Posted on 01/03/2018 4:12:23 AM PST by Normandy
With tender feelings we announce that Thomas S. Monson, president and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, died this evening at 10:01 pm in his home in Salt Lake City. He was with family at the time of his passing. He died at age 90 from causes incident to age.
President Monson, who has served as president of the Church since February 2008, leaves behind a legacy of service and good works. A successor is not expected to be formally chosen by the Church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles until after President Monson’s funeral.
To the more than 16 million members of the Church around the world, President Monson was an example of one who followed Jesus Christ.
“He loved the cultures of the world, and deeply respected them. And particularly the faith of the people,” said President Henry B. Eyring, who served as first counselor in the First Presidency.
While he served in important Church leadership positions throughout his life, he also ministered quietly to thousands of individuals in homes, hospitals and care centers. “Never let a problem to be solved become more important than a person to be loved,” President Monson taught.
“When I look at his life, he was a member of the Church everyone could relate to and everyone could feel comfortable in his presence," said President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the First Presidency. "At the same time, when he walked with kings, with prime ministers, with presidents, with representatives of nations, it was the same way. They all felt that he was their friend.”
During his presidency Church membership grew from 13 million to more than 16 million members worldwide, and dozens of new temples were announced and dedicated throughout the world.
President Eyring added, “I don't think it ever was the idea that he thought himself a great temple builder. It was that he saw the blessing of having temples everywhere, and he wanted it for the people.”
In October 2012, President Monson announced a change to the age requirements for missionaries, which resulted in tens of thousands more missionaries serving throughout the world, impacting the lives of millions.
President Monson dedicated his life to serving in the Church. He became the 16th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on February 3, 2008, following the death of President Gordon B. Hinckley. Prior to that, he served as a counselor in the First Presidency under three Church presidents for over 22 years.
“He's really the one who's concerned about the rescue of the one,” said President Uchtdorf, who served as President Monson’s second counselor in the First Presidency. “He is one who walked through the world looking for opportunities where he could serve individuals.”
“When Thomas S. Monson came into the First Presidency or when he became the prophet, I don’t think he missed a beat, or changed his style or pattern one iota in terms of reaching out to the one,” Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said. “It’s still very much his style and his pattern; it has been all of his life.”
Thomas S. Monson was sustained to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on October 4, 1963, and ordained an apostle on October 10, 1963, at the age of 36. He also served as president of the Church’s Canadian Mission, headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, from 1959 to 1962. Prior to that time, he served in the presidency of the Temple View Stake in Salt Lake City, Utah, and as a bishop of the Sixth-Seventh Ward in that stake.
Thomas S. Monson was born in Salt Lake City on August 21, 1927, to G. Spencer and Gladys Condie Monson. He attended Salt Lake City public schools and graduated cum laude from the University of Utah in 1948, receiving a degree in business management. He did graduate work and served as a member of the College of Business faculty at the University of Utah. He later received his MBA degree from Brigham Young University. In April 1981, Brigham Young University conferred upon President Monson the degree of doctor of laws, honoris causa. He was given the honorary degree doctor of humane letters by Salt Lake Community College in June 1996 and an honorary doctor of business from the University of Utah in May 2007.
President Monson served in the United States Navy near the close of World War II. He married Frances Beverly Johnson on October 7, 1948, in the Salt Lake Temple. They are the parents of three children, with eight grandchildren and many great-grandchildren. Frances Monson passed away on May 20, 2013. Of her passing, President Monson later said, “She was the love of my life, my trusted confidant, and my closest friend. To say that I miss her does not begin to convey the depth of my feelings.”
Professionally, President Monson had a distinguished career in publishing and printing. He became associated with the Deseret News in 1948, where he served as an executive in the advertising division of that newspaper and the Newspaper Agency Corporation. Later he was named sales manager of the Deseret News Press, one of the West’s largest commercial printing firms, rising to the position of general manager, which position he held at the time of his appointment to the Quorum of the Twelve in 1963. He served for many years as chairman of the board of Deseret News Publishing Co. President Monson was president of Printing Industry of Utah and a former member of the board of directors of Printing Industries of America.
Beginning in 1969 President Monson served as a member of the National Executive Board of the Boy Scouts of America. He received Scouting’s highest awards given for extraordinary leadership and service. In 2016, ground was broken at a Scouting facility in Glen Jean, West Virginia for the new Thomas S. Monson Leadership Excellence Complex.
President Monson held membership in the Utah Association of Sales Executives, the Salt Lake Advertising Club and the Salt Lake Exchange Club.
For many years, President Monson served as a member of the Utah State Board of Regents, the body that governs higher education in the state of Utah. He also served as an officer in the Alumni Association of the University of Utah.
In December 1981, President Monson was appointed by President Ronald Reagan to serve on the President’s Task Force for Private Sector Initiatives. He served in this capacity until December 1982, when the work of the task force was completed.
President Monson was awarded the University of Utah’s Distinguished Alumnus Award in 1966. He was also the recipient of the Boy Scouts of America’s Silver Beaver Award (1971), its prestigious Silver Buffalo Award (1978) and international Scouting’s highest award, the Bronze Wolf (1993). In 1997 he received the Minuteman Award from the Utah National Guard, as well as Brigham Young University’s Exemplary Manhood Award. In 1998, he and Sister Monson were each given the Continuum of Caring Humanitarian Award by the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph Villa.
No booze, no caffeine, lots of sex - pretty good recipe for long life.
lds may be a cult but it is a healthy one.
Please. Give the job to Bishop Mitt. Get this clown out of the running for the senate seat.
I thought the 12 would all go to separate rooms and God would tell each one who the next president will be. And each one will have the same name!
I have one question. Why didn’t he prophesize his death?
I predict it will NOT be Romney or Hatch.
IIRC, the very first Sherlock Holmes story has an LDS-forced marriage/subsequent death, as the motive behind all the murders.
The senior apostles of the church are all an inch from eternity. When they are gone, the new younger apostles will be much more Politically Correct and flexible on moral issues. Gay dudes will get to have their own planets just down the galaxy from the hetero polygamists.
God has never been to New York.
Period.
Isnt Russell M Nelson already sealed to some dead women as extra wives for his polygamous after life ???
Yes but when they made a movie about A Study in Scarlett they left out the Mormon connection and changed the plot...
this might be good news for trump. most of the hostility coming from Mormon politicians and on air personalities is because the religion is a top down geriatric theocracy. the old leader did not like trump so in turn those involved in politics were anti trump fallowing the walking orders of there president and prophet. we will have to wait and see what happens with there new leader.
A STUDY IN SCARLET.
RIP.
lds may be a cult but it is a healthy one.
HMMMmmm... Where’d you hear THIS false news from?
https://www.google.com/search?q=prozac+use+in+utah&ie=&oe=
You are probably thinking of Joseph Smith, Jr. founder of MormonISM.
JESUS: Hey Smith! Remember that boast you made about doing more than even I had done to hold the 'church' together?
JOSEPH SMITH: Where am I?
JESUS: Don't you remember? A few seconds ago you were in that jail.
JOSEPH SMITH: Oh; yeah; but where am I NOW?
JESUS: Don't you remember? Does bang - bang ring a bell?
JOSEPH SMITH: Oh; yeah - that crummy gun I had was about USELESS!
JESUS: I hope you left instructions on how to hold your church together.
JOSEPH SMITH: Dang! I knew there was SOMETHING I was forgetting!
JESUS: Looks like there's a power struggle going on down there.
JOSEPH SMITH: Yeah; there was always SOMEone who wanted the power that I held - especially over the LADIES - wink wink.
JESUS: No need to worry about that now; remember what my friend Matthew wrote down?
JOSEPH SMITH: This? “At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven” (Matthew 22:30)
JESUS: That's it.
JOSEPH SMITH: I thought that was mistranslated.
JESUS: Nah - it was right.
JOSEPH SMITH: Oh well; it was fun while it lasted. My buds will still get it on with the girls.
JESUS: Uh; I'm sorry; in just a few more years; your followers will cavein to the United States government and abandon the 'Eternal Covenant' that you came up with.
JOSEPH SMITH: ME!? YOU are the one that told me to do that!
JESUS: Sorry; but you must have mistranslated what I told you. What part of Do NOT commit ADULTERY did you not understand?
JOSEPH SMITH: mumble....
JESUS: What did you say?
JOSEPH SMITH: Oh, nothing.
JESUS: Well; it was interesting talking to you; but now I must get back to perparing a place for those who believe in Me.
JOSEPH SMITH: Oh, yeah; the Celestial Kingdom.
JESUS: No...
JOSEPH SMITH: The Telestial one?
JESUS: Nope.
JOSEPH SMITH: SUREly not the TERRESTRIAL one!!
JESUS: Nope. Didn't you read that the mind of man had NOT conceived of it? Paul wrote it down in 1 Corinthians 2:9.
JOSEPH SMITH: I thought that was mistranslated.
JESUS: No; it wasn't.
JOSEPH SMITH: You SURE?
JESUS: Yes. Now I must be going: what did you say your name was again?
JOSEPH SMITH: Joseph Smith.
JESUS: Hmmmm. According to my Heavenly FAITHbook, you didn't sign in as one of my friends - sorry, I never knew you.
JOSEPH SMITH: But....
Pretty good odds you are right; since it seems the mantle falls onto the shoulders of the oldest fella (sorry girls) in the Quorum of Twelve.
Heck; the old ones are ok with NOT following D&C 132:56-66 anyway!
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Huh.
I always thought no altering drugs were allowed.
But they still have pictigrams on their Underoos, right?
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