President Russell M. Nelson's Prophetic Priorities and Invitations

President Russell M. Nelson, a former world-renowned heart surgeon, was called and sustained  as the 17th prophet and president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on January 14, 2018. President Nelson passed away on September 27, 2025 at the age of 101.  The following is a summary of President Nelson's prophetic priorities and invitations. 

2018 

“Stay on the covenant path.”

“Now, to each member of the Church I say: Keep on the covenant path.”

Talk: April 2018 – “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives.”

Theme: Covenant keeping opens the door to personal revelation and divine guidance.

“Hasten the work of salvation.”

“The Lord is hastening His work and needs you.”

Context: Emphasized missionary and temple efforts as unified gathering work.

“Home-centered, Church-supported gospel learning.” 

“We are moving forward into a new era… of home-centered, Church-supported gospel learning.”

Talk: October 2018 – “Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints.” (and in the announcement introducing Come, Follow Me)

Theme: The home is the primary center of gospel instruction, with Church meetings providing support and structure.

Significance: This prophetic shift—announced before the 2020 pandemic—prepared Saints worldwide for spiritual self-reliance and family-based discipleship.

2019

"Time is Running Out"

"Now, as President of His Church, I plead with you who have distanced yourselves from the Church and with you who have not yet really sought to know that the Savior's Church has been restored. Do the spiritual work to find out for yourselves, and please do it now. Time is running out.".  

“The purposes of God shall be accomplished.”

“…until the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done.”

Talk: October 2019 – Closing Remarks.

Theme: Assurance that the Restoration will continue until the Lord declares it complete.

2020

“Hear Him.”

“Our Father loves us and wants us to hear Him.”

Talk: April 2020 – Bicentennial Proclamation / ‘Go Forward with Faith’.

Theme: Personal revelation and direct connection with the Savior.

“Let God prevail.”

“When your greatest desire is to let God prevail in your life, many decisions become easier.”

Talk: October 2020 – “Let God Prevail.”

Theme: Yielding one’s will to God’s direction in every choice.

“The glory of the Lord will be revealed at the Lord’s Second Coming.”

“When He returns, the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.”

Talk: April 2020 – “The Future of the Church: Preparing the World for the Savior’s Second Coming.”

Theme: The Lord’s return will be literal, visible, and glorious.

2021

“The gathering of Israel is the most important work on earth.”

“Anytime you do anything that helps anyone… you are helping to gather Israel.”

Theme: Missionary and temple work are one unified labor of gathering. Gathering Israel includes anything that brings others to Christ on both sides of the veil.

2022

“Be peacemakers / Contention is evil.”

“Contention is a choice. Christ is the Peacemaker.”

Talk: April 2022 – “Preaching the Gospel of Peace.”

Theme: Replace contention with Christlike calm and reconciliation.

2023

“Think Celestial!”

“When you are confronted with a choice… think celestial!”

Talk: October 2023 – “Think Celestial!”

Theme: Make decisions guided by eternal, celestial perspective.

2024

“Rejoice in the gift of priesthood keys.”

“Rejoice that priesthood keys are again on the earth and exercised in righteousness.”

Talk: April 2024 – “Rejoice in the Gift of Priesthood Keys.”

Theme: Gratitude for restored authority and preparation for the Savior’s return.

2025

“Let thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God.”

“Your confidence can truly wax strong in the presence of God.”

Talk: April 2025 – “Confidence in the Presence of God.”

Theme: Temple worship, charity, and personal holiness (virtue) create divine assurance. Temple worship increases spiritual capacity.

2016 Bonus Quote:

"The joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.”

Are Mormons Christian?

YES!!!!  Mormons who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are Christians.  I am Christian not just because the name of Christ is in the name of the Church, but because I accept Jesus Christ of Nazareth as the promised Messiah and as my personal Savior. I consider myself a follower and disciple of Jesus Christ, His teachings and example.  And by doing so, I have experienced being Born Again by the Holy Spirit. I feel a personal relationship with Jesus Christ which has helped me feel the love of the Savior, His forgiveness, and His power that enables me to live a better life in Christ. I am experiencing and enjoying the good fruit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

There exist many Christian denominations and non-denominations who disagree on all sorts of minor and even sometimes more major aspects of Christian belief (orthodoxy) and practice (orthopraxis).  However, the Bible sets a very open standard on what it means to be Christian.  

Rom 10:9 "That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved"

I and my fellow Latter-day Saints believe in Christ.  We confess and accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and we believe that Jesus was crucified, died, literally ressurected from the dead on the 3rd day, and lives today. 

Joseph Smith and the Cosmic Channel

Many critics of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Joseph Smith often criticize Joseph Smith and the LDS Church over the Book of Abraham.  Joseph Smith purchased a collection of mummies and ancient Egyptian  papyri from a man Michael Chandler who was traveling through Kirtland Ohio back in the 1830's.  Chandler was exhibiting the mummies and papyri as a traveling show. The purchase of these documents was done decades before the discovery of the Rosetta Stone, before ancient Egyptian could be decipheted and understood.  

Joseph Smith had already translated and published the Book of Mormon and claimed to be a Seer and Prophet and possess the divine instruments known in the Bible as the Urim and Thimmin.  The Urim and Thummin were special Seer stones touched by the finger of God and given for the purpose of translating unknown languages and revealing hidden knowledge. Similar stones were used by Moses and Aaron to judge Israel. 

Upon examining the newly obtained ancient documents, in addition to common funerary texts known as the Egyptian Book of the Dead and Book of Breathings, the Chandler collection contained another long scroll that contained the writings of Abraham known as the Book of Abraham. 

Joseph Smith used His divine gift of translation via the Urim and Thummin to traslate what we in the LDS Church call the Book of of Abraham.  The source papyri for the Book of Abraham is believed to have been destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire.  However, some of the other papyri from the Chandler collection were later found in the storage of the New York's Metropolitan Museum.  While copies of the Book of Breathings ahd Book of the Dead believed to be part of the Chandler collection have been found. the source document of the Book of Abraham was not found, except for the 3 facilities or graphics that are referred to by the Book of Abraham and are presented together with the Book of Abraham as part of LDS Scripture known as the Pearl of Grear Price. 

One of the facsimile, called Facsimile #2, depicts a hypocephelus.  The hypocephalus was a clay tablet that was placed below the head the mummy wheh buried.  The circular clay tablet contained special information the person being buried believed he or she would be asked by angels who stood by the gates of heaven.  Egyptians believed certain key words or token information needed to be known to pass by these angelic sentinels in order to enter into eternal life with God.  In common terms, the hypocephelus was a celestial cheat sheet. 

Joseph Smith was a revelator not necessarily an explainer.  When Joseph Smith translated something, he didn't approach it like a scholar.  He wasn't necessarily interested in being exactly true to the source document in doing an exact gloss of the anciejt Egyprian into English.  In what some scholars refer to as the "catalyst theory", Joseph Smith is sometimes believed to reveal things that should be in a document, from God's divine perspective, over what may actually be there.  

In the case of the Book of Abraham, Facsimile #2, Joseph Smuth gave some interpretation of some of the glyphs. While modern egyptolpgists have attempted to check Joseph Smith's work using their current knowledge, I am more interested in what truth God is revealing here. I care more about what is actually true about God and the universe than what ancient Egyptians believed. 

The Bible story of Abraham, together with many apocraphal text that talk about Abraham, as well as Joseph Smith's "Book of Abraham" tell the story that God showed Abraham and sun, moon, stars and entire universe and explained to Abraham how it all was ordered and how it all worked.  It then says Abraham taught these things to Phoaroh while he was visiting Egypt. Some of these explanations are contained in the Book of Abraham Facsimile #2 Hypocephelus.  

While the idea of buring objects with you so you you could take and use those objects in your travels into the afterlife and enjoy in heaven, is not Biblical. (moth and rust corrupt)  The idea that there is special knowledge that one must know that Peter or other angels (cheribim with fiery swords)  may ask at the pearly gates is fascinating.  Maybe the wise virgins knew some key information to be allowed into the marriage feast that the unwise virgins lacked and therefore were not recognized. (you never knew me). 

So, when Joseph Smith went about translating Facsimile #2, this was the context of the translation.  And what did Joseph Smith reveal? The Joseph Smith translation talks about the order of the universe.  Science used to teach that the universe was homogenous, that everywhere you looked looked like everywhere else.  The universe was random and unordered. Now, cosmology has flipped and now talk about the grand order of the universe known as the Cosmic Web. 

While many critics of the Book of Abrahsm and Joseph Smith disagree with the exactness of certain aspects of Joseph Smith's translation of the facsimires, Several recent scientific discoveries are now supporting and vindicating what Joseph Smith revealed about how the universe is ordered nearly 200 years after the fact. 

The SRG/eROSITA diffuse soft X-ray background - I. The local hot bubble in the western Galactic hemisphere | Astronomy & Astrophysics (A&A)

In this paper. researchers using a new soft-xray observatory are measuring an asymmetric channel or tunnel of hot plasma that connects our sun and solar system to our surrounding intergalactic environment.  Joseph Smith guessed correctly here when revealing that there is a connecting medium between our Sun and the Great Cosmic Web.

Facsimile 2, Fig. 5.  "and is said by the Egyptians to be the Sun, and to borrow its light from Kolob through the medium of Kae-e-vanrash"

The point of this is not understanding exactly what Kolob is.  It is absolutely false to say Mormons believe God lives on the planet Kolob with His wife.   That's not what this says or means.  The Book of Abraham says God lives nearest to Kolob, not on Kolob.  This seems to be speaking in a metaphorical sense. I dont know what exactly Kolob is any more than cosmologists can explain to me what dark matter is or what The Great Attractor is.  

I believe the main point of God showing Abraham and us the order of the universe is to reveal to us how God does things.  God is a God of order, and the Universe, which is God's creation is not random but a creation of miraculous and wonderful order.  And in the same way, the cosmos is a thing of exact and exquisite order, God's kingdom and Church on Earth is also a kingdom and Church of order and hierarchy with light and truth preceeding forth from God through the medium of the Holy Spirit via prophets and Apostles, to regional and local leaders, down to each individual. 

Another cosmological truth contained in the Bible and the Book of Abraham Facsimile 2 which is now being vindicated by modern science is the idea of time dilation or that the concept of dark energy may be an artifact or illusion of what is in reality time slowing down in response to matter. 

Facsimile 2, Fig. 1, "Kolob, signifying the first creation, nearest to the celestial, or the residence of God. First in government, the last pertaining to the measurement of time. The measurement according to celestial time, which celestial time signifies one day to a cubit. One day in Kolob is equal to a thousand years according to the measurement of this earth,"

Physics of the Dark Universe, Volume 46, December 2024, 101703 "The significance of measuring cosmological time dilation in the Dark Energy Survey Supernova Program"  https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2212686424002851

Cast the net on the right side

John 21:6 "And he said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes"

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  As a member of Christ's true Church I feel a joyful obligation to share the restored gospel of Jesus Christ with my friends amd neighbors.  I wish to share with others the reality that God has called prophets in these latter days beginning with Joseph Smith. and that God has revealed addition scriptures in the Book of Mormon that testifies of the divinity of Jesus Christ. I'm trying to be a fisher of men and women.  

However. while the Church of Jesus Christ has experienced consistent miraculous growth, the message is not popular and sometimes I feel like the Apostles who had fished all night and caught nothing.   But, I am encouraged by the scriptures in Luke 5 and John 21 which may be a prophetic metaphor for our day.  Also. I am encouraged by the words of the living prophet President Russel M. Nelson who has instructed the Church to focus on gathering Israel and preparing to be the people of the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. 

While the Gospel message may not be popular at the moment and our attempts to share it show little success-- maybe one here and two there.  The reality is. JESUS IS THE CHRIST, and the Book of Mormon is HIS WORD, the stick of Joseph, together with the Bible, the stick of Judah.   At some point, this message will go viral. At some point, I dont know when, Jesus will ask us again, to let down our nets on the right side ofvthe boat, and the nets will be full to overflowing.  

Despite the a discouraging night fishing, Jesus Christ and His living prophet are asking us to keep our nets mended and in good repair and to continue to share our testimony of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.  And, at some point, the Church of Jesus Christ will experience a miraculous harvest.  And, we need to make sure the nets will hold and those that return or come for the first time feel welcome. 

Luke 5:5-6  "And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake."

John 21:11 "Simon Peter went up, and drew the net to land full of great fishes, an hundred and fifty and three: and for all there were so many, yet was not the net broken."

The Covenant Path

We don’t need to get a complex or get a feeling that you have to be perfect to be saved. You don’t. There’s only been one perfect person, and that’s the Lord Jesus, but in order to be saved in the Kingdom of God and in order to pass the test of mortality, what you have to do is get on the straight and narrow path — thus charting a course leading to eternal life — and then, being on that path, pass out of this life in full fellowship. I’m not saying that you don’t have to keep the commandments. I’m saying you don’t have to be perfect to be saved. If you did, no one would be saved. The way it operates is this: you get on the path that’s named the “straight and narrow.” You do it by entering the gate of repentance and baptism. The straight and narrow path leads from the gate of repentance and baptism, a very great distance, to a reward that’s called eternal life. If you’re on that path and pressing forward, and you die, you’ll never get off the path. There is no such thing as falling off the straight and narrow path in the life to come, and the reason is that this life is the time that is given to men to prepare for eternity. Now is the time and the day of your salvation, so if you’re working zealously in this life — though you haven’t fully overcome the world and you haven’t done all you hoped you might do — you’re still going to be saved. You don’t have to do what Jacob said, “Go beyond the mark.” You don’t have to live a life that’s truer than true. You don’t have to have an excessive zeal that becomes fanatical and becomes unbalancing. What you have to do is stay in the mainstream of the Church and live as upright and decent people live in the Church — keeping the commandments, paying your tithing, serving in the organizations of the Church, loving the Lord, staying on the straight and narrow path. If you’re on that path when death comes — because this is the time and the day appointed, this the probationary estate — you’ll never fall off from it, and, for all practical purposes, your calling and election is made sure.

The Probationary Test of Mortality

Elder Bruce R. McConkie

Address given at the University of Utah Institute of Religion January 10, 1982