Written By April T Giauque
Elder Jeffery R Holland General Conference TalkOct 2024
When Elder Holland speaks, there is so much to quote from him. He has a deep understanding of Christ. He has had a near-death experience and has gained even more of what lies beyond this world. He has been restored to return to testify of Christ with his last breath.

Elder Holland shared a scene from the last week of Jesus’s mortal life as he opened his talk. He said,
“A multitude had gathered, including Roman soldiers armed with staves and strapped with swords. Led by officers from the chief priests who had torches in hand, this earnest company was not off to conquer a city. Tonight, they were looking for only one man not known to carry a weapon, receive military training, or engage in physical combat at any time in His entire life.
“As the soldiers approached, Jesus, to protect His disciples, stepped forth and said, “Whom seek ye?” They replied, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said, “I am he. … As soon … as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward and fell to the ground.”
I had read that passage and hadn’t felt the impact of it until an apostle of the Lord stopped me in my speed reading, and all stood still for a moment. My mind then saw the soldiers stagger backward and stumble, and I knew that this was not normal. He was no ordinary man. They have a witness of Christ with the power of His word. I pray I always remember that power.
Elder Holland said that “just being in the presence of the Son of God—the great Jehovah of the Old Testament and Good Shepherd of the New, who bears no weapons of any kind—that just hearing the voice of this Refuge from the Storm, this Prince of Peace, is enough to send antagonists stumbling into retreat, piling them in a jumble, making the whole group wish they had been assigned kitchen duty that night.”
The Savior would not have worldly things. He would have sufficient of his needs but would not stand out with costly apearl or transitions of the scribes and Pharisees. He would do as Isaiah had prophesied seven centuries earlier, “he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.”
Jesus was about His Father’s business from a young age, for he knew who he was. He could teach in the temple and have a triumphant entry into Jerusalem. Jesus would have difficulties in his life. He would be unjustifiably arrested, and after all that and more, Jesus was routinely placed in complex, often devious situations in which He was always triumphant—victories for which we have no explanation except divine DNA.
What Elder Holland said was potent to me. This divine Son of God has come and done everything for mankind, and yet so that we can follow the “natural man, satan, and our selfish desires, people have “simplified, even trivialized our image of Him and His witness of who He was. They have reduced His righteousness to mere prudishness, His justice to mere anger, His mercy to mere permissiveness.”

Elder Holland pleads with us to “not be guilty of such simplistic versions of Him that conveniently ignore teachings we find uncomfortable.” It’s so fascinating why we do this. He live in fear and follows and is influenced by Satan. He just NEVER STOPS. We have to be the ones to STOP ‘dumbing down’ Christ’s defining virtue, His love.
During the General Conference, Christ taught the two great commandments: “Love the Lord thy God [and] love thy neighbor as thyself.” He also taught, “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” And, on that same evening, He said we were to “love one another as I have loved you.” Elder Holland said, “In those scriptures, those qualifying phrases defining true, Christlike love—sometimes referred to as charity—are absolutely essential.”
First, He loved with “all [of His] heart, might, mind and strength,” allowing Him to heal the deepest pain and declare the most brutal reality. In short, He is one who can administer grace and insist on truth at the same time.
Jesus’s love allows an encouraging embrace when needed and a bitter cup when it has to be swallowed. So we try to love—with all of our heart, might, mind, and strength—because that is the way He loves us.
Elder Holland taught that the second characteristic of Jesus’s divine charity was “His obedience to every word that proceeded from God’s mouth, always aligning His will and behavior with that of His Heavenly Father.”
If you have experienced any of the following: sadness, fatigue, disappointment, and excruciating loneliness. Jesus understands more thoroughly than you can comprehend, and Jesus’s love faileth not, and neither does His Father’s.
Here are some more words of comfort: If, as you labor devotedly, you still feel moments of fear wash over you, remember that it has been so for some of the most faithful and marvelous people in every era of time. Also, remember that there is a force in the universe determined to oppose every good thing you try to do.

I love Elder Holland's statement, “We stay the course with the true Church of Christ. Why? As with our Redeemer, we signed on for the whole term—not ending with the first short introductory quiz but through to the final exam. The joy in this is that the Headmaster gave us all open-book answers before the course began. Furthermore, we have a host of tutors who remind us of these answers at regular stops along the way. But of course, none of this works if we keep cutting class.”
Please, I pray that anyone reading this blog will remember that Christ will come again. We will all have to stand before him. With all our shortcomings. Mine are a HUGE LIST! But remember, when we stand before Him and see the wounds in His hands and feet, we will begin to comprehend what it meant for “Him to bear our sins and be acquainted with grief, to be completely obedient to the will of His Father—all out of pure love for us.”
Elder Holland then shared this powerful testimony:
I testify that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the vehicle God has provided for our exaltation. The gospel it teaches is true, and the priesthood legitimizing it is not derivative. I
And one day, that prophetic guidance will lead a generation to see our Messenger of Salvation descend like “lightning … out of the east,” and we will exclaim, “Jesus of Nazareth.” With arms forever outstretched and love unfeigned, He will reply, “I am he.”

I can’t wait to share this with you on Tuesday at 6:30 pm Mountain on the Beacon of Light Podcast from the Pulpit.
Come check out all the resources about Elder Holland for free here:
Comments