sisters, go forward with this idea of getting and keeping the Spirit of the Lord.

If you'll put into practice these things, in a month from now you'll become more alert, you'll be more proficient in keeping the Spirit of God. And although you may lose it ten times for a moment, during the next thirty days you will regain it through the process of a broken heart and a contrite spirit and through fasting and praying. That's what you'll do.

And the next month, maybe you'll only lose it five times. Finally, you get to the place where Brother Hammond can look at you and know that you have the strength, the capacity, and the know-how to keep the Spirit of the Lord. And he knows that he can have perfect confidence in this Spirit. God bless you. Amen. We'll now hear from President Johnson.