October 2026 General Conference › Talks › President D. Todd Christofferson
President D. Todd Christofferson
O Be Wise
First Presidency
In brief
President Christofferson takes up a subject he calls a duty to address: gambling. He describes how smartphones have turned it into a constant, private activity, cites survey figures showing especially heavy participation among teenage boys and young adults, and explains that the industry's revenue is gamblers' losses. Quoting President Oaks's question "Where will this lead?" and Paul's warning about becoming a stumbling block, he calls gambling morally wrong because it takes without giving, and pleads with members to refrain and use the time and money for good.
Themes in this talk
Number of coded passages from this talk in each theme.
Direct invitations
Sentences where the speaker directly invited, urged, asked or pleaded with us to act, in the exact words.
“my plea again is not only to refrain from gambling but to use the time and resources saved thereby for doing good”
“Today, I am pleading with all of us to live life on a higher plane.”
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Three short quizzes on what President Christofferson taught: easy for families and first-time listeners, medium for understanding, hard for careful study.
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Key passages
“the industry’s entire business model is built on its customers losing money”
“A little gambling that seemingly has only a minor impact in your life may be more costly to them if they take license from your example.”
Scripture referenced
- Jacob 2:7–9
- 1 Corinthians 8:9–11
- D&C 108:7
- Matthew 22:39
- D&C 58:27
- 3 Nephi 12:6
- Matthew 5:6
- Jacob 6:12
From the talk's official footnotes and in-text citations.