(8/31/03)
"Could you imagine living upon the earth when the God of Heaven fulfills that promise made by the Prophet Isaiah and not wanting to know what that 'marvelous work and a wonder' is all about? No boy or girl or man or woman in this world, if they understood fully what God has done in restoring His truth to the earth in our day, could call it anything but 'a marvelous work and a wonder.' When the God of Heaven says that it will be a 'marvelous work and a wonder' in His eyes, then what ought it to be to those of us who are privileged to be partakers of it? Then he said, 'For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid.' Can any man account for what the Lord has done in restoring His truth here in our day?" — LeGrand Richards, "BYU Speeches of the Year," 10 February 1960, p. 6

(9/01/03)
"This quotation from Isaiah, describing perfectly as it did the apostate condition of the Jews, was also the one used by Lord Jesus when he appeared in glory with his Father, to Joseph Smith in the Spring of 1820, to usher in the dispensation of the fulness of times. (JSH 2:19) Isaiah's prophecy, though applicable to the Jews, was spoken with particular and specific reference to the latter-day conditions which were to precede the final restoration of the gospel. As with so many ancient prophecies, these words of Isaiah are subject to the law of dual fulfillment." — Bruce R. McConkie, "Doctrinal New Testament Commentary," [Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1965-1973], 1:367

(9/02/03)
"If the churches of the present day have the Holy Ghost, why are they so much at a loss to understand truth? Why do they walk in so many different ways and doctrines? Why do they need whole libraries of sermons, tracts, divinities, debates, arguments, and opinions, all written by the wisdom of men, without even professing to be inspired? Well doth the Lord complain, saying: 'Their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.'" — Parley P. Pratt, "A Voice of Warning and Instruction to All People," p. 64

(9/03/03)
"Never in the history of the world has this truth been so greatly manifest as in the preaching of the Gospel by the weak and humble elders of the Church. They have gone forth into strength which the Lord promised them and they have confounded the wisdom of the wise and the understanding of their prudent men has been hid. (Isa. 29:14) Think of the Prophet Joseph Smith, who was without training or education, only in the simple grades, so far as the learning or the world is concerned. Yet the Lord called him and educated him and he has confounded the entire religious world and brought to naught their false doctrines." — Joseph Fielding Smith, "Church History and Modern Revelation," p. 149

(9/04/03)
"The Restoration brought a flood of faith-building truths that would develop a Zion people, a covenant people, a people willing to obey God's commandments and submit to His will. Isaiah described the Restoration as 'a marvelous work and a wonder' (Isaiah 29:14). The Hebrew roots for 'wonder' refer to things 'beyond human capability,' the 'miraculous.'" -- Neal A. Maxwell, "Not My Will, But Thine," [Salt Lake City, Utah: Bookcraft, 1988], p. 35