Elder F. Enzio Busche, 27 January 2001, BYU Studies Academy meeting

Elder Busche began by relating the key to making the gospel powerful in our lives: Humility. He spoke of having lived in humiliating circumstances---forced humility. He was drafted into the German Army at the age of fourteen, had very little education or access to academic things, and grew up with a poor vocabulary as a result.

Now that he is an emeritus General Authority he has some free time, so he is currently studying European History. He says he hears a lot of words but has trouble understanding the meaning behind them, so it is an in-depth study of European History. He is convinced there is a broad lack of understanding of true history today.

His calling into the First Quorum of Seventy was out of ignominy; his conversion to the Church was only possible because of the Spirit of the Lord. It is vital to learn how to ensure the Spirit in our lives.

There are marked similarities in the thinking and pronouncements by the leading intellectual philosophers of Europe at the time of the Restoration of the gospel. They were searching for the gospel, but did not know it. Socialism is not dead; there are socialist governments today [2001] in Germany, France, and Great Britain. They dream still today of a Utopia, of a "United Order," of wiping away human tears, but they don't know how to do it. They have given up on established religion. It is amazing to Elder Busche to see our missionaries knocking on doors in Europe and there is no interest in their message at all, to speak of. (Examples of European scholars whose thinking reflects gospel interest.)

When Joseph Smith speaks of knowledge he is speaking of it in a totally different way than the world speaks of it: his is not just brain knowledge, but revelation knowledge. Elder Busche spoke of being involved in the translation of the Church handbook into German, which later went into Russian. "I worry. I worry that we give a thick handbook to a new Russian branch president. They have been through bureaucracy and rules and procedures. I worry."

"Preach nothing but repentance" (see D&C 19:21; see also 5:19). Are we blind to the threat posed by psychiatry and psychology? Phrases like "biogenetic disposition" and "chemical imbalance" are common among our people, and are used as reasons---excuses really---for people's behavior. "Compulsive", "obsessive", "stop blaming yourself", "don't feed the guilt monster" all stop our members from repenting. We might be surprised to learn that no less a notable than Carl Jung said, "Ultimately every psychological problem comes down to a matter of religion."

The gospel of Jesus Christ is the only power to save and heal people of their psychological problems. Elder Busche emphasized that he is not saying psychology is wrong, but it goes unchecked, unchallenged by us. Elder Busche's son started to study psychology with a view to a career. He had to drop it; he found it incompatible with his core beliefs, found himself arguing with his professors. Is it possible for BYU to replace Freudian psychology with gospel understanding? Twenty percent of the U.S. population today is being treated for psychotic illness, mainly with drugs.

The future of the gospel in Germany: When we bring the true gospel message there---repent, repent, repent---we will have success in Germany. The present condition of society there is one of prosperity and social success, but the people are not happy. They need repentance desperately. (Account of Elder Busche's being in hospital in Germany recently: patient in next bed, grouchy, negative, asked why Elder Busche was so happy in his illness and pain. Elder Busche answered, "Because I have the gospel of Jesus Christ!" Elder Busche could see the effects of an unrepented life in that man, with his hidden pornographic magazines, and his negative attitude to everything. He told the man, "You need to repent. You need to change." But it is hard for them. We must show them how.)

There are some outstanding Latter-day Saints in Europe---mostly second-generation---but not enough of them. President Hinckley's contribution to bringing the Church out of obscurity---with his book and interviews with the New York Press Club, and so forth---is remarkable, but we are not yet good at presenting our message of repentance to the world. There are many great bookstores in the great cities of the world, with miles and miles of shelves full of books, and NONE on the Restoration of the gospel! Not even the Book of Mormon is there.

His testimony.