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Robert L. Millet

Robert L. Millet, former dean of Religious Education at Brigham Young University, is a professor emeritus of ancient scripture. After receiving bachelor's and master's degrees from BYU in psychology, he earned a PhD from Florida State University in religious studies. Brother Millet is a beloved speaker and the author of numerous books. He and his wife, Shauna, are the parents of six children.

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Want to bear your testimony but feel too nervous? Use this simple truth as a pep talk

By Robert L. Millet

January 09, 2024 07:00 AM MST

“There really is no need for members of the Church to worry one-tenth of a second about coming up with something original to say or about giving a talk.”

5 Min Read

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Why 2024 could be your most transformative ‘Come, Follow Me’ study year ever

By Robert L. Millet

November 15, 2023 03:28 PM MST

“It is not just a book that helps us feel good; it is a heavenly document that has been given to help us be good.”

6 Min Read

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A tribute to Joseph Smith from every modern-day prophet

By Robert L. Millet

June 27, 2023 06:00 AM MDT

To commemorate the martyrdom of Joseph Smith on June 27, here are some powerful quotes about him from every modern-day prophet from President Brigham Young to President Russell M. Nelson.

10 Min Read

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What’s wrong with the lap of luxury? Robert Millet on ‘vain ambition’

By Robert L. Millet

June 05, 2023 12:10 PM MDT

There is nothing wrong with aspiring to greatness, but we are warned against vain ambition. So where do we draw the line?

6 Min Read

Relaxed,Business,Woman,Sitting,In,Office

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Is temple work for those who rejected the gospel a ‘total waste of time’? Robert Millet’s touching answer

By Robert L. Millet

May 25, 2023 09:10 AM MDT

Read Robert Millet inspiring response to a widow who had been told doing her late husband’s temple work would be a waste of time.

6 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

Why obsessing over the Second Coming can be problematic

By Robert L. Millet

May 23, 2023 01:00 PM MDT

While as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we are taught to prepare for the second coming of Jesus Christ, we don't have to anxiously obsess over it.

6 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

5 things you should know about the Second Coming

By Robert L. Millet

May 22, 2023 02:30 PM MDT

Do you know all the details of what will happen at the time of the Lord's Second Coming? Chances are some of these doctrinal gems may surprise you.

6 Min Read

Early morning sun shines on curvy asphalt road through dense woods

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‘Your calling and election made sure’: What does it really mean, and how to do you teach it?

By Robert L. Millet

December 20, 2022 12:39 PM MST

"Latter-day Saint writers, including general Church leaders, have not written or spoken of the doctrine of calling and election very often, not because it is a forbidden subject, but rather a sensitive one"

6 Min Read

Videos

Have we lost our awareness of what it means to be a chosen people? Scholar Robert Millet weighs in

By Robert L. Millet

February 15, 2022 07:00 AM MST

For a full 10 seconds I stood in amazement. It had never occurred to me at this point in the second half of a two-semester course that I needed to define something so fundamental.

13 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

The realization one man had about love when his wife left him alone at a party

By Robert L. Millet

December 29, 2021 07:00 AM MST

“It was a restless night of facing up to who and what I had been through the years.”

5 Min Read

Feature Stories

While helping a man through addiction, here’s what 1 bishop learned about charity

By Robert L. Millet

December 15, 2021 11:51 AM MST

“The impression that weighed upon my soul was that God would be far less troubled by Richard’s ‘thorn in the flesh’ than He would be of our sins against charity.”

4 Min Read

Why it is so significant that both the Father and the Son appeared to Joseph Smith in the Sacred Grove

By Robert L. Millet

October 19, 2020 12:00 PM MDT

President Joseph Fielding Smith taught an important principle when he explained that “all revelation since the fall has come through Jesus Christ, who is the Jehovah of the Old Testament. In all of the scriptures, where God is mentioned and where he has appeared, it was Jehovah who talked with Abraham, with Noah, Enoch, Moses and all the prophets. He is the God of Israel, the Holy One of Israel. . . . The Father has never dealt directly and personally since the fall, and he has never appeared except to introduce and bear record of the Son.”1 Elsewhere President Smith pointed out that “after Adam’s transgression he was shut out of the presence of the Father who has remained hidden from his children to this day, with a few exceptions wherein righteous men have been privileged with the glorious privilege of seeing him. . . . Since the fall all revelation and commandments from the Father have come through Jesus Christ.”2

7 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

‘That they all may be one’: Building bridges of understanding with persons of other faiths

By Robert L. Millet

October 13, 2020 01:01 PM MDT

The Prophet Joseph Smith was a man possessed of great love toward those within the Church, as well as persons from various religious denominations. On one occasion he said: “The inquiry is frequently made of me, ‘Wherein do you differ from others in your religious views?’ In reality and essence, we do not differ so far in our religious views, but that we could all drink into one principle of love. One of the grand fundamental principles of ‘Mormonism’ is to receive truth, let it come from whence it may.”1

19 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

What the Prophet Joseph Told a US President Is the Most Unique Feature of the Church

By Robert L. Millet

September 21, 2019 02:51 PM MDT

In December 1839 the Prophet Joseph Smith and Elias Higbee traveled to Washington D.C., to seek redress from the government for the losses suffered by the persecuted and beleaguered Latter-day Saints. In their meeting with President Martin Van Buren, Joseph recorded that the president “interrogated us wherein we differed in our religion from the other religions of the day.” If you had been in the room and had been asked to respond to President Van Buren’s question, how would you have answered?

4 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

How the Revelation of Baptisms for the Dead Was Received and Revealed to the Church

By Robert L. Millet

August 15, 2019 12:57 PM MDT

August 15 marks the anniversary of the Prophet Joseph Smith's first public announcement of the beautiful doctrine of baptism for the dead.

9 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

Are We Confusing Emotional Experiences with Spiritual Experiences?

By Robert L. Millet

July 13, 2019 09:21 AM MDT

I have been concerned over the years that too often our youth (and, unfortunately, even some of our more experienced members) are prone to confuse sentimentality with spirituality, tears with testimony. Let me illustrate. One Mutual night as I came out of my bishop’s office, I noticed that the members of the Laurel class were huddled in the hall and in the midst of what seemed to be quite a fascinating discussion. They appeared to be talking about one of the young women in their class who had, during the last year, slipped out of Church activity.

3 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

Faith is not blind + 4 other things faith is not

By Robert L. Millet

January 08, 2019 04:43 PM MST

The world has its counterfeits for faith. One way to decide what faith is, and why it is becoming so scarce in our world, is to first explore what it is not.

10 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

7 Roadblocks Keeping You from the True Power of Prayer

By Robert L. Millet

December 29, 2018 12:43 PM MST

There are certain roadblocks or barriers to communion with the Infinite, things that get in the way and prevent us from enjoying the kind of closeness with our Heavenly Father that we could have. We all could volunteer examples of such roadblocks. Let me suggest but a few.

7 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

What Latter-day Saints Believe About the Cross + Why We Don't Have It on Our Churches

By Robert L. Millet

August 29, 2018 05:08 PM MDT

Often I am asked why the Latter-day Saints do not believe in the saving efficacy of the cross, yet obviously we do. We proclaim, just as the apostle Paul did, “Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:2). It’s just that our belief in the power of the cross is not well known among traditional Christians. For example, a woman in Canada asked my friend Pastor Greg Johnson how he could have close association with me and other Latter-day Saints.

5 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

When My Deceased Father Helped Save My Wayward Son + How Angels Offer Help from Beyond the Veil

By Robert L. Millet

August 25, 2018 01:00 PM MDT

Answers to prayer usually come in quiet ways to mortals through the mediation of the Holy Spirit and through the intervention of other mortals. There are times, however, when God chooses to do the unusual—to give visions or dreams, to send angels from the courts of glory, in short, to minister to our needs in truly spectacular ways. Nephi explained that on certain occasions God “hath heard my cry by day, and he hath given me knowledge by visions in the nighttime. And by day have I waxed bold in mighty prayer before him; yea, my voice have I sent up on high; and angels came down and ministered unto me” (2 Nephi 4:23–24).

4 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

"What If the Church Isn't True?": After Receiving Hundreds of Anti-Mormon Pamphlets, How 2 Missionaries Renewed Their Faith

By Robert L. Millet

August 10, 2018 12:00 PM MDT

While serving as missionaries in the eastern states, my senior companion and I entered a town in New Jersey and began a systematic program of door-to-door contacting. We had not worked in the area for long before it became obvious that the local Protestant ministers had prepared their parishioners for our coming.

4 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

8 different meanings of Zion that Latter-day Saints believe in

By Robert L. Millet

July 24, 2018 01:07 PM MDT

As Latter-day Saints, we strive to build Zion on earth, but what does Zion really mean? Here are eight different meanings of Zion that can help you understand it better.

10 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

3 Vital Ways to Handle Difficult Questions About (and Opposition to) the Church

By Robert L. Millet

June 25, 2018 06:15 PM MDT

As we move closer and closer to the end of time, meaning the end of earth’s temporal existence, the forces of evil will be combined against the forces of good, particularly the Church of the Lamb of God. A proclamation issued by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in April 1845 includes these words: “As this work progresses in its onward course, and becomes more and more an object of political and religious interest and excitement, no king, ruler, or subject, no community or individual, will stand neutral. All will at length be influenced by one spirit or the other; and will take sides either for or against the kingdom of God.”

6 Min Read

Latter-day Saint Life

When Life Feels Out of Control: 4 Ways to Turn Our Burdens into Blessings

By Robert L. Millet

May 26, 2018 02:12 PM MDT

I knew one man who claimed that he would be perfect by the age of thirty. He set out on a deliberate program, organized his goals according to a ten-year, five-year, one-year, monthly, weekly, and daily plan. He pushed and pulled and stretched and reached spiritually, as much as any person I have known. But he was not perfect at thirty. You cannot force spiritual things. I am acquainted with a woman who announced to several of our friends that she would make her calling and election sure by the time she was fifty years old. She has been faithful in the Church. She has long since passed the age of fifty and is terribly discouraged because the goal of her existence, so far as she knows, has not been realized. You cannot force spiritual things.

16 Min Read