We cannot understand the power of grace without connecting it with charity.  The selfishness of Babylon must give way to the selflessness of Zion in order that Zionlike attributes might be established in a covenant person. The spirit of charitable service cannot be mandated; that spirit is a condition of the heart that motivates a person to care for and lift another. No wonder, then, that Zion is described as having no poverty of any kind.

Zion people can neither tolerate lack nor endure poverty among them. They attack misery wherever they find it. They abolish every form of scarcity, hurt, impairment, injustice, illness, and sorrow. They think of their brethren like unto themselves, and they are familiar with all and free with their substance, that others might be rich like unto themselves.^[i] Therefore, they insist on having “all things common among them; therefore there [are] not rich and poor, bond and free, but they [are] all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift.” Consequently, there never could be a happier people.^[ii]

Zion people “love one another and serve one another.” They “succor those that stand in need of [their] succor,” and they “administer of [their] substance unto him that standeth in need.” They “will not suffer that the beggar [put] up his petition to [them] in vain, and turn him out to perish.”^[iii] Zion people “bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light,” and they “are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort.”^[iv]

King Benjamin pointed out that some blessings can only flow from charitable service. For example, as we have mentioned, charitable service allows us to retain “a remission of [our] sins from day to day, that [we] may walk guiltless before God.” Therefore, King Benjamin exhorted us, “I would that ye should impart of your substance to the poor, every man according to that which he hath, such as feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, visiting the sick and administering to their relief, both spiritually and temporally, according to their wants.”^[v] And of course, the astonishing statement regarding service: “When ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God.”^[vi]

In Doctrine and Covenants 42, “the law of the Church,” we read the following verse: “For inasmuch as ye do it unto the least of these, ye do it unto me.”^[vii] The implication is intriguing. Because God lacks for nothing and is in no need of our service to him, he passes on our desire to serve him to his children, who do need our help. As we transfer our service from him to his children, he does not forget our expression of love for him. He counts our service to his children as service to him, and he rewards us accordingly.

Now comes an interesting gospel phenomenon. God accepts our service as would a debtor, and, of course, God can be in debt to no one. Therefore, to arrest any hint of debt or imbalance in the checks and balances of heaven, God quickly erases any claim by immediately blessing us in excess of our service: “He doth immediately bless [us]; and therefore he hath paid [us]. And [we] are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever.”^[viii] On the subject of service alone, we live forever in his debt. We are always awarded more blessings than we expend in service, and for that reason we are gratefully “unprofitable servants.”^[ix]

Grace to Grace by Grace for Grace

It is upon the principle of giving charitable service that we progress toward perfection. According to John the Baptist’s testimony, Jesus progressed in this manner. John employed the word grace to explain this principle of progression: “And I, John, saw that he received not of the fulness at first, but received grace for grace. And he received not of the fulness at first, but continued from grace to grace, until he received a fulness.”^[x] In other words, Jesus grew in grace (light, truth, power, and perfection) by giving grace (service and blessings to others). Likewise, we progress from one grace to another by giving grace to others.

Progressing grace to grace by giving grace for grace!

Commenting, the Lord states: “For if you keep my commandments you shall receive of his fulness, and be glorified in me as I am in the Father; therefore, I say unto you, you shall receive grace for grace.”^[xi]

Lacking for Nothing

The above definitions of grace are in addition to the common definition: the Lord’s help, strength, or enabling power.^[xii] Jesus’ grace is ever evident in the unequalled service that he proffers. Here is a formula for receiving his help or grace: We come unto Christ in humility and faith, having done all we can do,^[xiii] and then he makes up the difference. Consequently, we will never lack while as charitably serve the Lord’s children. In this principle, we again hear overtones of Zion: no lack and divine help to accomplish the Lord’s work.

Pertaining to the concept of no lack, we recall again the Lord’s abundant grace to the wandering Israelites, as recorded by the prophet Nehemiah:

This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations; Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go. Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, [so that] they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.^[xiv]

The Lord never forsook them. He was with them both day and night. He constantly instructed them. He provided manna and water to sustain them. For four decades of wandering, they lacked nothing! Amazingly, neither their clothing nor their shoes wore out. The Israelites experienced the Lord’s grace.

We see these two elements of grace—no lack and divine help—in an incident in the Savior’s life. Just before Jesus entered Gethsemane, he reminded his apostles of their early missions when he had purposely placed them in a condition of lack by sending them out with neither purse nor scrip. He had expected them to give grace (charitable service) by means of his grace, that is, by relying completely on him and on nothing else. Now he asked them, “When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing.”^[xv]

They needed to internalize this lesson in order to continue giving service throughout their lives. From that experience of intentional privation, they had learned that what had initially appeared to be a condition of lack was not one after all; the Lord had provided his grace (divine help) to sustain them in proportion to the grace (service) they proffered to the people.

The situation had been carefully orchestrated by the Lord to teach them to trust him while they served. The apostles needed to learn that the Lord could through his grace multiply the effects of their service and produce incredible blessings of sustenance for the people (think of feeding the five thousand and the four thousand), and they also needed to learn that by serving they would never lack. To accomplish their future missions, the apostles needed firsthand experience to see if the Lord would be true to his promise. Without his grace, they could neither survive nor gain the necessary power to fulfill their callings.

Similarly, we need experience with the Lord and the principles that govern charitable service. For example, we need to internalize the fact that the Lord’s way of resolving our lack is by our giving charitable service: as we give grace, we receive grace. That is the formula. When we experience a lack of something, we can go to the Lord and he will take care of us in proportion to how we take care of his children.

If Any of You Lack

James, the Lord’s brother, offered a solution for those of us who lack anything: “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not, and it shall be given him.”^[xvi] Personalized, this scripture could read: “If I lack anything, I can ask of God, who will give to me abundantly, and he will never chastise me for having asked for his help. Instead, he will help me.” This is the promise of grace!

Grace allows our lack to be swallowed up in Christ’s abundance. We come unto him in humility and faith, we do all we can do, which must include offering charitable service, and then we have the assurance that he will make up the difference. By living this principle, we never need lack for anything. Our lack might include any physical, emotional, or spiritual deficit. Also, we might experience lack when we minister to the Lord’s children. In any of these situations, when we experience lack and attempt to remedy the situation, we almost certainly will come up short; that is the condition of mortality. But because we have a covenant relationship with the Lord, we can “ask of God” to draw upon his resources and power, and he promises to give to us liberally. If we employ this principle and promise as we minister to his children, neither they nor we will ever lack.

On two remarkable occasions, the apostles experienced the Lord’s grace when they came up short in attempting to minister to people who lacked something. These occasions were when Jesus fed the five thousand and later the four thousand.^[xvii] In each case, hungry people were in immediate need of help, and the apostles could manage only scant resources. Jesus’ response was identical in both cases:

Bring all that you have or your best effort to me; I will bless it; and you will have enough to feed the people until they are filled. Then, when it is your turn to eat, you will also have enough. In fact, you will have more than you started with. Your responsibility is to feed my sheep, not to worry about having enough. Just go forth and minister, and I will multiply your efforts so that you never lack.

When we go to the Savior for his grace, we will not encounter someone who is lacking in grace. The Savior is full of grace.^[xviii] We can also obtain a fulness of grace the same way the Savior did: by extending grace to others. We grow in our capacity to give grace by covenanting to consecrate all that we are and have, taking our best offering to the Lord for his blessing, then going forth in faith to feed the Lord’s sheep. In return, he multiplies our efforts and resources, and thus provides us more grace to give away. It is a formula that applies to other gospel principles: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”^[xix] We could say, “Blessed are those who extend grace, for they shall obtain more grace.”

For instance, if we were given a kernel of corn and ate it, the kernel would be gone forever. But if we were to plant the kernel and nourish it, the kernel would soon grow into a stalk with several ears and many kernels. Then, if we were to eat just a few of the kernels and plant the rest, the kernels would become a field of corn and a huge harvest. And it all began with a single kernel!

As we humbly seek and receive the Lord’s grace, then extend that grace to others, the Lord will give us more grace, and the cycle of receiving and giving will continue until we are filled with grace. If we do not stop the cycle by hoarding the Lord’s blessings, we will grow from grace to grace by giving grace for the grace until we are perfected by grace. Elder Boyd K. Packer said, “As you give what you have, there is a replacement, with increase!”^[xx] Of charitable service, President Gordon B. Hinckley promised that we cannot extend merciful blessings to God’s children and not experience a harvest of merciful blessings in return.^[xxi] We can readily see how giving and receiving grace provides for the condition of no poor among us.

Author’s Note

This article was adapted from my new book, The Three Pillars of Zion. Click here to receive a free sample.

[ii] 4 Nephi 1:3, 16.

[iii] Mosiah 4:15–16.

[iv] Mosiah 18:8–9.

[v] Mosiah 4:26.

[vi] Mosiah 2:17.

[vii] D&C 42:38.

[viii] Mosiah 2:24.

[ix] Mosiah 2:21.

[x] D&C 93:12–13; emphasis added.

[xi] D&C 93:20; emphasis added.

[xii] LDS Bible Dictionary, s.v. “Grace,” 697.

[xiii] 2 Nephi 25:23: “for we know that it is by grace that we are saved [helped], after all we can do.”

[xiv] Nehemiah 9:18–21; emphasis added.

[xv] Luke 22:35.

[xvi] James 1:5; emphasis added.

[xvii] Mark 6:35–44; 1–9.

[xviii] D&C 93:11.

[xix] Matthew 5:7.

[xx] Packer, “The Candle of the Lord,” January 1983, 54–55.

[xxi] Hinckley, “Blessed Are the Merciful,” May 1990, 68.

We cannot read the scriptures, especially latter-day scriptures, and avoid personal responsibility for becoming Zion people. Without reservation, our obligation is to accept every revealed Zion principle and put it into practice. To that end, President Benson laid the obligation of becoming Zion squarely on our shoulders. Zion, the priesthood society, he said, can only be brought about by Zion people. As more and more of us decide to embrace the principles of Zion, he said, the celestial order will finally exist among us, then we, individually and collectively, will be prepared to receive the Lord.

Zion is the standard among celestial and celestial-seeking beings. The celestial condition of Zion is the exact opposite of the telestial condition of Babylon; therefore, we are constantly faced with choosing between the two. We cannot have it both ways. Let us examine the Zion way of obtaining safety and security.

The Law of Restoration

Zion’s abundance flows from the law of restoration. This law becomes operational when we enter into the new and everlasting covenant at baptism, and the law reaches its zenith in the resurrection. Joseph Smith taught to the degree that we have sacrificed, suffered or been opposed or denied, we shall be restored. In fact, the Lord promised that we would be restored an hundredfold: “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.”

The promise of hundredfold restoration is repeated so often in the scriptures that we are obligated to consider it as literal. The apostle Paul wrote, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

Here is how the law of restoration might work. Imagine sacrificing $10,000 to help a needy friend. Most of us would feel the acute sting of such a sacrifice. But suppose that the Lord were to restore to us $1,000,000. Suddenly, the $10,000 would become a non-issue. Herein is a key to Zion’s abundance.

Struggling with Zion and Babylon Principles

In a telestial world, especially one in which the philosophies of Babylon enjoy almost free reign, we struggle when we are confronted with celestial laws. Giving our way to prosperity is an example. We can point to nothing in our environment that suggests this law will work. In Babylon, we can no more make sense of less is more than we can of walking on water. So how do we square with the idea that giving away our time, talents and resources is the only way to achieve the unequalled prosperity of Zion and ultimately an inheritance in the celestial world?

Clearly, we must rely on the prophets to articulate celestial laws. Following is how King Benjamin summed up the law of restoration:

And behold, all that [God] requires of you is to keep his commandments; and he has promised you that if ye would keep his commandments ye should prosper in the land; and he never doth vary from that which he hath said; therefore, if ye do keep his commandments he doth bless you and prosper you. And now, in the first place, he hath created you, and granted unto you your lives, for which ye are indebted unto him. And secondly, he doth require that ye should do as he hath commanded you; for which if ye do, he doth immediately bless you; and therefore he hath paid you; and therefore he hath paid you. And ye are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever; therefore, of what have ye to boast?

Here is how we might portray the celestial law of restoration as it applies to Zion’s condition of abundance and prosperity:

• Our love of God motivates us to seek to serve him.
• Because God is not in need, he immediately asks us to transfer our service to his suffering or needy children.
• When we do what God asks of us, he accepts our sacrifice “unto the least of these” as if we had done it unto him.
• Our sacrifice creates something akin to a credit in our favor, which credit demands payment.
• God gladly assumes this obligation, which is actually an opportunity to bless us. He rewards us for our service: first, because he loves us; second, because we have obeyed the law upon which the blessing is predicated, and third, because our service has created an implied celestial deficit that needs correcting.
• Because God will not and cannot remain in a real or implied deficit position, “he doth immediately bless [us]; and therefore he hath paid [us]. And [we] are still indebted unto him, and are, and will be, forever and ever.”
• What is the result? We live forever in the condition of divine debt-celestial debt-debt that is structured so that we can receive an abundance of blessings.

This is the hundredfold principle. We are always rewarded beyond our sacrifice. God overpays his obligations, and therefore we find ourselves eternally indebted to him and we always enjoy an abundance of blessings.

New Math

We cannot make sense of the law of restoration or the hundredfold law for an obvious reason: the math doesn’t work. Let’s take the law of tithing, as an example. In the telestial world, ten minus one equals nine; but in the celestial world, because we are dealing with a celestial law and celestial math, ten minus one can equal eleven or fifteen or fifty or “an hundredfold.” But never nine!

For instance, in past articles we have cited the example of the kernel of corn. Given the choice of planting or eating it, we chose the Zion way of faith and planted it; that is, we gave it away. Our faith increased when we observed our seed grow into a stalk with several ears of corn. Now we had another choice: eat the ears of corn or plant (give away) the kernels. Once again, we applied the Zion principle of exercising faith and planting. Now the result of our faith and sacrifice was a great harvest-all from a single kernel.  Elder Boyd K. Packer said, “As you give what you have, there is a replacement, with increase!” This in the hundredfold law: a most important principle of Zion that lends to safety, security and abundance.

What Doth It Profit to Cling to Our Stuff?

True safety and prosperity are only found in making the sacrifice of all things through consecration and by following Christ. Jesus sounded a warning against our tendency to step into the snare of the love of money: “For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”

When a wealthy young man went away sorrowing after having received the Lord’s answer regarding the price of becoming perfect, Jesus turned to his disciples and said, “A rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven.” Imbedded in the Lord’s explanation is an introduction to the law of consecration, which is founded on the law of restoration. This law is our safety net from the preoccupation of wealth, and it is a key to our becoming perfect.

To the rich young man, the Lord said, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor.” Although the rich man was clearly a good man, who had lived the commandments, he could not bring himself to accept the law of consecration, which would have covered him in safety and security, and would have opened the door to perfection. Truly, it is hard for a rich man-or for that matter, a proud, selfish, power-hungry, recognition-seeking man-to lay aside the things of this world and still achieve heaven.

Safety and Perfection in Consecration

We learn several important principles of Zion from the incident of the Savior and the rich young man:

1)     Perfection hinges, not on living the commandments alone, but on living the Law of consecration.

2)     The ultimate test of discipleship is the Law of consecration.

3)     The law of consecration was instituted, in part, for our safety, because pursuing and hoarding wealth can result in the loss of exaltation.

4)     The law of consecration is hard to live, but it is harder for a rich man.

5)     Only divine intervention can save the rich, who are those who have too much of what they do not need or deserve, but that intervention is not necessarily guaranteed.

6)     Consecrating our excess to the poor tends to stockpile treasure in heaven, where treasure is needed.

7)     The law of consecration makes us truly safe and secure. The Lord invited the rich young man to “come and follow me,” which implies true safety. If we are with the Lord, we are safe.

8)     Consecrated sacrifices earn “an hundredfold” return. If that is true, the rich young man would have received hundredfold more blessings than he sacrificed to bless the poor, and in the process of giving, the Lord would have kept the young man safe; he would have achieved perfection, and he would have earned eternal life.

Thus sang the psalmist: “Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies. The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness.” Deliverance, preservation, safety, blessings, protection, strength, and health-these are the blessings of consecration.

The Hundredfold Law

The incident of the rich young man disturbed the apostles so much that they began to search their souls. Evidently, they wondered if they had fully complied with the laws of sacrifice and consecration so that they might obtain eternal life. Jesus offered them an astonishing promise: “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.” Here the Lord makes two divine promises connected with consecration: 1) an hundredfold return, and 2) the promise of eternal life. Those who live this celestial law will be blessed a hundred times their sacrifice, and they will inherit exaltation!

Whatever we give the Lord in service to his kingdom, his children, or in personal sacrifice are restored to us “an hundredfold.” That is the celestial law of Zion. Jesus’ apostles had firsthand experience with the hundredfold law on at least two occasions: first, when Jesus fed the five thousand and second when he fed the four thousand. Each time, Jesus required the apostles to bring (consecrate) all that they could to the Lord. Then when Jesus blessed their offering, the resource multiplied and fed many.

Of significance, in each instance, Jesus instructed the apostles to gather up the fragments and take note of the resulting quantity. Amazingly, the five loaves and two fishes had not only fed thousands, the fragments now filled twelve baskets! An hundredfold return!

The laws of restoration, consecration and the hundredfold law are celestial laws that we must live by faith in a telestial world. When we sacrifice and consecrate our time, talents and resources to build the Kingdom of God, to promote the cause of Zion, and to bless the lives of others, we invoke these celestial laws of abundance upon which Zion people and a Zion priesthood society are built. What the Lord said to his disciples, he repeats to us: “freely ye have received, freely give”; “feed my lambs…feed my sheep.”

Of the “many” who are called to eternal life, only a “few” will actually achieve it, and when they do it will be because they made a consecrated effort, allowing the law of restoration to engage, which triggered the powers of earth and heaven to work together to return an hundredfold reward and the promise of eternal life.

Author’s Note

This article was adapted from The Three Pillars of Zion. You may receive a free sample at www.PillarsOfZion.com.

Brigham Young, Discourses of Brigham Young, p.118

See Matthew Cowley, Matthew Cowley Speaks, p.30

See Ezra Taft Benson, “Jesus Christ-Gifts and Expectations,” New Era, May 1975

D&C 105:5

See Hugh Nibley, Approaching Zion, p.30

Joseph Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p.296

Matthew 19:29

1 Corinthians 2:9

Mosiah 2:22-24

See D&C 42:38

See D&C 130:21

We are tempted to describe abundance in terms of finances, and it can certainly include such blessings; but abundance and prosperity more often refer to blessings that lend to safety, security and an outpouring of divine favor.

See Gen 26:12; 2 Samuel 24:3; Matthew 13:8-23;19:29; Mark 10:30; Luke 8:8; D&C 98:25; 132:55

Boyd K. Packer, “The Candle of the Lord,” Ensign, January 1983

Matthew 16:26

Matthew 19:23

Matthew 19:21

Psalms 41:1-3

Matthew 19:29

See Matthew 19:16-30

See Mark 6:35-44 and Mark 8:1-9

See Mark 6:35-44

Matthew 10:8;

John 21:15-16

When I think back over the last three years, I wonder how anyone could have survived such an ordeal. In July 2006, Matt’s kidney failed. He only had one-mine. I had donated it to him in 1990 when both of his kidneys abruptly failed. He was only fifteen. Now he had carried around my kidney for 16 years, and it was getting old and sick. Matt had been nursing it along for the last year. The doctors had ordered several ultrasounds, and each time they had seen a couple of troubling spots, but the biopsies had come back negative. No cancer…or so we supposed.

To complicate things, Matt was born with severe hemophilia, a bleeding disorder that prevents his blood from coagulating. Because hemophiliacs hemorrhage into joints, and because blood acts like an acid on joints, causing arthritis, both of Matt’s ankles have been fused. Perhaps worse, over the years that he had received blood products to coagulate his blood, he had become infected with hepatitis C. When the doctors prescribed Interferon to clear the disease from his liver, they informed him that the Interferon could kill his kidney. Even then, they only gave him a 20 percent chance that the treatment would arrest the hepatitis.

Faced with two impossible choices, Matt chose a third alternative: Turn it over to God. That is the way he has always handled things. His faith would sustain him, but little did we know that he was about to enter the worst set of trials of his life. Matt calls it his crucible.

Remembering the First Kidney Transplant

Today is March 5, 2009. Tomorrow morning, my wife, Buffie, and I had planned to arise at 4:30 so that we could be at University Hospital in Salt Lake City for Matt’s kidney transplant. Our son-in-law, Ryan, was scheduled to be the donor. Ryan was the last of a long list of potential donors, who, over the past ten months, were cancelled out for one reason or another. Buffie and I would have been accompanied at the hospital by our daughter, Lindsay, who is Ryan’s wife, Kristin, who is Matt’s wife, and Ryan’s parents, Lee and Tani.

The last few days have filled me with emotional memories. When I donated a kidney to Matt in 1990, I thought I was pretty tough. Then when the day came to check into the hospital, I fell apart. I was scared. Tears came easily, and I was embarrassed. A few days ago, Ryan asked me some questions about the upcoming operation, and soon he had to stand up and leave the room. Lindsay asked me to stop explaining.

My donating a kidney totally changed my life. On one occasion I told Ryan that being a donor is an experience that I would not deny anyone, especially a man. Whereas a woman can give birth, the experience of giving life escapes a man. When his wife is giving birth, he might appreciate what is happening, but he cannot quite understand the miracle that his wife is experiencing.

To give of your body so that someone might live approximates the Atonement. Donating a body part is as though the testimony of the Atonement is being carved into your being. Suddenly, the Atonement is no longer theoretical. In a very real way, the Atonement is part of you. You gain an in-depth appreciation of the Savior that you might not achieve otherwise, not even through temple proxy work. You can never look at people the same way. The entire focus of your life changes. Being a donor defines your life. It is never forgotten by the family. It becomes part of the family’s heritage. The blessings seem to redound to other family members and everyone who is touched by the event.

Ryan is our latest hero. Our other children who also tried to be donors are heroes: Gavon, Rebecca, Katie and Justin. The friends who stepped forward are heroes, too. It is no more possible to express our gratitude to them for trying to save our son’s life than to express gratitude to the Savior for saving our eternal lives. All of them understand something about the Savior that they never knew before, and they are forever changed.

The Crucible

In the summer of 2006, Matt was in and out of the hospital repeatedly. He was experiencing kidney failure, but some of his symptoms were atypical. But because he was growing worse, the doctors determined to remove the failing kidney, which they usually don’t do. Perhaps the Interferon to clear the hepatitis from the liver was the culprit. Even after the kidney was removed, Matt’s symptoms persisted which was a mystery to the doctors.
Matt began dialysis. We hoped it would be a temporary fix until he could receive a transplant in a couple of months. Little did we know that he would spend the next 2 ½ years confined to a dialysis chair–four hours a day, three times a week. During those years he would forget what it felt like to feel well. Whereas a kidney will completely clean the entire blood supply every 1-2 minutes, dialysis cleans the blood supply with 30% efficiency every two days. The buildup of toxins leaves a dialysis patient constantly exhausted and often feeling sick.

If hepatitis, kidney failure and dialysis weren’t big enough bombshells, the next piece of news was. When the doctors removed the kidney from Matt’s body, they discovered that it was cancerous after all-renal cell carcinoma, a very deadly cancer. More tests would be required to see if the cancer had spread. If it had, it would most certainly kill him. The initial results were promising, but to make sure, Matt would have to remain on dialysis for at least two years, long enough to rule out any possibility that the cancer would return. If the doctors decided to immediately give Matt another kidney, his immune system would have to be suppressed so that he would not reject the kidney. If there was even a trace of cancer in his system, his suppressed immune system would not be able to fight back, and the cancer would quickly overwhelm him.

But there was more bad news to come. Matt’s health continued to spiral downward, and trips to the emergency room became a normal occurrence. Buffie and I shuddered every time the phone rang in the middle of the night. To allow Kristin to stay at home with their three little girls, I became the driver. Typically, we would end up at University Hospital, some 40 miles north of us, where Matt’s specialists were located.

By August, we were becoming more and more concerned for Matt’s life. Due to respiratory failure, which he would experience again, he was in Intensive Care on a ventilator in an induced coma. One day, after prayer and contemplation, Buffie came to me and said, “I think Matt has West Nile Virus.” She was so certain that she insisted that he press the doctors to begin testing. The doctors reacted with skepticism, but agreed to test. What could it hurt to check it out? They learned a lesson that I learned early in my marriage-Believe a mother’s feelings. Sure enough, Buffie had been right; the tests came back positive. The doctors discovered that Matt had been suffering with West Nile Virus for at least three months. That had been the cause of his illness, not kidney failure.

Suddenly, we realized that a strange miracle had occurred. If Matt hadn’t contracted West Nile Virus, which had caused the symptoms that prompted the doctors to remove Matt’s kidney in the first place, the cancerous kidney would still be in him. It is rare for doctors to remove a failing kidney. They would rather keep it in and avoid another surgery, especially in a hemophilia patient. If the kidney had remained, the cancer would have spread, hastened by the transplant, and before anyone could have diagnosed the cancer it would have been too late. Therefore, in a remarkable set of circumstances, God had preserved Matt’s life with the West Nile Virus!

I would like to report that Matt and Kristin sailed through these adversities without a hiccup in their faith. But that would not be true. Even Job and Joseph Smith suffered lapses when the crush of adversity became overwhelming. Matt reminds me that most of the book on 1 Nephi is about the journey and not about arriving. But each time they have been beaten down, they have somehow found a way to get back up, find their way back to God and try again. Despite what they are feeling inside, they exhibit faith in public, and that is why they continue to inspire people who are also carrying tremendous loads. It is okay to hurt; it is okay to lapse; it is just not okay to abandon God or accuse him.

Other Miracles

Matt is no stranger to miracles. When he was twelve, I was impressed that he needed a special priesthood blessing. We had been hearing about a strange new virus called HIV that might be infecting the blood pool from which the clotting factor for hemophiliacs was manufactured. In Matt’s blessing, he was promised protection and a long life. He needed that protection. Late one night, Buffie and I received an urgent call from the pharmaceutical company that the batch of medicine we had on hand was contaminated with HIV. We had given Matt an infusion from that batch only hours earlier.

A few years later, we came to more fully appreciate the power of that priesthood blessing. During the 1980s, some 95% of hemophiliac boys were infected with HIV and many died of AIDS. Buffie’s cousin was one of the casualties. Almost an entire generation of hemophiliac males was wiped out within a matter of years by their simply taking medicine. But Matt was spared. His case was so remarkable that the doctors asked for a blood sample for research. There was no question that Matt had been exposed to HIV multiple times, but he never tested positive for the antibody. The doctors couldn’t figure out why, but we knew. You can’t see a priesthood blessing under a microscope.

Matt was the recipient of another set of miracles in 1990, when he needed his first kidney transplant. During that time, Buffie and I were testing to see who could donate, when I was abruptly cancelled out. This troubled me because six months before Matt’s kidneys failed I had received a strange impression that I would someday donate a kidney. The reason for my being canceled out was because I had nearly died of nephritis when I was eleven. Nephritis is a complication of strep throat that attacks kidneys. The doctors told me that my kidneys were likely damaged and I couldn’t donate. I took my concern to the Lord, and felt an impression to go to my bishop, ask for a blessing, and my kidneys would be fine.

After the blessing, I begged the doctors to reconsider. When they finally consented, they discovered that my kidneys were perfect. I became the first nephritis patient to ever donate a kidney, and Matt was only the second hemophiliac to receive a kidney transplant. We were so rare that our case was written up in a medical journal.

Matt’s miracles would continue. Early in their marriage, Matt and Kristin discovered that they could not conceive children. On the fertility scale, Matt was almost non-existent. To complicate things, Kristin was suffering with endometriosis that eventually cost her one ovary and almost the second. To save the remaining damaged ovary, the surgeon scraped and wrapped it in gauze and hoped for the best. After the surgery, Kristin was given Lupron, a drug to arrest the endometriosis by sending her into temporary menopause.
The combination of the operation and the sudden cessation of hormones caused her to become sick and put on weight, cruelly mimicking pregnancy. Worse, she developed a large stomach obtrusion that the doctors feared was a tumor. Almost seven months into the treatment, the doctors ordered an ultrasound that the lump was not a tumor, but a baby! A previous priesthood blessing had guaranteed Matt and Kristin would have children. Once again, we experienced the unequalled power of the priesthood. But the miracles didn’t stop there. Now they have one adopted daughter and two natural daughters-from parents who were physically incapable of having children.

The Price of Blessings

Of course, all blessings come with a price. Matt was now dealing with hepatitis C, renal cell carcinoma, dialysis, and West Nile Virus, and of course his ongoing hemophilia. I remember the words of an early priesthood blessing, one of many that would follow. The language compared Matt’s ordeal to stepping into a fiery furnace, as did the three Hebrew youths. He was promised, as were they, that one day he would emerge from the furnace without even the smell of smoke on his clothes. Until then, the Lord would stand with him in the furnace and protect him. From that point forward, he has lived from prayer to prayer, fast to fast, and blessing to blessing. Nothing except the intervention of God could have seen him through.

Now the fun began. The West Nile Virus sapped Matt’s energy. He began to go downhill fast. During those months, he hadn’t the strength to climb a set of stairs to his bedroom. He would spend hours, sitting in his front room, staring out the window at people living their lives normally, and wondering what it would feel like to walk to the mailbox and retrieve the mail. Twice, Matt became so weak that he felt his spirit try to separate from his body. He would struggle to hang on, knowing that if he relaxed he would be gone. He experienced fainting spells. He labored to get enough oxygen in his lungs. Twice, he went into respiratory failure, and he was placed on a ventilator in an induced coma.

I lost count of how many times I rushed him to the emergency room. Once, I rushed to his home, only to find him losing consciousness. He looked at me hopelessly, and said, “I can’t hold on anymore.” We called the paramedics, who transported him to the hospital. On another occasion, he experienced several grand mal seizures and was spitting up blood. We called the paramedics again. My older son, Gavon, and I arrived at the hospital moments later only to see Matt thrashing about with another seizure. The seizures had been caused by West Nile Virus and out-of-control blood pressure that skyrocketed to stroke levels then plummeted to the point that he would lose consciousness. The doctors feared that his heart had been damaged by the onslaught.

One morning, after he had been released from the hospital, Buffie and I drove to Matt and Kristin’s house to watch the children while Kristin took Matt to the doctors in Salt Lake. When he opened the door, nothing could have prepared us for the shock of seeing him. Overnight, his hair had turned silvery gray and his skin had turned a dark bronze. He ended up being admitted. The doctors couldn’t explain by his hair had suddenly turned gray, but they guessed that it might have happened because of the intense trauma brought on by the seizures. The jaundiced skin was another guess-maybe the hepatitis in his liver or perhaps a temporarily blocked gall bladder or liver duct.

Finding a Donor

Over time, many of the severe symptoms of his conditions declined, and life settled into a routine. Dialysis on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; part-time work at LDS Family Services on Tuesday and Thursday. (Matt is a therapist there.) The weekends were reserved for Kristin and the girls. The fact that we had come this far was truly a miracle. The priesthood blessings were being fulfilled. The cancer had not spread and the hepatitis was gone. The West Nile Virus had become less troublesome. He was experiencing bouts of paralysis because his dialysis catheter was failing, causing his Ph and electrolyte levels to rollercoaster. But another surgery to replace the catheter resolved that problem. Overall, Matt was recovering-enough so, that the doctors cleared him to receive a transplant. He had remained cancer-free for two years, and that was the echelon to proceed with the transplant.

Why we thought finding a matching kidney would be a slam-dunk, I do not know. Nothing had ever come easily for Matt and Kristin. Divine intervention had always been required. Finding a kidney donor would be no different.

In the summer of 2008, we started with Gavon, our oldest. He was cancelled out abruptly by a condition that we never had supposed. That was when we first heard that Matt had antibodies to many common antigens in the blood. Basically, he was allergic to the makeup of most kidneys. Over the months, seven people tried and failed to become a donor. No matter what, we could not find a match.

Our son, Gavon, tried three separate times, and failed. Our daughter, Rebecca, tried and failed. Our son-in-law, Justin, tried and failed. Several friends, tried and failed. Then our daughter, Katie wanted to try, but she had just had a baby. The doctors insisted that she wait for three months. When she finally began to test, she emerged as a perfect match-like an identical twin. We were elated! Finally, we had a solution.

Katie sailed through the tests, and the doctors were ready to set a transplant date. By October, she only had one more test to go, and that was supposed to be a cinch. This test was just to help the doctors plan the surgery. Early that morning of the test, Matt was awakened by the transplant office and offered another kidney. A 15-year-old girl had passed away and her kidney was a good match. Matt thought about it for a few minutes then turned it down. After all, his sister was a perfect match, and she was taking the last test that morning. Buffie and I had gone to the temple that day. When we returned, we received a call from our sobbing daughter. She had failed the last test because the arteries emerging from both of her kidneys were only half an inch long–not nearly long enough to splice into Matt.

So just like that, Matt lost two kidneys in one day.

Why I Believe in God

That was a bad day. We were out of options. Matt responded with typical faith. He didn’t want just any kidney, he would say, he wanted the kidney. God had promised, and he would deliver. Matt saw his responsibility as enduring cheerfully in faith. We knew that he and Kristin were hurting. We saw the tears; we heard the anger. But we also watched them regroup and return to God, who had always sustained them. Both the intensity of their trials and their ultimate response to them left us shaking our heads.

After that, Matt began to write down his experiences in a journal with the hope of helping other people. For several months, while he sat in a dialysis chair, he would remember his trials and the Lord’s mercies. Then on Christmas day, he presented the journal to us. He called it “Why I Believe in God.”

I wonder if I would have that level of courage? I wonder if I could cry my allegiance to God over and over despite the setbacks and the disappointments?
Today, the transplant was canceled just hours before the surgery, and Matt and Kristin are being tried again. Today marks the third time they had come within an inch of liberty only to be thrust back into captivity. In a bizarre twist of fate, Matt’s chemistries changed within the last few weeks, leaving him incompatible with Ryan. No one knows why. It just happened. Maybe because the doctors gave him an immunization shot a month ago. Ryan and Lindsay can’t stop crying; neither can Kristin, Buffie and the rest of the family. Matt is too numb to cry. He just stands in his living room and stares at all the gifts from congratulating friends. Literally hundreds of people are invested in the outcome. We’ve spent hours calling people to undo the preparations: Relief Society dinners, babysitting schedules, transportation. It feels like waiting nine months for a baby, then coming home empty-handed because the child was stillborn. Now, with all hope dashed, Matt and Kristin have to find a way once again to dig down deep into that place of crucible where prophets were purified and polished and emerged as gold. And remarkably they did.
No Risk in Trusting God

Without hesitation, they still can bear testimony that there is no risk in trusting God. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is more than a culture to them. It is power that they have drawn upon repeatedly for every eventuality in their lives. It binds together their marriage and their family with a seal that cannot be broken. It has healed and upheld them. It has drawn down heaven to earth and saved them. I have heard Matt bear his testimony in the words of Alma: “I have been supported under trials and troubles of every kind, yea, and in all manner of afflictions; yea, God has delivered me from prison, and from bonds, and from death; yea, and I do put my trust in him, and he will still deliver me” (Alma 36:27).

Today, we hurt. We are disappointed and exhausted. We do not understand how we can continually come within a breath of relief only to have it snatched from our hands. We cannot see a solution. And yet there is hope; there is always hope. If there is a God, there is hope. We recognize that our circumstance is the perfect formula for a miracle. Therefore, we will regroup around our faith as we always have, and return to the Source from which our blessings have always come. Despite the present difficulty, we are determined to stand firm in our faith and, like Matt and Kristin, cry out our allegiance to God, who has always saved us. We fully expect that there is a glorious ending to Matt’s journal, and it will sum up perfectly his thesis, “Why I Believe in God.”

No Safety in Babylon

Despite its propaganda, Babylon is neither a safe nor a nice place, and neither are its people. Those who are foolish enough to reside in Babylon are prone to dangers and adversities without the benefit of armor.

In Babylon, idolatrous people worship other gods, so when trouble strikes, they are left alone to suffer and face overwhelming challenges. The harsh philosophy of Babylon is one that is godless, self-serving, competitive and lonesome-anti-Christ. People in Babylon fare “according to the management of the creature,” prosper according to their genius, and conquer according to their strength. They assume no accountability to God; therefore they feel that they can do whatever they please without consequence. In Babylon, they succeed or fail alone. They have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof (the power of hope in Jesus Christ, the plan of salvation, the holy priesthood, and gifts of the Spirit), and they label the humble followers of Christ as frenzied captives bound by false traditions. When the people of Babylon are faced with trouble, they receive neither aid from Babylon nor respite from her unmerciful and unrelenting attacks. Amazingly, many people insist on living in Babylon and embracing that lifestyle, all the while considering themselves safe.

A scan of the scriptures proves otherwise-in every case! Safety is only found in the Covenant. Does that mean a person of the Covenant will not suffer? Of course not. Suffering is part of the testing process for every mortal being. But by abiding in the Covenant, we understand that our afflictions are consecrated for our gain. That is, they are sanctified and therefore changed in purpose. No longer are they merely an adversity, rather they are counted as a sacrifice; and, sacrifice, we are taught, “brings forth the blessings of heaven.” Therefore, when Zion people suffer, they are safe in the Covenant. Their affliction will not damage them; it will serve to exalt them: “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose [his Covenant].” Whereas a non-covenant person suffers for the purpose of leading him to Christ, a covenant person suffers for “Christ’s sake.” Among other things, this means that Jesus (because we are bound to him in the Covenant) will stand beside us, suffers with us, and help us to overcome. In the Covenant, Zion people are never left alone.

Thus, it is in the Covenant that our afflictions are consecrated for our eternal welfare. Nephi put it this way: “But behold, I say unto you that ye must pray always, and not faint; that ye must not perform any thing unto the Lord save in the first place ye shall pray unto the Father in the name of Christ, that he will consecrate thy performance unto thee, that thy performance may be for the welfare of thy soul.”

Safety through Consecration in the Covenant

Consider that the work and the glory of God are to raise us to immortality at the highest level called eternal life. To that end the Father provides us the Atonement of his Son. The New and Everlasting Covenant emerges from the Atonement and makes us partners with Jesus in all things, both the easy and the difficult. By means of the Covenant, we are yoked with the Savior to inseparably face every eventuality. In this relationship, we pledge to each other all that we have and are, and therefore, we are entitled to draw upon the resources of the stronger partner for any eventuality. In every way, we are one in the Covenant; neither are we divided nor are we alone. Now, because of our covenantal relationship, life’s adversities are consecrated to the Lord for the welfare of our souls.

Consecration is an inclusive law that requires that we consecrate everything to the Lord, which by definition would include our difficulties. Think of it this way. When you marry would you exclude your problems from the vows you make to your spouse? Marriage partners bring everything they have and are to the relationship, and they work through things and make decisions together. Their joint consecration makes them one, and therefore there is no division of resources. They pool everything so that they might face life together. A marriage that does not tolerate the partners’ individual problems is not strong and is at risk of failure. But a marriage in which the partners are equally yoked, in which the resources are unselfishly and totally pooled, will survive any storm. So it is with the Lord and us. In the Covenant we bring all that we have to the relationship, including our problems, and we use the sum of our resources to face life together with the Lord.

That is exactly what the Lord wants. It is by facing difficulties together that strong relationships are forged. It is by facing opposition that we discover how deeply loyalties run. As we walk hard roads together, we discover things about each other that we could not learn otherwise. We come to trust and love each other. We find that together we are stronger than when we are apart. We learn to rely on the relationship, and we never want to step away from it. By experience, we discover that in the covenantal relationship, we are absolutely safe. Adversity, therefore, becomes an important solidifying agent for the covenantal relationship. By means of adversity, the agreement made at the outset of the Covenant by the baptismal ordinance becomes an unbreakable weld. This could be said of the marriage relationship. The yes spoken as a vow to form a marriage is only as good as the yes spoken as a vow every day thereafter. A marriage would be of little worth if one spouse were to leave the other or to let him or her down. Just so, the Covenant would be of no worth if God were to abandon us and allow us to face trouble alone.

President George Q. Cannon said:

“No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, [God] will never desert us. He never has, and He never will. He cannot do it. It is not His character [to do so]. He is an unchangeable being; the same yesterday, the same today, and He will be the same throughout the eternal ages to come. We have found that God. We have made Him our friend, by obeying His Gospel; and He will stand by us. We may pass through the fiery furnace; we may pass through deep waters; but we shall not be consumed nor overwhelmed. We shall emerge from all these trials and difficulties the better and purer for them, if we only trust in our God and keep His commandments.”

The Great Discovery

One of the monumental discoveries of our taking and abiding in the Covenant is this: God will take care of us. The Lord’s intention is to exalt us in the Covenant, not to destroy us; he uses adversarial situations to build faith rather than to confuse us. He is an omniscient God of consistency, power, mercy and love. Therefore, in the Covenant with him we are absolutely safe.

One of the greatest demonstrations of the safety of the Covenant is that of the ancient Israelites.

“…This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought great provocations; Yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness: the pillar of the cloud departed not from them by day, to lead them in the way; neither the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go. Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, [so that] they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled not.”

The Lord never forsook them. He was with them both day and night. He constantly instructed them. He provided manna and water to sustain them. For four decades of wandering, they lacked nothing! Amazingly, neither their clothing nor their shoes wore out. The Israelites had experienced the safety of the Covenant.

At the end of Jesus’ life, just before he entered Gethsemane, he reminded his apostles of their early missions when he had purposely placed them in a condition of lack to teach them of their safety of the Covenant. He accomplished this lesson by sending them out with neither purse nor script. Now looking back he asked them: “When I sent you without purse, and scrip, and shoes, lacked ye any thing? And they said, Nothing.” As much as the apostles needed firsthand experience with the Covenant’s safety, so do we. When we lack, we can go to the Lord, and because we are one with him in the Covenant, he will take care of us. We are safe.

Examples of Safety in the Covenant

After the Lord wrapped Adam and Eve in skins representing the Atonement, he sent them into the lone and dreary world, where they were kept safe in the Covenant.

Lehi abandoned everything to make an extraordinary journey through the harsh wilderness, and he was kept safe in the Covenant.

Likewise, the Brother of Jared found safety in the Covenant. After an arduous journey to the seashore, he committed his people into the safekeeping of God and launched eight vessels toward an unknown destination. For three hundred and forty and four days, they were driven forth by a furious wind upon the water. They were tossed upon the waves, crushed by mountainous waves, buried in the depths of the sea, and cast about by great and terrible tempests-and yet they were safe in the Covenant they had made. “No water that could hurt them.” The Lord was ever with them: “When they were encompassed about by many waters they did cry unto the Lord, and he did bring them forth again upon the top of the waters…. No monster of the sea could break them, neither whale that could mar them; and they did have light continually.” They had made the Covenant and they were safe in it. “And they did sing praises unto the Lord; yea, the brother of Jared did sing praises unto the Lord, and he did thank and praise the Lord all the day long; and when the night came, they did not cease to praise the Lord.”

Abraham lay bound upon the altar, but he was safe in the Covenant. The Lord delivered him. His wife was taken from him twice, but she was safe in the Covenant. Abraham prepared to sacrifice Isaac, but he and his son were safe in the Covenant.

Lazarus was dead for four days, but he was safe in the Covenant. On that occasion, the Savior focused the attention of Lazarus’s sister, Martha, on Jesus’ true identity, saying, “I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believeth thou this?” It is a question that each of us must answer: Do we believe-really believe-in this Jesus with whom we have made the Covenant? Will we believe, even with the stark reality of death staring at us, that we are yet safe?

Alma’s people escaped their Babylon, made the Covenant with the Lord, and abided in it at every hazard, even when they were in captivity. “And it came to pass that the voice of the Lord came to them in their afflictions, saying: Lift up your heads and be of good comfort, for I know of the covenant which ye have made unto me; and I will covenant with my people and deliver them out of bondage.” Alma’s people had no misgivings; their faith in the Lord and his Covenant were verified. They were, and always had been, safe in the Covenant.

An incident in Jesus’ ministry demonstrates safety in the Covenant. The exhausted Lord set out in a boat by night with his disciples. “And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? how is it that ye have no faith?” The Lord’s question feels like a rebuke. He might have said, “We have entered the Covenant together, haven’t we? That means that I am with you-always! Why, then, are you afraid? Where is your faith? Don’t you know yet who I am and what to expect of me?”

In the Americas the resurrected Jesus taught the Nephites then same lesson he had taught his disciples in Jerusalem: “Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?…Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.” In other words, neither the fowls of the air nor the lilies of the field have entered into the Covenant with the Father, and yet he takes care of them. Because you have taken the Covenant, are ye not much better than they? Are you not entitled to much, much more? If you believe this then “why take ye thought for raiment?…. if God so clothe the grass of the field…even so will he clothe you, if ye are not of little faith. Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.” In other words, do your part and I will do my part. We are in this together. You are safe in the Covenant!

Finally, consider the stripling warriors. These were young men, who had taken the Covenant, were suddenly thrust into a new and dangerous environment that required enormous faith. “They never had fought, yet they did not fear death.” How had they achieved this level of courage? Helaman described their bravery as the greatest he had ever seen among the Nephites. They had learned it at their mothers’ knees. Evidently, the concept of safety in the Covenant had been drilled into them so well that they “did not doubt [that] God would deliver them.” When Helaman asked them, “What say ye, my sons, will ye go against [the Lamanites] to battle?” they answered, “Father, behold our God is with us, and he will not suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth.” They knew who the Lord was, and their faith was in the power and safety of the Covenant: “And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.” Helaman reported the result: “To my great joy, there had not one soul of them fallen to the earth; yea, and they had fought as if with the strength of God; yea, never were men known to have fought with such miraculous strength.” They drew upon the power of God, which was available to them in the Covenant, and they were safe.

Conclusion

For Zion people, the lesson of safety is of ultimate importance. Only faith that the Lord is near and that he will never leave us can provide sufficient confidence to leave behind Babylon, as have other people of great faith, and throw ourselves wholly upon the tender mercies of the Lord. Only faith in the Lord and his promises can help us break from telestial law and embrace celestial law, which makes little sense in a telestial world. But if we will have the courage to sever ourselves from Babylon and allow the Covenant to make of us Zion people, we will make the discovery of a lifetime: We are absolutely safe in the Covenant-safer than we have ever been or felt before.

See Alma 30:12

See Alma 30:12-17

See 2 Nephi 2:2

“Praise to the Man, Hymns of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, #27

Romans 8:28, insert added

See Alma 4:13; 2 Corinthians 12:10

2 Nephi 32:9, emphasis added

See Moses 1:39

George Q. Cannon, “Freedom of the Saints,” Collected Discourses, vol. 2:185, emphasis added.

Nehemiah 9:18-21, emphasis added

Luke 22:35

See Joseph Fielding McConkie, Revelations of the Restoration

See Ether 6:5-11

John 11:25-26, emphasis added

Mosiah 24:13

Mark 4:37-40

3 Nephi 13:26-33

Alma 56:44-47, 56