“‘Behold I Am the Light Which Ye Shall Hold Up'”

Posted on by Mitch Peterson

General Conference Applied

S4 E12 – Sunday, December 29, 2024 | “‘Behold I Am the Light Which Ye Shall Hold Up’” by Elder Ronald A. Rasband; October 2024 General Conference

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Podcast Episode Outline

Introduction

“[The Lord] knows whom He wants to preside over this church, and He will make no mistake.”

  • “At age 100, President Nelson has been kept and preserved by the Lord. President Harold B. Lee, at the time a member of the First Presidency, cited the example of Moses standing atop the hill at Rephidim. ‘The hands of [the President of the Church] may grow weary,’ he said. ‘They may tend to droop at times because of his heavy responsibilities; but as we uphold his hands, and as we lead under his direction, by his side, the gates of hell will not prevail against you and against Israel. Your safety and ours depends upon whether or not we follow the ones whom the Lord has placed to preside over his church. He knows whom He wants to preside over this church, and He will make no mistake.’ …

    “Last April, Sister Rasband and I had the honor of joining our beloved prophet and Sister Nelson for the rededication of the Manti Utah Temple.

    “President Nelson surprised everyone when he entered the room. Only a very few of us knew he was coming. In his presence, I immediately felt the light and prophetic mantle he carries. The look of joy on the faces of the people personally seeing the prophet will stay with me forever.

    “In the prayer of rededication, President Nelson petitioned the Lord that His holy house would essentially hold up all who entered the temple, ‘that they may receive sacred blessings and remain worthy and faithful to their covenants … that this may be a house of peace, a house of comfort, and a house of personal revelation for all who enter these doors worthily.’

    “We all need to be lifted up by the Lord with peace, with comfort, and most of all with personal revelation to counter the fear, darkness, and contention encompassing the world.

    “Before the service, we stood outside in the sun with President and Sister Nelson to view the beautiful setting. President Nelson’s ancestral ties to the area run deep. His eight great-grandparents settled in the valleys surrounding the temple, as did some of mine. My great-grandfather Andrew Anderson served on the construction crew of early pioneers who labored 11 years to complete the Manti Temple, the third in the Rocky Mountains.

    “As we stood with President Nelson, we had the opportunity to hold up and support the prophet of God in celebration of the rededication of the Lord’s holy house. It was a day I will never forget.”

Bio

  • “Ronald A. Rasband was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on October 3, 2015.

    “Ronald A. Rasband was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1951. He married Melanie Twitchell in 1973. They are the parents of five children.

    “He attended the University of Utah. In 1995, Utah Valley University awarded him an honorary Doctorate of Business and Commerce.

    “Elder Rasband has held numerous Church callings, including full-time missionary in the Eastern States Mission (1970-1972), Temple Square missionary guide, bishop, and member of the Church’s Sesquicentennial Committee. He presided over the New York, New York North Mission from 1996 to 1999.

    “Elder Rasband had been serving as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy since 2005 and was serving as the senior president of the Presidency of the Seventy when called to the Twelve. He was named a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 1, 2000. He has served as a counselor in the Europe Central Area Presidency, president of the Utah Salt Lake City Area, executive director of the Temple Department; and has supervised the North America West, Northwest, and three Utah areas as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy.

    “In 1976 he joined Huntsman Container Company as sales representative, and in 1987, he was appointed President and Chief Operating Officer of Huntsman Chemical Corporation.

    “When he left Huntsman Chemical Corporation in 1996 to serve as a mission president in New York, he was also serving as a member of the Board of Directors.”
  • This was Elder Rasband’s 25th general conference address. Here are his five most recent addresses:

What is the speaker inviting me to do, and how might I consider taking action?

Invitations

1: “Brothers and sisters, we need to do more lifting and less murmuring, more upholding the word of the Lord, His ways, and His prophet.”

  • We need to actively sustain our local Church leaders and others around us, our Savior Jesus Christ, and the President of the Church.
  • Christlike Attribute: “I appreciate direction from my leaders or teachers. (2 Nephi 9:28–29)” (Humility)
  • There are three parts to this invitation:
    • 1) “Do more lifting and less murmuring”
      • “To sustain means to hold up another person, to give them our attention, to be faithful to their trust, to act upon their words. … In holding up our hands, we are committing our support, not just for that moment but in our daily lives. Sustaining includes holding up our stake presidents and bishops, quorum and organization leaders, teachers, and even camp directors in our wards and stakes. Closer to home, we hold up our wives and our husbands, children, parents, extended family, and neighbors. When we hold up one another we are saying, ‘I am here for you, not just to hold up your arms and hands when they ‘hang down’ but to be a comfort and strength at your side.'” -Elder Rasband
      • “Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion” by Gregory Boyle:

        “Scripture scholars contend that the original language of the Beatitudes should not be rendered as ‘Blessed are the single-hearted’ or ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’ or ‘Blessed are those who struggle for justice.’ Greater precision in translation would say, ‘You’re in the right place if … you are single-hearted or work for peace.’ The Beatitudes is not a spirituality, after all. It’s a geography. It tells us where to stand.

        “Compassion isn’t just about feeling the pain of others; it’s about bringing them in toward yourself. If we love what God loves, then, in compassion, margins get erased. ‘Be compassionate as God is compassionate,’ means the dismantling of barriers that exclude.

        “In Scripture, Jesus is in a house so packed that no one can come through the door anymore. So the people open the roof and lower this paralytic down through it, so Jesus can heal him. The focus of the story is, understandably, the healing of the paralytic. But there is something more significant than that happening here. They’re ripping the roof off the place, and those outside are being let in. …

        “Sister Elaine Roulet, the founder of My Mother’s House in New York, was asked, ‘How do you work with the poor?’ She answered, ‘You don’t. You share your life with the poor.’ It’s as basic as crying together. It is about ‘casting your lot’ before it ever becomes about ‘changing their lot.’

        “Success and failure, ultimately, have little to do with living the gospel. Jesus just stood with the outcasts until they were welcomed or until He was crucified – whichever came first. …

        “All Jesus asks is, ‘Where are you standing?’ And after chilling defeat and soul-numbing failure, He asks again, ‘Are you still standing there?’

        “Can we stay faithful and persistent in our fidelity even when things seem not to succeed? I suppose Jesus could have chosen a strategy that worked better … – that didn’t end in the Cross – but He couldn’t find a strategy more soaked with fidelity than the one He embraced. …

        “Jesus was always too busy being faithful to worry about success. I’m not opposed to success; I just think we should accept it only if it is a by-product of our fidelity. If our primary concern is results, we will choose to work only with those who give us good ones. …

        “In the end, effective outcomes and a piling of success stories aren’t the things for which we reach. Though, who am I kidding, I prefer them to abject failure and decades of death. But it’s not about preference, it’s about the disruption of categories that leads us to abandon the difficult, the disagreeable, and the least likely to go very far. On most days, if I’m true to myself, I just want to share my life with the poor, regardless of the result. I want to lean into the challenge of intractable problems with as tender a heart as I can locate.”
    • 2) “[Uphold] the word of the Lord [and] His ways”
      • “To the Nephites, Jesus said: ‘Hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up.‘ We hold up the Lord’s light when we hold fast to our covenants and when we support our living prophet as he speaks the words of God.” -Elder Rasband
      • 3 Nephi 12:16 – “Therefore let your light so shine before this people, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.”
      • 3 Nephi 18:24 – “Therefore, hold up your light that it may shine unto the world. Behold I am the light which ye shall hold up—that which ye have seen me do. Behold ye see that I have prayed unto the Father, and ye all have witnessed.”
    • 3) “[Uphold the Lord’s] prophet”
      • “To hold up the prophet is a sacred work. We do not sit quietly by but actively defend him, follow his counsel, teach his words, and pray for him. … Dear President Nelson, on behalf of the members and friends of the Lord’s Church throughout the world, we feel blessed to hold up your teachings, to hold up your example of Christlike living, and to hold up your fervent testimony of our Lord and Savior, the Redeemer of us all.” -Elder Rasband
      • “Hope of Israel“, June 2018 Worldwide Youth Devotional, President Russell M. Nelson:

        “Let me tell you about an experience I had in 1979. I was then serving as the General President of the Sunday School. I was invited to attend a meeting of Church leaders at which the President of the Church, President Spencer W. Kimball, spoke. He charged us to pray that the doors of nations would be opened so that the gospel of Jesus Christ could be brought to all people on earth. He specifically mentioned China and asked that we pray for the people of China. He also said, ‘We should be of service to the Chinese people. We should learn their language. We should pray for them and help them.’

        “I returned home to my wife, Dantzel (who passed away more than 13 years ago), and said to her, ‘President Kimball asked us in that meeting to learn Chinese! And I did not hear him say, ‘Everyone except Brother Nelson!’ So, would you be willing to study Mandarin Chinese with me?’ Of course, she agreed and we were tutored in Mandarin.

        “Six weeks after President Kimball’s charge, I was attending the annual meeting of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery. It was being held in Boston, Massachusetts. That morning, I had prayed in my hotel room for the people of China, just as President Kimball had requested. I went to the first meeting of the day and sat where I always sat at these professional meetings—at the front of the room. As the meeting proceeded, however, I became increasingly uncomfortable in my chair. As the lights were turned down for a slide presentation, I slipped out of my chair and walked quietly to the back of the room—a place where I would usually never sit. When the lights came up again, I found myself sitting by a Chinese doctor. He introduced himself as Professor Wu Ying-Kai from Beijing, China!

        “After a pleasant conversation with him, I extended an invitation for him to visit Salt Lake City and give a lecture at the University of Utah Medical School. He gladly accepted and did exceptionally well. Then he returned to China.

        “Not long thereafter, he invited me to be a visiting professor of surgery at Shandong Medical University in Jinan, China. That led to subsequent invitations for me to serve as a visiting professor at two more universities in China.

        “These wonderful professional experiences—prior to my call to the Twelve—climaxed when I was asked by Chinese surgeons to perform an open-heart operation to save the life of their most celebrated opera star. That I did, and gratefully that operation was a success. It was, incidentally, the last one of my professional life.

        “For almost 40 years now, I have been praying for the people of China. I rejoice in my association with medical colleagues and other dear friends in China. What a joy it is for me now to be officially designated as an ‘old friend of China.’

        “It is my testimony that when we follow through with whatever the prophet of God asks us to do, the way will be opened and lives will be changed.”
  • Action:
    1. By the end of the day Sunday, January 12, 2025, I will dedicate one hour to studying the Bluffdale Utah Independence Stake Vision and developing a plan for “[implementing the] vision into [my] daily life, in [my] personal and family relationships, and in [my] service to others.” (“Do more lifting and less murmuring”)
      • November 10, 2024, email from the Bluffdale Utah Independence Stake Presidency:
        • “Dear Friends,

          “In Proverbs, we read, ‘Where there is no vision, the people perish.’ With this in mind, we believe it is essential to embrace a Stake Vision that guides us in our actions and words. After much prayer and discussion, we as a Stake Presidency have established the following Stake Vision:

          “We love Jesus Christ above that of the world, follow the Holy Spirit, and seek that which was lost.

          “We are committed to integrating this vision into all aspects of our Stake leadership, meetings, and service. We invite you to implement this vision into your daily life, in your personal and family relationships, and in your service to others.

          “As you do, we promise you will feel an increase in God’s love, guidance, and peace, and that you will experience true joy in greater abundance.

          “We are deeply grateful and humbled to serve alongside you, and we love you dearly. We pray for God’s blessings to be with you and your loved ones, and we wish you a joyful and merry Christmas.

          “Sincerely,

          “The Stake Presidency

          “For further study and reflection, here are some scriptures that support our Stake Vision: Enos 1:26; John 14:15; JST, Matthew 16:25-26; Doctrine and Covenants 45:57; 1 Nephi 4:6; John 14:26; Matthew 18:11; Ezekiel 34:16; Luke 15:1-7; John 21:15-17.”
    2. Recommit to my General Conference Applied S4 E11 action item: “Each time I hear someone express hopelessness – whether through actions or words – find a way, through asking inspired questions, to testify of Jesus Christ and my hope in Him.” (“[Uphold] the word of the Lord [and] His ways”)
    3. Recommit to my General Conference Applied S4 E1 action item (in response to President Nelson’s invitation: “I urge you to devote time each week—for the rest of your life—to increase your understanding of the Atonement of Jesus Christ.”): “Create a list of resources that are available to help me learn about Jesus Christ’s Atonement. Dedicate my gospel study each Friday morning to learning about Jesus Christ’s Atonement.” (“[Uphold the Lord’s] prophet”)

Take Action

How will you take action on the invitations extended in this General Conference address?

Conclusion

As we conclude this episode, I have some important information. Show notes for this and all other episodes can be found on my website, mitchellryanpeterson.com. On my website, you will also find my weekly What? Eye. Read. 💡 newsletter.

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I promise that you will get more out of each General Conference Applied episode when you study the General Conference address first. Thank you for joining me in this effort to become doers of the word and to take action on general conference invitations.

Tags

Jesus Christ | Prophets | Sustaining | Temples

Additional Content

Previous Podcast Episode (“The Triumph of Hope” by Elder Neil L. Andersen)

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