"President Ezra Taft Benson concerning this generation, ’Never before on the face of this earth have the forces of evil and the forces of good been so well organized… . While our generation will be comparable in wickedness to the days of Noah, when the Lord cleansed the earth by flood, there is a major difference this time: God has saved for the final inning some of His stronger and most valiant children, who will help bear off the kingdom triumphantly.’ Then, speaking to the youth, he said, ‘You are the generation that must be prepared to meet your God’ (Ensign, April 1987, p. 73).
"On another occasion, President Benson told the young men and the young women of the Church, ’You have been born at this time for a sacred and glorious purpose. It is not by chance that you have been reserved to come to earth in this last dispensation of the fulness of times. Your birth at this particular time was foreordained in the eternities. You are to be the royal army of the Lord in the last days. You are youth of the noble birthright. (Hymns, 1985, no. 255.)’ Speaking to the young men, he added: ’In the spiritual battles you are waging, I see you as today’s sons of Helaman…’ The stripling warriors of today, like those in times past, are strong largely because of what their mothers know and teach them, often without immediate evidence of the great lessons that are being woven into the fiber of their lives.
“With prophetic insight and concern for our time, President N. Eldon Tanner explained, ’The war which was begun in heaven is raging here upon the earth; two great forces of right and wrong are pitted against each other. It is important that we fight for the right. We must have well trained, disciplined, fearless, and loyal volunteers well equipped with the proper weapons of war and with a determination to win.’ Mothers participating in the training of this great volunteer force might more fully understand their influence for good while considering the words of the Apostle Paul to young Timothy: ’Call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also’ (”2 Tim. 1:52 Timothy 1:5). Did this not give Timothy a sense of who he was: his identity, his heredity, his birthright as a man of faith, a man of God? Was he not profoundly influenced by his mother and grandmother, women of faith, women of God? Did they realize the sacred trust and great responsibility that was theirs when Timothy was only a child? Did they know the great missionary he was to become, and recognize their part in his preparation?" (Ardeth Greene Kapp, What Latter-day Stripling Warriors Learn from Their Mothers, p. 17 - 18.)
David O. McKay
"I have read from the fifty-third chapter of Alma, which gives an account of young men who were exceedingly valiant for courage, for strength, and activity—men who were true at all times in whatsoever thing they were entrusted. Who were these young men? They were sons of parents who were equally true to every trust…2421I mention this because parenthood has much to do in inculcating courage and trustworthiness in children. The law of cause and effect is working in parenthood as it is in any other law of nature. There is a responsibility upon all, and especially upon fathers and mothers, to set examples to children and young people worthy of imitation. Parents must be sincere in upholding law and upholding the priesthood in their homes, that children may see a proper example. Respect for law and order, as charity, begins at home.
“2421These young men were true to every trust. They were men of integrity. I cannot think of anything which will contribute more to the establishing of law and order than for each individual to cherish integrity and honesty in his or her heart. Integrity, honesty—the Latter-day Saints stand for these fundamental principles. They are generally noted for their integrity and honesty, and it is with sorrow we receive the word, whenever it comes through the press or by voice, that one of the Latter-day Saints has failed in his obligation to trust.” (Conference Report, October 1927, p. 12.)