When they truly understand that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of liberty and freedom, then they will seek after the presence of God and the flow of His Spirit in them. When they see it is by the power of His presence that the bonds of hell are broken, then they will strive to remove anything out of their lives that stands in the way of His power flowing through them.

One of my favorite verses in the Bible says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3:17, emphasis added).

There could not be a restoration of the gospel without freedom. God provided this country as the base of his operations in these the last days, a place where there would be freedom, where he could restore his gospel.

President David O. McKay declared: "No greater immediate responsibility rests upon members of the Church, upon all citizens of this Republic and of neighboring Republics than to protect the freedom vouchsafed by the Constitution of the United States." (Conference Report, April 1950, p. 37.)

I have stood in the places where history was made. I have seen with my own eyes the part that men and women of faith have played in these earthshaking events, and I have heard with my own ears their cries for freedom.

God's time is always near. He gave me my strength and he set the North Star in the heavens; He meant I should be free.

There was one of two things I had a right to, liberty or death. If I could not have one, I would have the other, for no man should take me alive. I should fight for my liberty as my strength lasted, and when the time came for me to go, the Lord would let them take me.

If the Christian is a restorationist, a legalist, if he wants everything clear and safe, then he will find nothing. Tradition and memory of the past must help us to have the courage to open up new areas to God.

There is an increasing push to compartmentalize faith separately from our life in the public square - and it's not possible - at least, it's not possible if we continue the American tradition of true individual freedom, which also implies individual responsibility. Without an objective moral standard, that's not possible.

What we need to understand is that when traditions become laws, rules, obligations and expectations others put on us that we don't want to fulfill, then they lose real meaning and steal the joy from our lives. And if we're too religious, we won't be able to be led by the Holy Spirit and enjoy an intimate relationship with Him.

Transparent' was my coming-out party.

Therefore the good man, although he is a slave, is free; but the bad man, even if he reigns, is a slave.