Gordon Bitner Hinckley (June 23, 1910 - January 27, 2008) was an American religious leader and author serving as the 15th President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) 1995, until his death. Considered as prophet, seer, and revelation by church members, Hinckley was the oldest person who led the church in its history.
The Hinckley presidency is noted for the construction of the temple, with more than half of existing temples being built under his leadership. He also oversaw the reconstruction of the Illinois Nauvoo Temple and the construction of the 21,000-seat Conference Center. During his tenure, "Family: Proclamation to the World" was published and the Perpetual Education Fund was established. At the time of his death, about a third of the church membership had joined the church under the leadership of Hinckley.
Hinckley was awarded ten honorary doctorates, and in 2004, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush. Hinckley also received the highest Scout award from America, Silver Buffalo, and served as chairman of the Church/Education Supervisory Board. Hinckley died of natural causes on January 27, 2008. His wife, Marjorie Pay, died in 2004. He was replaced as church president by Thomas S. Monson, who had served as his first counselor in the First Presidency, and, more importantly, is the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; therefore, according to LDS doctrine and practice, Monson is the successor anticipated by Hinckley.
Video Gordon B. Hinckley
Initial years
The son of multi-generational Latter-day Saints, Hinckley was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to LDS writers and prominent educators, Bryant S. Hinckley and Ada Bitner Hinckley. He graduated from LDS High School in 1928. He grew up on a farm in East Millcreek. His home library contains about a thousand volumes of literary, philosophical, and historical works. Hinckley is known for his optimism and speaks clearly. Hinckley studied at the University of Utah, where he earned a bachelor's degree in English, and studied an ancient language. He studied Latin and could read ancient Greek. Hinckley became a missionary to the LDS church, an unusual occurrence for the Latter-day Saints of the Depression. He served in the London Mission based in London from 1933 to 1935. He would then write the words for LDS hymn no. 135, "My Redeemer Life".
Maps Gordon B. Hinckley
Church Works
Hinckley returned to the United States in 1935 after completing a brief tour of the European continent, including preaching in Berlin and Paris. He was given the task by his mission president, Joseph F. Merrill, to meet with the First Presidency of the church and request that better material be available to missionaries for da'wah. As a result of this meeting, Hinckley accepted the job as executive secretary of the Radio Committee, Publicity, and Missionary Church (he had accepted the school as a journalist in college). Hinckley's responsibilities include developing a new church radio broadcast and utilizing the new communications technology of that era.
One of the projects that Hinckley supervised in the late 1930s was the development of a church exhibition for the Golden Gate International Exhibition.
In 1935 Hinckley also worked as a seminary teacher for the LDS Church. However he decided to focus solely on work with literary committees, Publicity, and bibliography.
Beginning in 1937, he served on the Sunday School General Council. After the Second World War, where he left full-time LDS Church work to work for some time with the Rio Grande West Rail, Hinckley served as executive secretary of the Church's Mission Committee. He also served as a church liaison for the Deseret Book, working with the Deseret Book liaison to the church, Thomas S. Monson. At various times, especially in the late 1940s, Hinckley also became a reporter for Church News, a publication of Deseret News.
In the early 1950s, Hinckley was part of a committee that considered how to present temple ordinances in the Swiss Temple. Of particular concern is how this can be done when the need exists to provide them in at least 10 languages; the attention was eventually solved through the use of the film version of the endowment. Hinckley's background in journalism and public relations prepared him well to lead the church during a time when he had received increasing media coverage.
In 1957, Hinckley was appointed to the board of directors of KSL. Shortly after he was appointed to the executive committee of the council.
Family
On April 29, 1937, Hinckley married Marjorie Pay (November 23, 1911 - April 6, 2004) in the Salt Lake Temple. They have five children, including Richard G. Hinckley, an expert on LDS Church since 2005, and Virginia Hinckley Pearce, a former member of the Young Women general presidency.
One of their daughters, Kathleen Hinckley Barnes Walker, co-authored several books with Virginia, and runs an event company. Her first husband, Alan Barnes, died in 2001 and in 2004 she married M. Richard Walker. The Walkers served from 2005 to 2008 as president and mother of the Salt Lake Temple and lived in Preston, England, from 2011 to 2013, while Richard served as president of the Missionary Training Center.
Another son of Hinckley, Clark, also serves in several church leadership positions, including stake presidents, as president of the Spanish Mission of Barcelona church (2009 to 2012), and since December 2015 as the first president of the Tijuana Mexico Temple.
LDS Church service
Local leadership
After returning to East Millcreek at the end of work by train, Hinckley was called as a counselor in the presidency of the Millcreek Stake in the church. He then served as the stake president, until about six months after his call as Assistant Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. During his time as stake president Hinckley oversaw the construction of several chapels.
In the April 1958 general conference, Hinckley became the general authority of the church as an Assistant Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a position which was subsequently terminated. One of his first duties as a public authority participated in the dedication of the same month of the New Zealand Temple. In August 1958, Hinckley went to England where he was involved in the open house and dedication of the London Temple. As a general authority, Hinckley continued to work with the missionary department, and after Richards's death worked with Henry D. Moyle.
In early 1960, Hinckley was given the responsibility of overseeing LDS Church operations in Asia. His first trip there in the spring of 1960 lasted for two months and involved going to Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and the Philippines. In the Philippines, he works to get government approval for missionaries to be sent. He returned to Asia on a second trip in April 1961, which included a meeting to formalize missionary work in the Philippines. During this trip he was also in Seoul, South Korea during the May 16 coup. Hinckley sent a story about the coup to Deseret News.
In June 1961, Hinckley was one of the general authorities in the first Missionary Mission training seminar, and was involved in the presentation of the first standard missionary lesson plan.
In September 1961, Hinckley became an apostle in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He filled the void created by Hugh B. Brown who was added to the First Presidency as the third advisor to David O. McKay.
After his call as an apostle, Hinckley continued to be a leader in the missionary department, with Boyd K. Packer serving as one of his chief aides. Hinckley was also appointed chairman of the council's children's co-ordinating council of all churches.
Hinckley also continues to oversee church operations in Asia. In February 1962, he made his first trip to Asia where he was accompanied by his wife, Marjorie. On this trip they visited the Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. Upon his return he held a training seminar with missionaries in California and Illinois in collaboration with Moyle, and then held training seminars in all 23 missions in Europe. These seminars are credited with being the main force behind the higher conversion rates over the coming summer.
Also in 1962 Hinckley was involved in the negotiations that led to the LDS Church buying WRUL shortwave radio stations.
During this time, Hinckley also dedicated a chapel in French Polynesia on the island of Huahine. A group of Latter-day Saints return to their original island on their sinking ship with drowned 15. Hinckley canceled his return to Utah and took a trip on a sailboat to lead the funeral.
At the end of 1963, Hinckley toured the Philippines, Japan and South Korea, this time not only bringing his wife but also their ten-year-old daughter. In the spring of 1964, the Era of Improvement published a series or article on churches in Asia, where he identified Hinckley as president of the "Hawaiian-Oriental Mission".
In 1964, Hinckley was elected to the KIRO-TV and KIRO-AM/FM councils purchased by the LDS Church. When the church established Bonneville International Corporation in 1964, Hinckley was appointed vice president, board member and executive committee member.
Hinckley traveled the world on a trip with his wife at the end of 1964. First he stopped in Tokyo to attend a missionary conference. He then traveled to South Korea, Hong Kong, and the Philippines as before. He then went to Thailand and held meetings with several church members, all expatriates, in that country at the time. Hinckley then traveled to Saigon and met with about 60 church members, mostly American military personnel. There were two Vietnamese who had joined the LDS Church at a meeting in Saigon. Finally, he visited Singapore and then went to India.
In India he went to Madras and then Coimbatore. At a later location, Hinckley meets with Paul Thirithuvodoss who has written to the LDS Church headquarters asking for baptism. Hinckley went to Medukerai to see the school run by Thirithuvodoss. Hinckley decided not to baptize Thirithuvodoss at that time.
The Hinckleys then went to Beirut where they met a small group of church members and then to Jerusalem. From there, they went to Greece where they met with a small group of other church members. They then proceed to Frankfurt, where they live in the home of Ezra Taft Benson and his wife, Flora. Benson then led the European Mission, and then Hinckley went to Brussels before returning to Utah.
In July 1965, Hinckley went to Hawaii where he was involved with the first LDS service conducted in Japanese.
Also in 1965, Hinckley was involved in negotiations with US Selective Service officials that led to the establishment of a single LDS missionary quota, which would otherwise be recruited, could be discharged from the ward or branch every six months, with transferable quotas in specific LDS districts or stakes.
In the late 1960s, Hinckley was a key person in formulating the official LDS Church statement, such as the 1968 statement on liquor sales by the drink.
In the early 1970s, Hinckley served as the chief executive committee of the Church Educational Council.
Beginning in 1972, Hinckley was the head of the LDS Church General Affairs Department. In September 1972, Hinckley and his wife traveled with the president of the church Harold B. Lee and his wife, Joan, on tours to England, Greece, Israel and Italy. The visit included meetings with church members in Rome, a group of LDS youths at an event at Santa Severa resort on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea, and meetings with Church members in Florence, Pisa and Milan. In Milan they held a press conference, attended only by one journalist, Michele Straniero, who interviewed Lee and Hinckley for an hour and not only published the work on La Stampa from this interview but used it as a starting point for a book on Mormonism which he later wrote.
Also in 1970, Hinckley had oversight for churches in South America and later in Europe. He serves on the executive committee of the church for temples, missionary work, welfare services, priesthood and the military.
Hinckley was chairman of the executive committee on the 1980 anniversary of the 150th anniversary of the LDS Church.
Members of the First Presidency
On 23 July 1981, Spencer W. Kimball appointed Hinckley as counselor in the First Presidency. After the first counselor N. Eldon Tanner died in 1982, Kimball did not appoint a new counselor. As the 1980s flourished, more everyday affairs of the First Presidency fell to healthier Hinckley. In 1984, Hinckley was the only active member of the First Presidency publicly.
In 1984, the church established the Area Presidency. Prior to the Area Presidency, the church headquarters organizes national and multi-national territories. Presidency The administrative area is decentralized with presidencies living in locations around the world.
During his time in Kimball's presidency, Hinckley leads the dedication of 16 LDS temples. Among them is the Philippine Manila Temple. Hinckley dedicated it 18 years after he dedicated the first Philippine LDS chapel. At the time of Kimball's death, Hinckley has dedicated nearly half of the 36 temples.
After Kimball's death in November 1985, Ezra Taft Benson became President of the Church. Benson named Hinckley as first counselor and Thomas S. Monson as second advisor. In the early 1990s, Benson developed a serious health problem, removing it from public view. Hinckley and Monson performed many tasks from the First Presidency until Benson died in 1994.
During the Kimball and Benson presidencies, most of the dedicated new shrines are dedicated by Hinckley. When Benson died in 1994, about half of all operating temples had been dedicated by Hinckley.
Mark Hofmann's forgery documents, bombings, and investigations occurred during this time. "Interest news is global" and "the entire episode reaches epic proportions." Some books illustrate the acquisition of historical documents suspected by Hinckley and others. For example, the secret sale of Stowell's document describes Joseph Smith's "search for money". Using $ 15,000 of Church funds, Hinckley buys documents from Hofmann. Two years later, Hofmann divulged his existence to the Mormon history community. After a press investigation, Hinckley acknowledged the document and released it. Later, the bombing researchers proved Hofmann falsified the document.
In 1992, Hinckley made an official visit to Rome where he presented a copy of the Mormonism Encyclopedia to the Vatican.
After Benson's death, Howard W. Hunter became President and defended Hinckley and Monson as counselors in the First Presidency. With Hunter as President of the Church, the title of the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles fell to Hinckley according to the tradition of seniority.
President of the Church
When Hunter died after the nine-month presidency, Hinckley succeeded as president of the church at the age of 84, on 12 March 1995. On November 2, 2006, Hinckley surpassed David O. McKay to become president of the oldest LDS Church in history.
Hinckley is known for speeding up the construction of the temple. When he became president, there were 47 temples operating in the church; at the time of his death, there were 124, more than two thirds of which had been dedicated or rededicated under Hinckley, with 14 others announced or under construction. Hinckley oversees other important building projects, including the construction of a Conference Center and a massive renovation at the Salt Lake Tabernacle.
On September 23, 1995, Hinckley released "Family: Proclamation to the World", a statement of belief and counsel on the sanctity of families and marriages prepared by the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve. In February 1996, church membership in countries other than the United States surpassed that of the US. Also in 1996, 60 Minutes aired Mike Hinckley's interview by Mike Wallace during a segment at the LDS Church. In 1998, Hinckley was a guest on CNN's Larry King Live . Hinckley maintained friendships with Wallace and King until his death.
In November 2000, Hinckley spoke to the church teens and gave them six traits to work, named "Six Be's", first introduced in his book, "The Beast, Be Be Smart, Be Pretty, Be Strong, i> New York Times Bestseller Stand for Something and then expanded to Way to Be .
On March 31, 2001, Hinckley announced the creation of an Eternal Education Fund, a donation that lends to students in developing countries. On October 22, 2002, Hinckley participated in the dedication of Gordon B. Hinckley Building at Brigham Young University-Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho. This is the first building in BYU-Idaho named for the president of a living church.
In April 2003, Hinckley gave a sermon aimed at the ongoing War in Afghanistan and the Iraq War, which began two weeks earlier. He said, "As citizens we are all under the direction of our respective national leaders, they have access to greater political and military intelligence than people in general," adding, "[f] moreover, we are people who loves freedom, is committed to defending freedom wherever in danger. "He also notes that" even God [God] will hold us accountable if we try to block or block the path of those involved in the contest with evil forces and oppression. "
In March 2005, Hinckley, along with Thomas S. Monson and James E. Faust, celebrated their tenth anniversary as the First Presidency - the first time in church history that the First Presidency has continued for such a period of time without personnel changing.
On January 24, 2006, Hinckley underwent surgery to remove cancer growth from his colon. She was also diagnosed with diabetes at the time. In June 2006, Hinckley traveled to Iowa City, Iowa, to speak on the 150th anniversary of the commencement of the Mormon wagon. On June 23, 2006 (the 96th anniversary), Hinckley participated in a groundbreaking ceremony at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, for a new building to be named in his honor. It was named Gordon B. Hinckley Alumni and Visitors Center and completed and dedicated to Hinckley's 97th birthday.
On March 31, 2007, Hinckley rediscovered the Salt Lake Tabernacle after extensive renovations. Hinckley's last public appearance was on January 4, 2008, when he offered a prayer in Rededication of the State Capitol of Utah.
During his tenure as president, Hinckley gave over 2,000 speeches; he traveled nearly a million miles a lifetime to more than 160 countries, when he met church members and meetings and special temples.
Hinckley's annual speech at BYU was the subject of research by the National Center for Voice and Speech at the University of Utah to analyze how human voices change with age. Thirty-six speeches by Hinckley were analyzed, starting from 1958, when he was 47-48, until 2007, the year before his death. This study shows how her voice began to decline in the 50s and continues until she is 70 years old, after which she begins to develop a taller and thinner "parent" voice. In his 80s, his voice became increasingly wavery and his speech level began to slow down and in his 90s, he would chide words. Hinckley is a good subject for this research because his annual address is recorded and transcribed thoroughly, in addition he does not smoke, drink, sing, or engage in other activities that would cause unnatural pressure on his voice.
Dedication of the temple
By the time Hinckley became president of the church, he had consecrated 23 of the 47 temples of the church and had mereditasi four of the 24 remaining. While the head of the church, Hinckley leads the dedication of additional temples. Hinckley also rededicated five temples while the president of the church, four of which he dedicated initially. Overall, Hinckley dedicates or dedicates 92 different temples - 70 as church presidents - in 97 different service devotions.
Awards
On 23 June 2004 (94th anniversary of Hinckley), US President George W. Bush gave Hinckley the President's Independence Medal in a ceremony at the White House. A press release filed by the White House states: "Gordon B. Hinckley... has inspired millions of people and has led efforts to improve humanitarian aid, disaster relief and education funding around the world."
Hinckley received numerous educational awards, including the Distinguished Citizen Award from Southern Utah University, the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Utah, and 10 honorary doctorates from schools including Westminster College, Utah State University, Utah Valley University, Utah University, Brigham Young University, Brigham Young University-Idaho, Weber State University, and Southern Utah University. He received the Silver Buffalo Award, the highest award awarded by the Boy Scouts of America, and honored by the National Conference for Community and Justice for his contribution to tolerance and understanding in the world.
Death
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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