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Heber J. Grant

Portrait of Heber J. Grant
Portrait: Wikimedia Commons, public domain

AUTHOR PROFILE

Heber J. Grant

Heber J. Grant served as the seventh President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1918 to 1945. His long presidency spanned the Great Depression and the Second World War. His teaching often emphasized perseverance, practical self-reliance, and living the Word of Wisdom.

FEATURED QUOTE
“If there is any one thing that will bring peace and contentment into the human heart, and into the family, it is to live within our means. And if there is any one thing that is grinding and discouraging and disheartening, it is to have debts and obligations that one cannot meet.”
— Heber J. Grant

Biography at a glance

  • Church service: Apostle from 1882; President of the Church from 1918 to 1945
  • Historical setting: Led during the Depression and Second World War
  • Recurring themes: Persistence, welfare, and the Word of Wisdom

Work and Church leadership

Grant’s early business experience and decades in the Twelve preceded his call as Church president. His biography in the Church’s Teachings of Presidents series describes the habits of work and persistence that appeared in his later teaching.

Serving through global upheaval

The economic crisis of the 1930s affected many Latter-day Saint families. During Grant’s presidency, Church leaders developed a more coordinated welfare response. The Second World War then disrupted members and missionaries across the world. His long tenure ended in 1945, when George Albert Smith became Church president.

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Quotes by Heber J. Grant

8 quotes

“I have met any number of people who have said the Word of Wisdom is not a command from the Lord, that it is not given by way of commandment. But the Word of Wisdom is the will of the Lord and the Lord says in the words that I have just read that it is not meet that we should be commanded in all things (D&C 58:26-29) . . . One of the best ways in all the world to bring to pass much righteousness is to set an example as a conscientious, God-fearing Latter-day Saint, observing all of the requirements of the Lord.”

Conference Report, April 1931, pp. 12-13

— Heber J. Grant

“I bear my witness to you that if a record had been made of all those who have been afflicted, those who have been given up to die, and who have been healed by the power of God, since the establishment of the Church of Christ in our day, it would make a book much larger than the New Testament. More miracles have been performed in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints than we have any account of in the days of the Savior and His Apostles. Today, sickness is cured by spiritual power. . . . The dead have been raised. My own brother was announced to be dead, but by the prayer of faith he lives and presides over one of the stakes of Zion. I know, as I know I live, that the healing power of Almighty God . . . is in the Church of Christ of which you and I are members.”

Conference Report, October 6, 1910, p. 119

— Heber J. Grant

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