Religious Studies Center

Proceedings of the Dedication of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building,
Brigham Young University, 10 December 1991

Dedication Remarks

Elder Boyd K. Packer

Joseph Smith: The Prophet, The Man (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1993), xxvii.

Elder Boyd K. Packer is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.

At the dedication of the Kirtland Temple, the Lord appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery. In that great event the prophecy was made that the "fame of this house shall spread to foreign lands" (D&C 110:10) so that the name of Joseph Smith would be known for good and evil across the world. As improbable as that was then, no we are seeing fulfillment of that cross the world as the Church grows rapidly in places where just a year or two ago it could not have had a foothold. Students from all of those lands come to this university and at the center learn what we are about. Some 54 full-time faculty members and a good many others, both in this building and across the campus, teach without hesitation the gospel of Jesus Christ and the restoration thereof-and, in do so, pay tribute to the Prophet Joseph Smith. I know that he was a prophet of God, that he received revelations-supernal revelations-that he wrote and gave, published or unpublished. They guide this Church and kingdom today. I pray the blessings of the Lord upon those who will teach here and those who come here to learn. I bear witness that the gospel is true and that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

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