Talk: My Thoughts On “Alive in Christ” by President Oaks

Jacob Householder • May 17, 2026

Introduction (1.1 minutes)

I have good news and bad news. The good news for me is that I love public speaking. The bad news for you is that I’m not very good at it. Other good news for me is that I have a lot of time to fill. The bad news for you is that I can actually fill it.
Today I will speak on Peacemaking.
Two disclaimers:
- First, I use Artificial Intelligence constantly, but I did not use AI to write any portion of this talk. Every word has been prayerfully considered and refined. Secondly, I did not throw this talk together last night. I have been carefully pondering this topic for 15 years and began aggressively compiling these notes 3 weeks ago when Eric asked me to speak. I take this invitation to speak very seriously, and I consider the opportunity to speak on peacemaking a tremendous privilege and responsibility. I invite you to take this topic as seriously as I have.
- However, as carefully as I have crafted this talk, I am just a facilitator. The spirit is the real teacher and if you pay attention, he will plant thoughts in each of your minds that are far more customized than what I could possibly convey in [15] minutes.

Peacemaking (1.4 minutes)

In the Sermon on the Mount, Christ taught: “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” (Matthew 5:9)
In his recent address “Alive in Christ,” President Oaks said, “My brothers and sisters, as followers of Christ, let us follow Him by forgoing contention and by using the language and methods of peacemakers. In our families and other personal relationships, let us avoid what is harsh and hateful. Let us seek to be holy, like our Savior…”
Avoiding that which is harsh and hateful can be extremely difficult. We can either attempt to “white-knuckle it” and control our impulses, or we can learn some core doctrines that help us experience a paradigm shift, allowing a change in behavior to become natural as we experience a literal change in our natures through Christ’s atonement. Mastering “the language and methods of peacemakers” has been a goal and priority of mine for many years, and I’m eager to share some things I have learned that may enable us to become peacemakers, naturally.
I hope to use this time to explore what peacemaking is, what it is not, and how we can become peacemakers.

Motivations (3.7 minutes)

This is an extremely important topic to me. Although my career is currently in marketing and business consulting, I’m also building my dream career in civic education.
I spent years working for political think tanks and educational nonprofits. I ran for office during Covid when political tensions were extremely palpable and spent years working in extremely tribal environments with state level elected officials. I’ve been hired to manage the websites and marketing efforts of U.S. house and senate political campaigns in highly controversial races. I once found myself mediating a high stakes business conflict with millions of dollars on the line. I have close friends in countries like Israel, Iran, Palestine, Russia, Ukraine, India, and other countries experiencing serious political, religious, economic, and racial tensions. I have multiple friends who engage in international conflict resolution and genocide mitigation. My entire world feels immersed in situations that could hardly be described as peaceful, and the ability to navigate high stakes conflict in a Christlike way is quickly becoming one of the talents I most covet.
15 years ago, I began a serious study of the United States Constitution. After much fasting and prayer, I made the decision to drop out of high school to engage in full-time study of American History and the degradation of our political institutions. Among the many fascinating rabbit holes I suddenly had ample time to explore, was the topic of millennial government—a future era when Christ has returned and reigns as King over the whole earth. I wondered, what exactly does a millennial political kingdom of God actually look like? What political system best accommodates the role that Christ will play as King over the whole earth? What role will we play in that political system? Will we finally get rid of political parties? What should we be doing to prepare for that kind of a government? I often came across prophetic statements indicating that during the millennium, we will experience Zion.
- Moses 7:18 says, “And the Lord called his people Zion, because they were of one heart and one mind, and dwelt in righteousness; and there was no poor among them.”
Zion is a people of one heart and one mind. [Contrast that against the divided nation and world we now experience….] Our prophecies teach that in a future day, we will live in a millennial era of 1,000 years of peace, and my studies have convinced me that this period of peace with Christ as our Millennial King will start much sooner than most of us probably expect. So a lot needs to change in a relatively very short period of time. It might be easy to oversimplify the task at hand and assume, “There will finally be peace when all of our enemies are destroyed.” But is that really how God works? Do you really think that God believes the only thing preventing us from having peace is the fact that opposition exists? I’ve become convinced that millennial peace can be experienced in spite of opposition when we embrace some essential doctrines and principles.

Finding the Balance (2 minutes)

We have been taught, “For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another” (3 Nephi 11:29). However, we have also been taught that Captain Moroni—who aggressively fought for the liberty of his people in the Book of Mormon—was such an incredible example for us that [quote], “if all men had been, and were, and ever would be, like unto Moroni, behold, the very powers of hell would have been shaken forever; yea, the devil would never have power over the hearts of the children of men” [unquote] (Alma 48:17).
In order to avoid contention, many of us might mistakenly become pacifists and avoid conflict. On the other extreme, many of us interpret our anger as “righteous indignation” and justify our hate as “standing for the truth.”
Sometimes, good and evil are opposite ends of a spectrum and the more extreme you drift in one direction, the more good or evil you become.
- For example, love vs hate. Our goal shouldn’t be to strike a happy balance between love and hate by spending equal amounts of time loving and hating. Our goal should be to become extremely loving and charitable, and abandon hate completely.
Other times though, we need to hold two opposite things in balance and remain centered. In ancient Greek philosophy, the “Golden Mean” describes the desirable middle ground between two extremes. Jared Halverson calls this “proving contraries”—holding two opposite virtues in tension to keep us centered in the strait and narrow way.

Avoid Pacifism (2.7 minutes)

Pacifism is not peacemaking. Conflict avoidance is not peacemaking. Peace is far more than the mere absence of argument. In order to be a peace-“maker”, we need the courage and capacity go into situations that lack peace, and then create it. Peace-“making” is not conflict avoidance. Conflict avoidance is a cheap, immoral counterfeit to God’s plan.
Jesus Christ is rightfully called, “Our Prince of Peace.” However, in Matthew 10, the Savior said,
- Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
  And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. (Matthew 10:34-38)
John 7:43 tells us, “So there was a division among the people because of him.”
…So, what the heck does that mean?
How is it possible to call Jesus the “Prince of Peace” if he is causing such a divide among the people? Doesn’t peace require unity? One heart and mind, right?
In Ezra Taft Benson’s famous talk, Our Immediate Responsibility, he said:
- There are some who would have us believe that the final test of the rightness of a course is whether everyone is united on it. But the church does not seek unity, simply for unity’s sake. The unity for which the Lord prayed and which President McKay speaks is the only unity which God honors – that is, ‘unity in righteousness,’ unity in principle.
  We cannot compromise good and evil in an attempt to have peace and unity in the Church, any more than the Lord could have compromised with Satan in order to avoid the War in Heaven.
I will explain how to resolve this contrast later in this talk. For now, just recognize that pacifism is neglectful and extreme pacifism and indifference might be as immoral as hate (on the opposite side of the spectrum).

Avoid Hate (1.1 minutes)

The first great commandment is to love God. What’s the second? To be a member of a certain political party… (joke) I’m obviously kidding—I hope you recognize the irony in that joke (some of us might be making the mistake of assuming that “all good Mormons” need to belong to a certain political party, or elevate our political loyalties to be on par with or higher than our loyalty to God’s kingdom). Is the second great commandment to be “right” about how we should feel about a certain politician? No—but it sure seems that we sometimes we act like that’s the most important decision in the world.
When asked, “Master, which is the great commandment in the law?”, Christ said:
- Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
  This is the first and great commandment.
  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
The second great commandment is to love our neighbors as ourselves. We can’t do this when there is hate in our hearts.

Standing Up for What is Right, the Right Way (1.1 minutes)

The call to become a peacemaker is a call to action, not inaction. The invitation to follow Christ is an invitation to be both on the right side, and in the right way. As my aunt likes to say, “there’s a right way to be wrong, and a wrong way to be right.” My fear is that we are so focused on being “right,” about a thing, that we miss the importance of being “in the right way.”
In a recent argument where I felt right about a conclusion I was defending, I had the impression, “Be humble. You don’t know everything. And even if you did, it’s not enough to simply be right.” More important than being right about an argument is being in the right way with others.
How we argue might just be more important than what we argue about and which side we are on.

Charity (1.3 minutes)

Charity is the pure love of Christ. Jesus said:
- A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (John 13:34-35)
He also taught:
- Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven (Matthew 5:43-45)
In his most recent General Conference talk, “All Who Have Endured Valiantly”, Elder Bednar taught, “At a fundamental level, charity certainly includes acts of compassion, kindness, and generosity directed toward others. But at a higher and even holier level, charity is the very essence of the ‘end’ toward which we are enduring—becoming new creatures in Christ.”

My Experience with Charity (1.6 minutes)

Charity is a spiritual gift. It’s the manifestation and evidence of a change that happens in our very nature when we start to see others through God’s eyes.
Five years ago, I was praying to feel God’s love for me. I was going through a particularly difficult breakup and I realized I had been using relationships to fill a hole in my heart that only God could fill. I was suffering and wrote in my journal what I was feeling. In time, that prayer was answered and I had a scene come into my mind where I saw God talking with his best friend, describing with profound empathy all of the things I had written in my journal about my suffering. I felt God’s love in a way I had never felt before. Soon after, I saw that scene again, twice more. The first was for a dear friend of mine where I saw God describing the unknowable things she was going through, and in some small way, I felt God’s indescribable love for her. Next, I saw God weeping as he talked with his friend about a certain person who I struggle to like and He felt the things weighing on that person’s heart. That day, I felt God’s love for this person, and I learned to love them too, because I began to see them through God’s eyes.

Applying Charity (0.7 minutes)

All human beings are beloved children of God. And when we start to see them through His eyes, it literally changes us. It begins to make sense how Christ could heal the ear of the soldier who was illegally arresting him.
True followers of Christ desire to have godly love for everyone, even their adversaries.
Do you treat your enemies with charity? Could you share your testimony with an adversary after an interaction with them? Not a condemning testimony, but a truly sincere, friendly invitation.
Peacemaking becomes a natural reflex as we become filled with charity.

External Peace vs Inner Peace (2.3 minutes)

Christ says, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27).
So what is Christ’s version of peace and how is that different than what the world offers? President Ezra Taft Benson said, “The Lord works from the inside out. The world works from the outside in. The world would take people out of the slums. Christ takes the slums out of people, and then they take themselves out of the slums. The world would mold men by changing their environment. Christ changes men, who then change their environment. The world would shape human behavior, but Christ can change human nature.”
President Benson also said, “Christ changes men, and changed men can change the world.”
The world says we can’t have peace until all of the problems are gone. Christ can bring us internal peace in the midst of the storm, and that increases our capacity to solve the problems of the world. This inner peace enables us to become peacemakers externally. We can’t create external peace until we have first obtained inner peace. Seek first Christ then you’re able to lift others.
What exactly is inner peace? Maybe its a profound confidence that everything will be okay, that our pain will be but a small moment.
Marion G. Romney in his talk “The Perfect Law of Liberty” describes this inner peace as “liberty of the soul”—a sense of hope and relative calmness that prevails over disappointment and pain.
It gives us the confidence of Esther who said, “If I perish, I perish.” It’s the kind of peace that caused the burdens which were placed upon Alma and his brethren to be made light.
Christ can take our hearts at war and turn them into hearts at peace, just like the renowned Muslim general Saladin during the Crusades.

Patience and Long-Suffering (1.5 minutes)

Do you give up on people easily? Do you break off friendships and associations because of a single disagreement? Do you have relational resilience? Do you look for ways your adversary is correct so you can build bridges? Or do you choose the easy path of focusing on the ways you believe they are wrong?
Approach conflict with curiosity. Not, “How are they wrong,” but rather, “How can they be right?” You might learn something.
We all believe things that are not true about things that really matter. And unfortunately, sometimes people we don’t like will have really helpful feedback for us. Pride would prevent us from accepting that feedback. But charity will help you have the resilience to hear hard things and recognize ways you need to change, even when it comes from an “adversary.”
Have patience with those who you are convinced are wrong. If you were raised how they were raised and experienced what they have experienced, you would probably believe and act the same.

Forgiveness (1.8 minutes)

Mormon wrote:
- For behold, the same that judgeth rashly shall be judged rashly again; for according to his works shall his wages be; therefore, he that smiteth shall be smitten again, of the Lord.
  Behold what the scripture says—man shall not smite, neither shall he judge; for judgment is mine, saith the Lord, and vengeance is mine also, and I will repay. (Mormon 8:19-20)
We might feel justified when we allow our immense compassion for victims to fuel our intense hate for the perpetrators. But Christ requires us to forgive.
Who do you need to forgive? Who is your heart at war with? Do you celebrate when people you consider to be wicked die or suffer?
Christ said, “I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men” (D&C 64:10).
If you find yourself holding grudges, struggling to forgive, or being highly judgmental and critical of others, I strongly recommend the book “The Peace Giver.” Frankly, you will probably see how fallen each of us are and realize that in our own state of imperfection, we have no moral authority or right to demand anything of others.

Practical Advice (1 minute)

Here’s some practical advice:
- Having a heart at peace will insulate you from the overpowering anger that might otherwise consume you.
- It’s not our role to change and fix other people unless they invite our feedback. Remember, we all have motes and beams.
- Pay attention when the spirit says, “Don’t post that comment. Dont like that reel. Don’t argue with that person. It won’t be productive.”
If you believe you have a message that matters, you’ll keep the relationship safe so you have time to share it. The problem isn’t that we disagree—the problem is that we give up on relationships too quickly and cut off communication prematurely. Persuasion cannot happen without meekness and longsuffering. If we have inner peace and prioritize building long-term relationships with others, the conversations will last long enough for us to eventually come to have one heart and one mind.

Conclusion (0.7 minutes)

If you have a heart at peace, God will put you in the rooms where decisions are made. He will send you opportunities to influence the destinies of lives and nations.
Become a champion of peacemaking. Don’t just change your behavior. Embrace a full paradigm shift. Experience a change of your nature. And then lead others to become peacemakers as well.
I testify that Christ can change our natures, bring us inner peace, and empower us to make peace in this world. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.