When President Russell M. Nelson became the head of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the age of 93, some opined that he would be a “caretaker” leader.
That ranks up there with predictions that man will never fly. As church members mourn the death of their beloved prophet, they will remember a humble leader whose achievements rival any who have lived during the past 100 years, yet one whose life of uncompromising service was dedicated to family and faith in Jesus Christ.
Early on, he told church members, “Eat your vitamin pills. Get your rest. It’s going to be exciting.”
They soon came to understand what he meant by that as he led an unprecedented era of temple-building, guided the church and its membership through a pandemic and international conflicts, and perhaps most importantly, directed all to “think celestial” and focus on Jesus Christ, whom he repeatedly testified is the divine leader of the church.
President Nelson, who died Saturday night at age 101, was not just talking about his own ministry when he spoke of the future. He made it clear that revelatory instruction was going to increase at an accelerated pace going forward in anticipation of the second coming of Jesus Christ.
The restoration is ongoing
Early in his administration as president, after dedicating a temple in Concepción, Chile, he told an interviewer, “If you think the church has been fully restored, you’re just seeing the beginning. There is much more to come.”
Death, no matter how much sorrow it rightly brings to people who feel bereaved, cannot slow what followers believe is the Lord’s work on earth. In an increasingly secular world, such a concept can seem foreign. But as tempests rage (as the scriptures say) God’s children look for peace and calm, and no one was better at pointing to the sources of that calm than President Russell M. Nelson.
Wednesday, church members will gather (virtually) to pay tribute to his life on ChurchofJesusChrist.org, YouTube, BYUtv and KSL, which will be available in 13 languages. The church’s general conference follows this weekend, with a funeral for President Nelson planned for Tuesday.
Reasons to feel comforted
President Nelson said God is in charge in a world that otherwise might seem dark and confusing.
That is the comfort church members need to seek now as they mourn the passing of President Nelson. We pray for his wife and family and for those who will continue to move the work forward. That includes all the faithful believers in Jesus Christ.
In addition to the revelations he received, President Nelson made it clear that every person should seek their own personal revelation. It was not just a suggestion.
“Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will perform some of His mightiest works between now and when He comes again,” he said in 2018. “We will see miraculous indications that God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, preside over this Church in majesty and glory. But in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.”
It was a theme to which he often returned. “Please do the spiritual work to increase your capacity to receive personal revelation,” he said in October 2023.
Love one another
Of the many revelations he received and relayed to the church, one of President Nelson’s most consistent themes was the need to treat one another with love. He stated it strongly in a Time Magazine piece published earlier this month just before he turned 101.
“A century of experience has taught me this with certainty: anger never persuades, hostility never heals and contention never leads to lasting solutions. Too much of today’s public discourse, especially online, fosters enmity instead of empathy,” he wrote.
He highlighted two truths in that piece. One is that every person has inherent worth and dignity. The other is to “love your neighbor and treat them with compassion and respect.”
One need not look far in today’s turbulent world to understand the inspiration of those words. It will be a tribute to his legacy for each of us to strive to live those principles more fully.