“Let All Men Beware How They Take My Name in Their Lips”
Doctrine and Covenants 63:57–64
57 And again, verily I say unto you, those who desire in their hearts, in meekness, to warn sinners to repentance, let them be ordained unto this power.
58 For this is a day of warning, and not a day of many words. For I, the Lord, am not to be mocked in the last days.
59 Behold, I am from above, and my power lieth beneath. I am over all, and in all, and through all, and search all things, and the day cometh that all things shall be subject unto me.
60 Behold, I am Alpha and Omega, even Jesus Christ.
61 Wherefore, let all men beware how they take my name in their lips—
62 For behold, verily I say, that many there be who are under this condemnation, who use the name of the Lord, and use it in vain, having not authority.
63 Wherefore, let the church repent of their sins, and I, the Lord, will own them; otherwise they shall be cut off.
64 Remember that that which cometh from above is sacred, and must be spoken with care, and by constraint of the Spirit; and in this there is no condemnation, and ye receive the Spirit through prayer; wherefore, without this there remaineth condemnation.
President Dallin H. Oaks said:
“This scripture [D&C 63:61–62] shows that we take the name of the Lord in vain when we use His name without authority. This obviously occurs when the sacred names of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, are used in what is called profanity: in hateful cursings, in angry denunciations, or as marks of punctuation in common discourse.
“The names of the Father and the Son are used with authority when we reverently teach and testify of Them, when we pray, and when we perform the sacred ordinances of the priesthood.
“There are no more sacred or significant words in all of our language than the names of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ. . . .
“When the names of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, are used with reverence and authority, they invoke a power beyond what mortal man can comprehend.
“It should be obvious to every believer that these mighty names—by which miracles are wrought, by which the world was formed, through which man was created, and by which we can be saved—are holy and must be treated with the utmost reverence. As we read in modern revelation, ‘Remember that that which cometh from above is sacred, and must be spoken with care, and by constraint of the Spirit’ (D&C 63:64).”
(“Reverent and Clean,” Ensign, May 1986, 49–51.)
