Forgiveness is a spiritual gift that is obtained by asking for it “with a sincere heart, with real intent”[ii] (that is, with the real intention to forgive). Parents of wayward children often face a number of people whom they must forgive: their children, judgmental onlookers, and themselves.

Often, fasting and requesting a priesthood blessing to obtain this spiritual gift is helpful. Receiving a priesthood blessing has another benefit; through the power of the priesthood the adversary may be detected and cast away, for it is often the adversary who blunts our ability to forgive and buffets us with the miserable effects of carrying a grudge. Both the recipient and the priesthood holder can profit from the Lord’s counsel on casting out the “dark spirits” under Satan’s influence: “This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”[iii]

The Example of Job

Job’s life is a powerful and interesting lesson on forgiveness. Job was an ancient priest and judge who was highly respected and very wealthy. He was doing everything right when suddenly everything went wrong. In an instant, he lost his seven sons and three daughters. Then he lost his wealth and his health. When he was cast from his home to take up residence near the city’s refuse pile, he was separated from his wife—possibly one of his hardest trials.

Then three of his friends (and later a fourth) came to comfort him. They were so astonished at his condition and appearance that they could not utter a word but rather sat with him in silence for seven days, “for they saw that his grief was very great.”[iv] At that point, the unimaginable happened—Job’s friends turned against him and accused him of sin. They imagined that nothing short of misdeeds and flaws in his character could produce such misery. Surely, they said, Job was now reaping the reward for his poor choices and bad conduct.

Job, however, was not a sinner “deserving” of his trials. Do we feel the same way—judged by other of self-judged to be deserving of the trials of having a wayward child? Sometimes we play both the roles of the martyr and accusing friends; we berate ourselves and take responsibility when children stray from the path of righteousness. Often, our quick assumption is that we’re suffering because of our own shortcomings. While there may be an element of truth to that statement (and if there is, we ought to quickly repent), our shortcomings typically pale in comparison to the child’s use of agency. Nevertheless, we are prone to errantly assign personal blame as though we could read the mind of God. We are quick to judge ourselves harshly, and thereby we become our own worst enemies, much like Job’s judgmental friends, who were willing to accuse Job while he was suffering.

Amazingly, despite all the false accusations and abuse, Job maintained his integrity. He knew that sin was not the cause of his affliction. Obviously, Job knew the Lord well enough to know that he was right before the Lord. If escaping his circumstance were as easy as admitting to a mistake, Job would have gladly done so. But he had received no such divine communication, so he was duty-bound to maintain his integrity and wait for the Lord to deliver him and give him further instructions.

The Final Trial of Job

In the end, the Lord vindicated Job by chastising Job’s friends. Speaking to one of them, Eliphaz, the Lord said, “My wrath is kindled against thee, and against thy two friends: for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath.” Then, in an extraordinary gesture to reach out to the friends and invite them to repent (and the result would become Job’s ultimate test), the Lord commanded Eliphaz and the friends, “Therefore take unto you now seven bullocks and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you: for him will I accept: lest I deal with you after your folly.” [v]

The final trial of Job was forgiveness!

After all that had happened to him, after all the abuse, could Job now forgive and pray for his friends? Yes. And the result was astounding: “And the Lord turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before.”[vi] Through the powerful act of forgiveness, Job’s captivity was turned; through the powerful act of forgiveness, Job was able to rescue and reclaim his friends; and through the powerful act of forgiveness, the Lord restored to Job twice as much as he had had before.

Forgiveness—Coming Near to Perfection

At some point, and perhaps at many points along the way, we will have to forgive our wayward child, other judgmental people, and ourselves. And, as President Kimball stated, if we are able to forgive sincerely, we are “near to perfection.”[vii]

Our reward for having made this sacrifice—for forgiveness is at least a sacrifice of pride—will be much more than what was required of us in order to forgive: twice as much in the case of Job, and even more in other cases. In the early days of the restored Church, the suffering, forgiving Latter-day Saints were told, “And again, if your enemy shall smite you the second time, and you revile not against your enemy, and bear it patiently, your reward shall be an hundredfold.”[viii]

The reward comes from our having learned to be like God. Struggling to comprehend the boundaries of forgiveness, Peter asked Jesus, “Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”[ix] That is, we cannot become sons and daughters of God without being able to forgive without limitation. To emphasize this point, the Lord taught a parable that reveals something we must learn in order to become like Him—the capacity and desire to forgive endlessly, even when sins are severe and enormous:

Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants.

And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents.

But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made.

The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all.

Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt.[x]

Forgiveness–One of the Greatest Tests of Discipleship

We are part of the kingdom of heaven; we are the servants of the King who will take account of us. Our debt to sin is massive; we cannot pay it. The demands of justice are unbearable. His patience with and mercy toward us are what we plead for. Because the King is compassionate, He is willing to loose us from our burden and forgive our debt. But if we will not extend the same courtesy to another debtor, as the parable later details, we kindle the wrath of the King, who will deliver us to the tormentors until we pay all that was originally due.[xi] Our casually forgiving someone will not suffice; we must do so from our heart, the most sensitive and tender part of our soul. We cannot truly forgive and hold anything back. If we are not willing to do this, we commit the “greater sin.”[xii]

Because the trait of forgiveness defines Jesus, and because we must develop this principle of salvation to become like Him, He gives us multiple opportunities to learn it in mortality, primarily with those whom we love the most. Forgiveness is one of the greatest tests of discipleship. Being willing to forgive speaks to our desire to become like Christ, for by forgiving we lay the groundwork for the sinner’s redemption.

The Christlike saint seeks to redeem and reclaim while Satan seeks to captivate and destroy. One reason that we withhold forgiveness is to hold the sinner in a form of spiritual bondage. That is a reason why non-forgiveness is such a serious sin. We simply cannot be Saints and do the work of Satan on any level. On the other hand, sincere forgiveness closes the door on Satan, who would use the unsettled issue to destroy our souls. Therefore, for the sake of our souls and the souls of all others who sin or judge harshly, we must forgive. And we start the process by forgiving ourselves.

Author’s Note:

Note: This article is adapted from Rescuing Wayward Children. Follow this link to learn more.

Also, to receive a sample of my new 5-book series, The Three Pillars of Zion, Click here.

[ii] Moroni 10:4.

[iii] Matthew 17:21.

[iv] Job 2:13.

[v] Job 42:7–8, emphasis added.

[vi] Job 42:10.

[vii] Spencer W. Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 204.

[viii] D&C 98:25.

[ix] Matthew 18:21–22.

[x] Matthew 18:23–27.

[xi] See Matthew 18:34.

[xii] D&C 64:9.

As a rule, we men, who strive to live celestial laws and are thus judged worthy to be ordained to the Melchizedek Priesthood, qualified to hold that authority in the premortal life, which Alma calls the “first place.”^[ii] Quoting Alma and Joseph Smith, Elder McConkie taught that worthy priesthood holders were

“on the same standing with their brethren,” meaning that initially all had equal opportunity to progress through righteousness. But while yet in the eternal worlds, certain of the offspring of God, “having chosen good, and exercising exceeding great faith,” were as a consequence “called and prepared from the foundation of the world according to the foreknowledge of God” to enjoy the blessings and powers of the priesthood. These priesthood calls were made “from the foundation of the world,” or in other words faithful men held priesthood power and authority first in pre-existence and then again on earth. “Every man who has a calling to minister to the inhabitants of the world was ordained to that very purpose in the Grand Council of heaven before this world was.”^[iii]

Our premortal calling to the priesthood, Alma says, was “on account of [our] exceeding faith and good works.” Having chosen independently to embrace the good and eschew the evil, and having exercised “exceedingly great faith,” we received the authority of God, which qualified us for a “preparatory redemption.”^[iv] In other words, in the “first place,” or premortality, we earned the blessings of a preparatory redemption, which guaranteed that we would be offered those blessings again in the flesh. These blessings included ordination to the priesthood then and the invitation to receive it now. Unless we chose otherwise in this life, the blessings of redemption and the priesthood would be ours forever.

The Eternal Obligation of Priesthood Holders

“Priesthood is the great governing authority in the universe,” writes M. Catherine Thomas, assistant professor emeritus of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University. “It unlocks spiritual blessings of the eternal world for the heirs of salvation.”^[v] The priesthood then and now is always conferred upon us with the understanding that we will minister to God’s children, offer them the blessings of the plan of redemption, and strive to bring them to Christ for the purpose of redemption and establishing the principles of Zion in their lives.^[vi]

This is modeled in the scriptures by Enoch, who left his home in the land of Cainan to preach the gospel to the people, offer them the ordinances of salvation, and bring them to Zion.^[vii] Likewise, Melchizedek preached the gospel, administered the ordinances, and achieved Zion: “And his people wrought righteousness, and obtained heaven, and sought for the city of Enoch which God had before taken, separating it from the earth, having reserved it unto the latter days, or the end of the world.”^[viii]

The Book of Mormon offers other examples of priesthood holders administering redemptive and Zionlike principles. For example, “And it came to pass that the thirty and fourth year passed away, and also the thirty and fifth, and behold the disciples of Jesus had formed a church of Christ in all the lands round about. And as many as did come unto them, and did truly repent of their sins, were baptized in the name of Jesus; and they did also receive the Holy Ghost. And it came to pass in the thirty and sixth year, the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another.”^[ix]

Catherine Thomas explains,

The power to play a saving role is the most sought-after power among righteous priesthood holders in time or in eternity. The greater the soul, it seems, the deeper the desire to labor to brings souls to Christ. . . . A brief look at the history of the priesthood on the earth reveals that men like [King] Benjamin have stood in this priesthood channel unlocking the blessings of salvation for their people since the days of Adam. Adam, in fact, was the great prototype of priesthood holders who strove to bring their communities and their posterity into at-one-ment with the Lord Jesus Christ. Adam blessed his posterity because, the Prophet Joseph taught, ‘he wanted to bring them into the presence of God. They looked for a city . . . ‘whose builder and maker is God’ (Hebrews 11:10).

A priesthood holder is under obligation to sanctify himself so that he can advocate for his people, as did Adam, Enoch, Melchizedek, Moses, King Benjamin, and Joseph Smith. His people would include his wife and family, the people to whom he is called to serve, and anyone else whom the Lord places in his way. Catherine Thomas explains the duties of a priesthood holder:

A priesthood holder’s office is to sanctify himself and stand as an advocate before God seeking blessings for his community in the manner of Jesus Christ (see John 17:19), whether the community be as small as a family or as large as Benjamin’s kingdom. A righteous priesthood holder can work by faith to provide great benefits to his fellow beings (see Mosiah 8:18). He can, in fact, exercise great faith in behalf of others of lesser faith, ‘filling in’ with faith for them. . . . The Lord seems interested not only in individual but in groups of people who wish to establish holy cities and unite with heavenly communities. Like the ancients, one who holds the holy priesthood is always trying to establish a holy community, is always ‘look[ing] for a city’ (Hebrews 11:10, 16).^[x]

The Eternal Nature of Priesthood Work

Our works on earth are an extension of the works we did in the premortal world. These works are redemption and advancing the cause of Zion. Alma explained that our premortal calling to the priesthood set us apart from others in that realm, those who hardened their hearts against the gospel and thus forfeited their privileges: “And thus they [priesthood holders] have been called to this holy calling on account of their faith, while others would reject the Spirit of God on account of the hardness of their hearts and blindness of their minds, while, if it had not been for this they might have had as great privilege as their brethren.”

We distinguished ourselves in premortality by embracing the principles of redemption and Zion, and therefore we were rewarded in that “first place” with the priesthood: “Thus this holy calling [was] prepared from the foundation of the world for such as would not harden their hearts, being in and through the Atonement of the Only Begotten Son.”

Having received the priesthood, we became part of the same order as the Son of God and went about doing his work, the work of Zion:

And thus being called by this holy calling, and ordained unto the high priesthood of the holy order of God, to teach his commandments unto the children of men, that they also might enter into his rest—this high priesthood being after the order of his Son, which order was from the foundation of the world; or in other words, being without beginning of days or end of years, being prepared from eternity to all eternity, according to his foreknowledge of all things—Now they were ordained after this manner—being called with a holy calling, and ordained with a holy ordinance, and taking upon them the high priesthood of the holy order, which calling, and ordinance, and high priesthood, is without beginning or end—thus they become high priests forever, after the order of the Son, the Only Begotten of the Father, who is without beginning of days or end of years, who is full of grace, equity, and truth. And thus it is. Amen.^[xi]

Clearly, our past experience with the priesthood will be exceeded only by our glorious future experience. Moreover, our priesthood work now is an extension of our work then; and our work in the priesthood will continue into the eternities: “The faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption, through the sacrifice of the Only Begotten Son of God.”^[xii]

The work that we assumed so long ago—the work of redemption—is the work that helps to establish Zion in the lives of people now. This work is as eternal as is the priesthood. The priesthood vitalizes the plan of redemption and makes possible the establishment of Zion. The priesthood of God is the power by which the foundation of Zion (the Atonement) and the three pillars of Zion (the new and everlasting covenant, the oath and covenant of the priesthood, and the law of consecration[xiii]) function together. Built upon this sure foundation, Zion rises to form “the highest order of priesthood society.”^[xiv]

Author’s Note

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

[ii] Alma 13:3.

[iii] McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 475–83; Alma 13:3, 5; Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 365.

[iv] Alma 13:3.

[v] Thomas, “Benjamin and the Mysteries of God,” 279.

[vi] Eyring, “Faith and the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood,” 61–64.

[vii] Moses 6:41; see Moses 6–7.

[viii] JST Genesis 14:34.

[ix] 4 Nephi 1:1–2; emphasis added.

[x] Thomas, “Benjamin and the Mysteries of God,” 280–82.

[xi] Alma 13:4–9.

[xii] D&C 138:57.

[xiii] D&C 42:67.

[xiv] Kimball, Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 125.

Garbage day—that became the measuring stick of our survival. We felt that we were succeeding if we could just make it to another garbage day.

The joke was not so funny, however. During those protracted periods, I would often survey my life and mourn. How much of my mortal existence had I wasted on survival? How many opportunities had passed me by because I was not in a position to embrace them? Sometimes I felt that my life had been dedicated to enduring and that I had accomplished nothing of significance.

Granted, I was wallowing in self-pity, but I wonder how many of us doubt that our lives have much substance when we, too, slip into extended periods that exhaust our strength and challenge the limits of our endurance? Is our life without purpose? Is our faith in God vain?

A Dream

Once, when I felt that I was slogging uphill in the mud, I dreamed that I was on an airplane flying at 600 miles per hour. After a while, I noticed a crippled man stand and hobble toward the front of the plane. Each difficult stride covered a mere twelve inches, and the man seemed frustrated by his slow pace. Then suddenly I was on the ground observing the same scene from a different vantage point. Now from my new position, every step that the crippled man took spanned several miles! From his point of view, he was hardly making any progress at all; but from my point of view he was covering incredible distances.

I wonder if that is how God sees us—rocketing through space toward an eternal destination?

What Profit Is It?

Speaking for God, the prophet Malachi chastised us for questioning how the Lord works with us: “Your words have been stout against me, saith the Lord.”

We are shocked by his denouncement. After all, we have been trying so hard. Incredulously, we ask, “What have we spoken against thee?”

Then the Lord answers, “Ye have said, It is vain to serve God: and what profit is it that we have kept his ordinance, and that we have walked mournfully before the Lord of hosts?” In other words, we have kept our covenants; we have prayed and fasted to the point of exhaustion; we have served diligently in our callings; we have humbled ourselves and faithfully attended the temple – and our lives never seem to improve! What profit is it?

Worse, we look around us and see people prospering who are not living the commandments. “And now we call the proud happy; yea, they that work wickedness are set up; yea, they that tempt God are even delivered” (Malachi 3:13-15).

What is going on here? Is it vain to serve God? We feel like the crippled man, who longs for a healing that eludes him. So he is forced to inch along while the proud experience happiness, the wicked prosper, and deliverance comes to those who are Godless. How can this be?

Please tell me that I am not the only one who has felt this way.

In the Shadow of God

In your scripture studies, do you know the name Bezaleel? Probably not. And yet he was one of the most important people in the Old Testament. The responsibility for building the tabernacle fell to him (Exodus 31:1-11). In Exodus, we are informed that he was a skilled artisan in all works of metal, wood, and stone. Where had he acquired these skills? In Egypt, as a slave.

Imagine the years of hopelessness, laboring day after day with no end in sight. I am certain that Bezaleel wondered about the purpose of his life. Would he ever be able to use his gift for anything more than constructing and beautifying the Pharaoh’s cities? Had God forsaken him?

Interesting, the name Bezaleel means “in the shadow or the protection of God.” God was watching out for him after all. Bezaleel was being prepared not only for deliverance but for a mighty work that he would do to bind Israel to her God. Bezaleel’s work would become the model for all subsequent Israelite temples and even has application today.

Isaiah took up the subject of our apparent captivity as the seedbed of preparation for greater things: “…hearken ye people from far; the Lord hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.” Personalizing this scripture, we might say that the Lord has a plan for our lives that began before we were born. Isaiah called the Lord’s suppressing us for a purpose being “hid up” and “polished.”

And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me.

Notice what has happened while we were being held back, unaware of what the Lord was making of us, our real potential and worth invisible to the world. This is a temporary situation. In time, the Lord will retrieve us from his sheath as a sharp sword or from his quiver as a polished shaft. Our being “hid” had purpose after all: “Thou art my servant…in whom I will be glorified.” But while we were in the “shadow of his hand,” we felt useless: “I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught and in vain.” Nevertheless, the day will come when “[I will be] glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength” (1 Nephi 21:1-5). What we cannot see now has purpose; a perfect plan is being worked outside our view.

When I Make Up My Jewels

Making it to the next garbage day seems to make all the difference.

Job didn’t enjoy the process of preparation any more than we do. He also experienced reaching out to heaven and temporarily receiving silence in return: “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him: on the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him.”

But Job also understood that what he was going through was seasonal. The furnace associated with the baptism of fire is hot, but “when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:8-10) – stunningly beautiful and infinitely valuable.

The Lord explains our emergence and value this way: “And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.” Our waiting patiently for the Lord to deliver us from the captivity of our circumstance while he sharpens and polishes us for a greater purpose serves to distinguish us between “the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not” (Malachi 3:17-18).

Each of us experiences times when we feel that God is distant. Regardless of our best efforts to serve him, we imagine that our prayers and righteous efforts are vain. We wake up every morning to face the same distress; we feel that our life is slipping away and that we are making no progress at all. That is from our point of view. However, if we could step outside our present circumstance and see through the eyes of God, we might observe that we are traveling at light speed, and perhaps we are being prepared to construct a temple where we can meet our God and bring in others to meet him also.

The captivity season of our life wasn’t wasted after all.

Author’s Note

To receive a sample of my new 5-book series, The Three Pillars of Zion, Click here.

Enoch’s people set the standard:

The fear of the Lord was upon all nations, so great was the glory of the Lord, which was upon his people. And the Lord blessed the land, and they were blessed upon the mountains, and upon the high places, and did flourish.

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.

And Enoch continued his preaching in righteousness unto the people of God. And it came to pass in his days, that he built a city that was called the City of Holiness, even ZION.

And it came to pass that Enoch talked with the Lord; and he said unto the Lord: Surely Zion shall dwell in safety forever.[i]

Melchizedek’s people followed suit. Like Enoch’s people, who built “the City of Holiness, even ZION,” Melchizedek’s people built Salem, meaning “city of perfection”^[ii] or “righteousness and peace.”^[iii] This city became the forerunner of Jerusalem,^[iv] the eternal city of God.[v]

Now this Melchizedek was a king over the land of Salem and his people had waxed strong in iniquity and abomination; yea, they had all gone astray; they were full of all manner of wickedness;

But Melchizedek having exercised mighty faith, and received the office of the high priesthood according to the holy order of God, did preach repentance unto his people. And behold, they did repent; and Melchizedek did establish peace in the land in his days; therefore he was called the prince of peace, for he was the king of Salem; and he did reign under his father.^[vi]

Melchizedek, like Enoch, was enormously successful in establishing the principles of Zion in the hearts of his people: “And his people wrought righteousness, and obtained heaven, and sought for the city of Enoch.”^[vii]

In the Meridian of Times, the Nephites and Lamanites achieved a society devoid of all forms of poverty.

And it came to pass in the thirty and sixth year, the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another.

And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift….

And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.

And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.

There were no robbers, nor murderers, neither were there Lamanites, nor any manner of -ites; but they were in one, the children of Christ, and heirs to the kingdom of God.

And how blessed were they! For the Lord did bless them in all their doings; yea, even they were blessed and prospered until an hundred and ten years had passed away; and the first generation from Christ had passed away, and there was no contention in all the land.[viii]

How To Eradicate Poverty and Achieve Prosperity

In the latter days, do we have the faith to achieve a poverty-free world? If so, how might it happen? The answer lies in a principle that is a gospel irony, a paradigm of thought that eludes the world. Here is the principle:

Give your way to prosperity, freedom, safety and security.

This principle was widely known and practiced by ancient Zion people, who managed to flourish while the world around them collapsed under the weight of selfishness, greed and wickedness. Those Zion people discovered that by living this principle, they simultaneously invoked the law of restoration,[ix] or the hundredfold law.[x] That is, whatever they gave immediately gained power to return to them many times more than their sacrifice. Thus, by the simple act of charitable giving they prospered, and in the process, they achieved greater liberties, safety and security.

Knowing that history is wont to repeat itself, we wonder if we, who will face the prophesied judgments of the last days, will choose to embrace this principle and prosper by it, or choose to suffer with the world as it spirals out of control and implodes around us. One thing is certain: The days of attempting to mix Zion and Babylon are over; the day of decision is upon us.

A Foundation That Will revolutionize the World

At the beginning of this dispensation, Joseph Smith prophesied of the impact of the glorious latter-day work while simultaneously raising the anti-poverty flag: “I intend to lay a foundation that will revolutionize the whole world.” The Prophet’s use of the word revolution was not meant to suggest conflict: “It will not be by sword or gun that this kingdom will roll on,” he said: “the power of truth is such that all nations will be under the necessity of obeying the Gospel.”[xi] What is the Lord’s mandated goal that could revolutionize the world and eradicate every form of poverty? Here are his words: “You are to be equal…every man according to his wants and his needs, inasmuch as his wants are just.”[xii]

Equality! Covenant people recognize these inspired words as central to the law of consecration, the same law that governs the celestial kingdom,[xiii] and the law that is intended to govern the kingdom of God on the earth.

How is this to be done? The Lord gives the answer: “I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and built the earth, my very handiwork; and all things therein are mine.” That is, to achieve equality, we must first recognize that all things belong to the Lord and that by covenant we are stewards of his (not our) property. The Lord declares this arrangement is for our good: “It is wisdom in me.”

To make the leap from being owners to stewards, we must adopt a new mindset and rethink our priorities regarding our time, talents, money, property, and our treatment of the poor; then we must agree to include the Lord in the decisions we make regarding the use of the things that he has entrusted to us. Moreover, we must agree to be accountable to him for the discharge of our stewardship: “Therefore, a commandment I give unto you, that ye shall organize yourselves and appoint every man his stewardship; that every man may give an account unto me of the stewardship which is appointed unto him. For it is expedient that I, the Lord, should make every man accountable, as a steward over earthly blessings, which I have made and prepared for my creatures.”[xiv]

We might try to excuse ourselves from living this law by appealing to a false presumption in Church history: Wasn’t the law of consecration put on hold or at least lessened because of the failings of our fathers? Absolutely not. Any attempt to locate scriptural or authoritative evidence that this law was rescinded or is waiting to one day be implemented will be vain. If we are truly a covenant people then we are a consecrated people, and as such, we have bound ourselves to be stewards dedicated to equalizing the condition of the Lord’s children by the proper use of the Lord’s resources that he has placed in our hands.

As stewards, we agree to do the work of the Lord with his resources. That work is the “immortality and eternal life of man.”[xv] While we cannot give anyone the gift of immortality, we can, through our charitable actions, help someone achieve a more exalted level of immortality. And the highest level, of course, is called eternal life. Broadly, this is the work we covenant to assume, and to do so, we agree to consecrate all that we are and have.

In Mine Own Way

A central part of the Lord’s work is to level up the condition of his impoverished children: “And it is my purpose to provide for my saints.” To accomplish this feat, he employs us, his stewards, who have entered into a covenant of consecration to do this very thing. The Lord dictates the specific way that he, through us, will care for his children: “But it must needs be done in mine own way; and behold this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low.”[xvi]

On the surface, this statement could appear like the socialistic doctrine of forced redistribution of wealth; but, as we shall see, consecration is neither an experiment in socialism nor an adaptation of an economic order. The Lord’s way is founded on personal agency and the condition of the steward’s heart. Implemented properly, the Lord’s way prospers, enlightens and exalts, while man’s way impoverishes, discourages and damns.

In the latter days, the Lord has placed an extra burden on the well-to-do saints to care for their underprivileged brothers and sisters in impoverished nations: “…for I will consecrate of the riches of those who embrace my gospel among the Gentiles unto the poor of my people who are of the house of Israel.”[xvii] The word Gentiles in this context means the members of the Church who live in wealthy gentile nations; the “poor of my people who are of the house of Israel” live elsewhere in less favorable circumstances. We, who are privileged, are responsible to contribute generously to the programs of the Church that level up our brothers and sisters, allowing them to share equally with us in the Lord’s blessings.

Enough and to Spare

The Lord promises ample resources to accomplish his purposes: “For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare.” Therefore, we need only go about doing all that we can to care for the Lord’s children. Finally, taking care of the impoverished remains our choice, but how we choose will bring judgment: “I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves. Therefore, if any man shall take of the abundance which I have made, and impart not his portion, according to the law of my gospel, unto the poor and the needy, he shall, with the wicked, lift up his eyes in hell, being in torment.”[xviii]

Imagine, then, a world impacted by the Lord’s stewards. Such people would go about doing good works in the similitude of their Master, whose work it is. Joseph Smith said, “A man filled with the love of God, is not content with blessing his family alone, but ranges through the whole world, anxious to bless the whole human race.”[xix] With the resources that the Lord had entrusted to his stewards, they would search out and attack misery wherever they encountered it. They would always have their antennae up, seeking to become a conduit through which the Lord could channel blessings to his needy children. To such stewards the Lord would direct a continuous flow of opportunities and resources for the purpose of blessing his children.

When the stewards became aware of a need, they would receive the intelligence with the attitude that the Lord had brought the matter to their attention. The stewards would not and could not turn away; rather, they would assume that the Lord expected them to do whatever they could to supply the necessary need and continue until stability and equality were achieved.

A Lesson from the Good Samaritan

The parable of the Good Samaritan[xx] is a case in point. Although the Samaritan did not know the abused nameless man whom he encountered, he nevertheless assumed the responsibility for the man’s welfare. The Samaritan provided generously for the man’s needs; then he offered to supply anything else that might be required until the man was made whole. Clearly, the Samaritan was the Lord’s steward, and as such he was continually on the Lord’s errand.

When he saw the beaten and destitute man, he recognized that the Lord had caused two paths to converge for the purpose of saving an impoverished soul. The Samaritan received the honor of blessing the man as the Lord would have blessed him. No matter the inconvenience and notwithstanding the required time and resources that would be needed (these things belong to the Lord anyway), the Samaritan saw life through the eyes of a steward, who was under covenant to use his Master’s resources as directed.

Significantly, the Samaritan needed no blinding revelation to take action; the fact that he had encountered need was revelation enough. Assumedly, the Samaritan had previously made a decision that if the Lord would take occasion to make a need known to him, the Samaritan would receive it as a revelation and an invitation to act. Jesus ends his parable with a commandment to each covenant person, who would be a steward: “Go, and do thou likewise.”[xxi]

Could a group of such people change the world? The Samaritan clearly changed the world for at least one nameless impoverished soul. Doubtless, in his lifetime, the Samaritan changed the world for many poor individuals who needed the Lord’s time, talents and resources. Is there any way that the Samaritan’s generosity might have diminished him or reduced the resources in his trust? Of course not.

If we knew the rest of the story, we would expect that the Samaritan was restored in each instance “an hundredfold” so that he could give again. We simply cannot extend merciful blessings to God’s children and not experience a harvest of merciful blessings in return.^[xxii] As we give what we have, replacement comes with increase.^[xxiii]

This principle, then, is part of the revolutionary foundation that Joseph Smith intended to establish that would one day change the entire world. When employed, this principle prospered, secured, protected and exalted the most successful civilizations that have ever existed. It is central to “the law of the celestial kingdom,”[xxiv] and therefore we must become converted to living it if we ever expect to inherit that kingdom. It is the last law and obstacle that stand between us and celestial glory. For now, it has the power to transform the condition of mankind and achieve the unimaginable: No poor among them!

Author’s Note

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

[ii] Galbraith, Ogden, and Skinner, Jerusalem: The Eternal City, 41.

[iii] Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 321.

[iv] McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 531.

[v] Ezra Taft Benson, Come unto Christ, 114; Hebrews 12:22.

[vi] Alma 13:17–18.

[vii] JST Genesis 14:34.

[viii] 4 Nephi 1:2-3, 15-18.

[ix] Alma 41:3–6, 15.

[x] Genesis 26:12; 2 Samuel 24:3; Matthew 13:8–23; 19:29; Mark 10:30; Luke 8:8; D&C 98:25; 132:55.

[xi] Smith, Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, 366.

[xii] D&C 82:17.

[xiii] D&C 105:4–5.

[xiv] D&C 104:14, 11-13.

[xv] Moses 1:39.

[xvi] D&C 104:15-16.

[xvii] D&C 42:39.

[xviii] D&C 104:16-18.

[xix] History of the Church, 4:227.

[xx] Luke 10:30-37.

[xxi] Luke 10:37.

[xxii] Hinckley, “Blessed Are the Merciful,” 68.

[xxiii] Packer, “The Candle of the Lord,” 54–55.

[xxiv] D&C 105:4–5.

This outstanding observation was brought home to me in the 1980 Holiday Bowl where Brigham Young University was pitted against Southern Methodist University. BYU entered the game with an 11–1 record, and SMU had an 8–3 record. BYU had overwhelmed its opponent with a powerful passing game orchestrated by quarterback Jim McMahon. But SMU had an explosive running offense led by Craig James and Eric Dickerson.

With four minutes left in the game, SMU scored to take a commanding 45–25 lead over BYU, which now appeared to be headed for yet another bowl loss. They simply could not handle SMU’s offense. At this point of apparent hopelessness, my wife and I decided to spare ourselves the misery of watching BYU go down in defeat. We left our children with my mother and headed to a movie theater.

When we returned, my mother met us at the door and excitedly announced that BYU had won. They had scored three touchdowns in the last two and a half minutes of the game. Thereafter, the game was to be called the “Miracle Bowl,” and it has taken its place in history as one of the most exciting college bowl games ever played. And we had been too discouraged and impatient to see the miracle.

We were not alone. At the four-minute mark, most of the BYU fans had begun leaving the stadium when McMahon screamed that the game wasn’t over yet. Very few believed him. Nevertheless, undaunted, he promptly threw a touchdown pass. This was followed by several more smart moves that decreased the gap in scores. After throwing two incomplete passes, McMahon then launched a “Hail Mary” into the end zone as time expired. What resulted was one of the most miraculous touchdowns in college football history. Then, with the score tied, BYU’s Kurt Gunther kicked the extra point to give BYU a miraculous 46–45 victory.

In the last two minutes and thirty-three seconds of the game, BYU scored 21 points—and we had missed it!

Never Give Up

When all seems lost, we must not give up. President Benson said there is no question about the final outcome—righteousness will achieve victory.[ii] Victory is in our future, even if that victory comes at the very last second. To achieve that victory, the Lord will call upon players on both sides of the veil. Our responsibility is to persevere by keeping one eye fixed on the goal and the other on what needs to happen today. Even if a child seems to be sinning away his salvation, we must never give up hope.

Robert L. Millet wrote though “there are limits, not necessarily to God’s mercy but to the extent to which mercy can temper justice,”[iii] nevertheless, there is still hope. He said, “I have a conviction that when a person passes through the veil of death, all those impediments and challenges and crosses that were beyond his or her power to control—abuse, neglect, immoral environment, weighty traditions, etc.—will be torn away like a film. Then perhaps that person shall, as President Woodruff suggested, see and feel things he or she could not see and feel Before.”[iv]

“Linda,” a mother in Utah, wrote of clinging to hope, even up until the very last minute.

My husband and I have five children. I learned from my two oldest to never give up. Our oldest son, “Ben,” started hanging with a bad group and drifted away from the Church. At one point, he told us that the Joseph Smith story was a load of baloney. He started smoking and experimenting with drugs. He stayed away from church for several years. We fasted and prayed for him constantly; we put his name in the temple religiously, and we tried to include him in family prayers and family home evening, as much as he would allow.

Once, at a regional conference, Elder Holland spoke and gave the congregation an apostolic blessing. He promised that if we as parents were faithful in all things, we would see our wayward children return. I remember weeping as I listened to his remarks. I prayed that his promise would be fulfilled.

Then, in 1998, our youngest child accidentally drowned. Ben was devastated; we all were. A month later, Ben phoned me and asked if I was sitting down. He announced that he had decided to go on a mission. I was speechless. He said that he had become so despondent over his brother’s death that the only thing left to do was to pray. He told me that he had prayed all night and into the morning. Then he heard a voice as clear as a bell tell him to put his life in order and go on a mission. He moved home a few days later and began the repentance process to prepare to serve. At age twenty-two, he left for his field of service. Today he is married in the temple, has two beautiful children, and has graduated with a degree in business from BYU–Idaho.

Our second child, “Paul,” abandoned the Church in his junior year in high school when he started hanging around with a bad group of friends. This was uncharacteristic of Paul. He was the peacemaker in our home. He was always a sensitive and spiritual boy. Whenever my husband would give Paul a blessing, he would burst into tears. There was just something about him. But when he began to make poor choices of friends, he went from being an honor student to dropping out midway through that year.

I watched with despair as he became more and more involved with drugs. He was arrested repeatedly, and went through the juvenile system. Most of the time the punishment was light, and he always bluffed his way through the drug counseling. Within the year, he moved out of our home and we rarely heard from him. Often, we had no idea where he was.

After Paul turned 18, he continued on his downward spiral. We prayed and prayed for him, and I fasted almost every Sunday. I recalled Elder Holland’s promise, and I tried to be faithful in every way. Nevertheless, I found it hard not to question myself. I would constantly wonder what I had or had not done that had caused Paul to go down this path, but I never found any answers. Still, I beat myself up ruthlessly.

Paul finally reached a low point when he was sent to prison for an evaluation before sentencing. He spent three months in prison, twenty-three hours a day in a cell, and we could only have contact with him through letters. Over the course of those weeks, I noticed the tone of his letters change. He wrote and asked us to send him a set of scriptures. He read them from cover to cover. Soon, he was bearing his testimony in his letters. It was an amazing transformation.

But his journey wasn’t over. Next, he was sentenced to complete inpatient drug rehab, and he spent several months in the county jail waiting for a space to open up for him. While in jail, he attended the Church-sponsored meetings and he grew very close to the men and women who served there. He was finally admitted to the Salvation Army inpatient program, and he worked very hard to complete it.

When he was released, he did well for a few weeks, but then relapsed. Angry with himself for failing, he checked himself back into the program and worked even harder. He completely changed his life; he moved away from his old friends and started attending a singles’ ward. There, he met a wonderful young woman, and they were married in the temple a little over a year ago. He continues to be involved with the LDS substance abuse program, and is often a facilitator at the meetings. He works with the young men in his ward, and has one of the strongest testimonies I’ve ever heard.

As a parent, I have felt guilt, inadequacy, and failure during those days. So many times I felt that the Lord dealt me a bad hand and I wasn’t up to the task. My husband and I counseled with our bishop many times, and even today I still question my parenting skills, but I never gave up and I will never give up. I continue to fast and pray for my children, and I know that miracles happen.

When Paul was in jail he wrote a touching poem. I think his sentiments might give hope to all parents who struggle with their wayward children.

The Person I Used to Be

As I sit in this cell

And I think about God

I see it’s not really hell,

I’ve been brought back to the Rod.

So I’ll hold on tight

Because falling away

Means not doing right

Like I did in those days.

When my will was important

And I did what I did,

It was from God’s intent

For me that I hid.

But I’ve opened my eyes

Small miracles came

Now I see through the lies

And I take full blame.

Now I may have fooled others

And myself I’ve betrayed

And all that I have learned

Is that I should have stayed.

It’s Going to Be All Right

The purpose of this article could be boiled down to this one statement: It’s going to be all right. The Lord had provided a spiritual solution for waywardness. We are not impotent; we can pray for opportunities for our children to change. We have (or can develop) all the necessary tools to partner with heaven in bringing our children to a crossroads or in petitioning for a “conversion opportunity,” as did Alma the Elder. As we apply these tools and patiently work with our wayward children, we must maintain our perspective of where and when they are living.

This world is possibly the most corrupt among God’s creations, and our children are living in the most wicked phase of its existence. Agency and truth are choked by such vile conditions, and God will mercifully take this into account. President J. Reuben Clark Jr. said, “I believe that in his justice and mercy, [God] will give us the maximum reward for our acts, give us all that he can give, and in the reverse, I believe that he will impose upon us the minimum penalty which it is possible for him to impose.”[v]

We must remember that our children were among the noble and great ones whose fall rendered them exceptionally disempowered: physically, spiritually, and emotionally. They are asleep as to their true identity and to things “as they really are.”[vi] Nevertheless, in His wisdom, God foresaw these conditions, and with the redemption of all His children in mind, He created a plan to organize families into saving relationships, where strong parents nurture spiritually weak children, and strong children bless spiritually weak parents.

We parents were prepared for our mortal redemptive missions. Despite our temporary amnesia, we carry within us vital instruction and skill to become saviors on Mount Zion to our children. As we perform our missions, we will develop essential godlike characteristics that will propel us into the celestial kingdom.

Central to our being able to hone the invaluable skills of working redemption among God’s children, we will be introduced to “the heart of the gospel message,” which Jesus described in the parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. We will observe firsthand the Savior’s ability to rescue those who have wandered, who have become lost from view, or who have rebelled and traveled to a “far country” to live like the Gentiles. We will be invited to follow His example. We will also observe the work and glory of God as He sets His hand to reclaim His wayward children. In the process we will recognize angelic ministrations as the powers of heaven are loosed to answer our prayers in behalf of our children and to assist us in our mission.

To ground us in faith and to provide us with strength to persevere when all might seem lost, we can rely on the many prophetic promises that assure us of a positive outcome. Central to these promises is our obligation to sanctify ourselves and to offer service in the temple that blessings might more easily flow from heaven.

Parents and spouses can have confidence and power to gather in the name of Jesus Christ as we call on the powers of the priesthood—the powers to bind our children to us, to turn their hearts to us, and to claim them forever through the eternal weld that is represented by our sealing.

In the end, we know that the worth of our child’s soul is great in the sight of God. Our Heavenly Father anticipated and prepared for the difficult situation that we are now facing. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to rescue the child through the power of the infinite and eternal Atonement. The work of the Father and the Son is fully adequate to snatch our children from the deepest abyss, break down every obstacle, and place them on a throne.

Let us, therefore, ascribe to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ the perfections of character They are due: mercy, love, power, knowledge, compassion, grace, truth, and so forth. When we attempt to impose upon Them constraints of time or imagine that a difficulty is beyond Their reach, we discount the testimony of prophets, who have said nothing is too hard for the Lord.[vii] Therefore, we should be careful when we pass immutable judgments on wayward souls, even when they sin grossly or remain unrepentant even until death. A veritable tome of evidence testifies that, with the help of the Lord, parents can be equipped with immeasurable ability and resources to rescue their wayward children from any location, time, or situation. Clearly, our covenants take on an added dimension when viewed in this light, for great power is given to those of us who sincerely make and keep covenants.

As we sanctify ourselves in the covenant, we reach out to Jesus, who extends “the arm of mercy towards them that put their trust in him.”[viii] We become one with Him in every way and thus have access to His saving power. No statement of understanding could be more comforting as we persist in the work of redemption.

You Are Not Alone

We end with President Monson’s counsel on gaining peace over the care of our families. He shared these sentiments with faithful members in leadership positions, but considering the broader context of the prophets’ promises regarding all worthy parents who are sanctifying themselves and serving the Lord, these words clearly apply to all of us:

“You are not alone,” President Monson promised. “We pray for you.” He goes on to remind us of a scripture from the Doctrine and Covenants: ‘Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you . . . your families are well; they are in mine hands, and I will do with them as seemeth me good; for in me there is all power.’”[ix]

May we always have faith in the Lord’s power to work in and through us. May we always remember the love He has for each of us. And may we never forget that with God all things are possible.

Author’s Note:

Note: This article is adapted from Rescuing Wayward Children. Follow this link to learn more.

Also, to receive a sample of my new 5-book series, The Three Pillars of Zion, Click here.

[ii] See Ezra Taft Benson, “In His Steps,” Ensign, September 1988.

[iii] Robert L. Millet, When a Child Wanders, 120–122.

[iv] Robert L. Millet, When a Child Wanders, 126–127.

[v] J. Reuben Clark, Jr., Conference Report, October 1953, 84.

[vi] Jacob 4:13.

[vii] See Genesis 18:14.

[viii] Mosiah 29:20.

[ix] Thomas S. Monson, “News of the Church” Ensign, September 1994, 76.

The Book of Mormon contains several Zion accounts. The most obvious is found in Third Nephi. There we are introduced to people who initially were unprepared for the Lord’s presence and his Zion. Nevertheless, after a period of diligent preparation, these people managed to change their lives so that the Lord could come and establish Zion among them.

But there is another account that begs our attention: the account of the people of King Benjamin. These people were prepared for the establishment of Zion; they had been diligently keeping the commandments of the Lord,[ii] and they were ready to ascend to a higher level of spirituality. King Benjamin employed his priesthood to facilitate a spiritual experience that took his people to that higher level. This level is where the ideal of Zion becomes possible in a person’s life; it is this level where preparations are finally complete so that we can come into the presence of the Lord. This level is marked by fully taking upon us the name of Jesus Christ.

To fully take upon us the name of Christ requires at least three things: (1) intervention by the priesthood, (2) receiving all of the covenants and ordinances, including those administered in the temple, and (3) living worthily of all that we have received.

Intervention by the Priesthood

Elder David B. Haight taught us of the responsibility and the opportunity of a priesthood holder to bring those of his stewardship to a point where they can fully take upon them the name of Jesus Christ. Referring to “a sacred experience in which he viewed the Savior’s ministry and came to a greater understanding of the power of the priesthood,”[iii] he said, “During those days of unconsciousness [brought on by illness] I was given, by the gift of the Holy Ghost, a more perfect knowledge of His mission. I was also given a more complete understanding of what it means to exercise, in His name, the authority to unlock the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven for the salvation of all who are faithful.”[iv]

King Benjamin understood his priesthood role to act as an advocate for the people and “to unlock the mysteries of the kingdom for [their] salvation.” By the authority of the priesthood, he facilitated a spiritual experience whereby his people received a greater endowment of the Spirit in a temple setting. We must remember that the responsibility of the priesthood is to bring people to the Holy Ghost, whose responsibility is to bring people to Jesus Christ—whose responsibility is to bring people to the Father.

King Benjamin sanctified himself, thus changing his purpose from being king and protector to becoming a savior to his people. The priesthood is the power to facilitate a conversion opportunity for those of one’s stewardship, to bring people to Christ so that they might more fully take upon themselves his name, and to unlock the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven that can be learned only by revelation. This astounding idea links priesthood authority, the name of Christ, and unlocking blessings for those whom we serve.

Receiving the Covenants and Ordinances

The process of taking upon ourselves the name of Christ begins at baptism,[v] and it continues by our subsequently partaking of the sacrament, in which we indicate our willingness to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ.[vi] In both cases, however, our ability to fully take upon ourselves the name of Christ, which is sometimes termed as being born again or being born of God, is usually something that happens later. Elder Bruce R. McConkie explained:

Mere compliance with the formality of the ordinance of baptism does not mean that a person has been born again. No one can be born again without baptism, but the immersion in water and the laying on of hands to confer the Holy Ghost do not of themselves guarantee that a person has been or will be born again. The new birth takes place only for those who actually enjoy the gift or companionship of the Holy Ghost, only for those who are fully converted, who have given themselves without restraint to the Lord. Thus Alma addressed himself to his “brethren of the church,” and pointedly asked them if they had “spiritually been born of God,” received the Lord’s image in their countenances, and had the “mighty change” in their hearts which always attends the birth of the Spirit. (Alma 5:14, 31.)[vii]

Baptism and the sacrament point us toward making other covenants and receiving their associated ordinances. To the degree that we make and receive these covenants and ordinances, and live worthily of them, we take upon us the name of Jesus Christ.

Common Ways of Taking upon Ourselves the Name of Christ

There are several ways we commonly take upon ourselves the name of Christ.One way that we take upon ourselves his name is to accept him as the father or head of the earthly church to which we belong, the Church that bears his name: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[viii] Our acceptance of him in this role transcends this world, for it is in the next world that we, having taken upon ourselves his name, will more fully see and accept him as the “Mighty God, the Everlasting Father,”[ix] the eternal head of the heavenly church to which we will belong: The Church of the Firstborn.[x]

Another way that we take upon ourselves his name is by taking upon ourselves his priesthood. The Lord said to Abraham, “Behold, I will lead thee by my hand, and I will take thee, to put upon thee my name, even the Priesthood of thy father, and my power shall be over thee.”[xi]

Moreover, we take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ when we bear testimony of him. Testimony bearing and taking upon ourselves Christ’s name are linked in the latter-day commandment: “Take upon you the name of Christ, and speak the truth in soberness.”[xii] Peter said, “Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you.”[xiii] Bearing witness of the Lord is to commend him to others and to testify of his reality, his ability, and his works.[xiv] This recommendation and witness qualify as a form of taking upon us the name of Christ.

We also take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ by assuming his work. Significantly, the Twelve Apostles are “special witnesses of the name of Christ in all the world.”[xv] By delegation, we take our part in the work of the Twelve, and thus we take upon us the work and name of Christ.

Born of God—the Mystery of Spiritual Rebirth

But there is another way of taking upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ. This way speaks of a future event that is foreshadowed each time we partake of the sacrament and witness our willingness to take upon ourselves his name in this ultimate way. M. Catherine Thomas refers to this future event as “the mystery of spiritual rebirth.”[xvi]

The idea of spiritual rebirth was introduced to Nicodemus by Jesus: “Ye must be born again.”[xvii] The concept of birth invokes the image of parents or progenitors. When we are born again by baptism, we agree to accept Jesus as our spiritual father and give ourselves to being adopted into his family, which is his Church. Hence, forevermore, we are called by the name of our adopted father—Jesus Christ—which is also the name of our new family. We accept Jesus as our adopted father in the sense that he becomes the father or the progenitor of our salvation; that is, our salvation is born of him. King Benjamin said, “Because of the covenant ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons and daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you.”[xviii] Elder McConkie wrote:

Those who are born again not only live a new life, but they also have a new father. Their new life is one of righteousness, and their new father is God. They become the sons of God; or, more particularly, they become the sons and daughters of Jesus Christ. They bear, ever thereafter, the name of their new parent; that is, they take upon themselves the name of Christ and become Christians, not only in word but in very deed. They become by adoption the seed or offspring of Christ, the children in his family, the members of his household which is the perfect household of perfect faith.[xix]

That is not to say that we abandon our Heavenly Father, who is the Progenitor of our spirit bodies, in favor of Jesus Christ, who is our elder brother. Conversely, Heavenly Father initiates the mandate that we take upon us the name of his son, Jesus Christ, by our entering in the waters of baptism. Moreover, as we have said, each time we partake of the sacrament, we witness unto the Father our willingness to take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ, that is, to prepare ourselves and look forward to the day when we fully take upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ.

It should be clear by now that taking upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ is the central issue and objective of the gospel. Possibly nothing is more important to our salvation and eventual exaltation than taking upon ourselves this holy name.

Fully Taking upon Us the Name of Jesus Christ

This brings us to the account of King Benjamin and how he used his priesthood to facilitate a spiritual experience by which his people could fully take upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ—“the mystery of spiritual rebirth.”

We recall that the prophet-king sanctified himself and thus fully took upon himself the name of Christ. Now he was in a position to help others. Jesus set the example for this process. In his great intercessory prayer, he said to the Father, “And for their sakes [the apostles] I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified.”[xx] That is to say, he was about to magnify or increase his purpose through his atoning sacrifice so that he could fully become the Savior. He said that he was going to do this so that he could facilitate a sanctifying opportunity for his apostles, “that they also might be sanctified.” Likewise, King Benjamin sanctified himself, fully took upon himself the name of Christ, and then prayed earnestly for priesthood power to bring his people into the presence of the Lord. The process moved him from being a great king and protector to being a great prophet and priest, or more specifically, a savior to his people.

In response to King Benjamin’s prayer, an angel appeared, granting him permission to gather the people for the purpose of giving them an endowment that would cause them to “rejoice with exceedingly great joy”[xxi] and be “filled with joy.”[xxii] These terms are connected with being born again.[xxiii] The central message of the angel involved King Benjamin’s giving the people “a name, that thereby they may be distinguished above all the people which the Lord God hath brought out of the land of Jerusalem.” Without a doubt, these people were righteous and highly favored. But what had they done to deserve the honor of being granted this “name”? King Benjamin explained that it was because “they have been a diligent people in keeping the commandments of the Lord.” For that reason, they would be blessed with “a name that never shall be blotted out, except it be through transgression.”[xxiv]

From that point forward, the king’s entire effort—gathering them to the temple, administering to them a sermon that was structured like the temple endowment,[xxv] making references to their being “sealed” to Christ in order to receive eternal life[xxvi]—focused on helping his people fully take upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ.

It is worth emphasizing that these people were righteous people who had been diligent in keeping the commandments, which we may assume would mean that they had received baptism and so had already taken upon themselves the name of Christ. Now King Benjamin, through his priesthood, served as an advocate with God to provide these good people a new and fuller experience with the name of Christ. Obviously, they had never before taken upon themselves the name of Christ to this degree. What happened when they did so? Catherine Thomas said they attained to “a higher spiritual plain in their quest to return to God. . . . The people tasted of the glory of God and came to a personal knowledge of him; through the power of the Holy Spirit they experienced the mighty change of heart and the mystery of spiritual rebirth.”[xxvii]

This astonishing experience resulted in a “profound transformation from basic goodness to something that exceeded their ability to even describe. This much did they say, ‘The Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent . . . has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually’ (Mosiah 5:2).”[xxviii]

President Joseph F. Smith explained the result of taking upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ and experiencing the mighty change of heart:

If our hearts are fixed with proper intent upon serving God and keeping His commandments, what will be the fruits of it? What will be the result? . . . Men will be full of the spirit of forgiveness, of charity, of mercy, of love unfeigned. They will not seek occasion against each other; nor will they take advantage of the weak, the unwary, or the ignorant; but they will regard the rights of the ignorant, of the weak, of those who are dependent and at their mercy, as they do their very own; they will hold the liberties of their fellow-men as sacred as their own liberties; they will prize the virtue, honor and integrity of their neighbors and brothers just as they would appreciate and prize and hold sacred their own.[xxix]

Zion indeed!

The Temple and the Name of Christ

The key to understanding “the mystery of spiritual rebirth” lies in the fact that King Benjamin’s people fully took upon themselves the name of Christ in a temple setting. We cannot overstate the significance of this fact. The temple is a house dedicated to “the name” of the Lord.[xxx] The Lord’s “name shall be put upon this house.”[xxxi] When we partake of the sacrament, we implicitly indicate our willingness to go to the temple to fully take upon ourselves the name of Christ and receive the blessings of exaltation.[xxxii] Expounding on our receiving the fulness of the name of Christ, Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote, “God’s name is God. To have his name written on a person is to identify that person as a god. How can it be said more plainly? Those who gain eternal life become gods!”[xxxiii] Thus, it is in the temple that we fully receive the name of Jesus Christ through the covenants and ordinances of salvation.

In the temple we are purified, sanctified, and anointed to become kings and priests, queens and priestesses, in the similitude of Jesus Christ.[xxxiv] It is in the temple that we receive the keys of his knowledge and power. It is in the temple that we make successive covenants that define a Christlike lifestyle.[xxxv] It is in the temple that we are transformed into saviors on Mount Zion, with his “name written always in [our] hearts,”[xxxvi] and it is there that the price he paid for each of us becomes very real.

We recall that the Nephites had something like a temple experience when the Savior invited them, one by one, to step forward and touch his wounds and thus come in contact with the reality of the Atonement on an individual basis.[xxxvii] As they effectively received the marks of the Atonement, they were transformed into saviors in the similitude of the Savior; that is, their ability to perform a saving service in behalf of others greatly increased, as evidenced in the beginning verses of Fourth Nephi. In that encounter with the resurrected Savior, in a very literal way, they took upon themselves the name of Christ, whereas previously they had received his name symbolically.

It is in the temple that we are bound to Jesus with a seal that cannot be broken—except by our own sin. There we symbolically ascend to where he is, to become what he is, and to achieve oneness with him as he is one with the Father. It is in the temple that we receive by marriage a kingdom within his Kingdom. Everything about the temple experience points to fully taking upon ourselves the name of Jesus Christ.

The Name of Christ and Coronation

Moreover, everything about the temple experience points to our coronation in God’s kingdom.[xxxviii] What we do in the temple symbolically, we will one day do literally.[xxxix] We recall that the kings of the Nephites typically received a new name when they ascended to the throne. At first, that name was Nephi.[xl] Just so, when we ascend to our throne we are given a new name—a coronation name. That royal name is Jesus Christ; we become joint heirs with him. Thus, to fully take upon us the name of Jesus Christ opens the door to be nominated a candidate for a throne and exaltation.

The prophet Jeremiah rejoiced when he read, understood, and internalized the import of the word of the Lord as it applied to taking upon himself the name of Jesus Christ: “Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts.”[xli] Elder McConkie taught,

We have the ability and the capacity and the power to attain unto that status [sons and daughters of God] after we accept the Lord with all our hearts (see D&C 39:1–6). Now the ordinances that are performed in the temples are the ordinances of exaltation; they open the door to us to an inheritance of sonship; they open the door to us so that we may become sons and daughters, members of the household of God in eternity . . . if we thereafter continue faithful, to receive eventually the fullness of the Father. The temple ordinances open the door to gaining all power and all wisdom and all knowledge. Temple ordinances open up the way to membership in the Church of the Firstborn. They open the door to becoming kings and priests and inheriting all things.[xlii]

Catherine Thomas concluded, “King Benjamin’s people received an endowment of spiritual knowledge and power which took them from being good people to Christlike people—all in a temple setting. What they experienced through the power of the priesthood was a revelation of Christ’s nature and the power to be assimilated to his image.”[xliii] Plainly, those who fully take upon themselves the name of Jesus Christ qualify to come into his presence, receive their exaltation, and become gods. This is “the mystery of spiritual rebirth.”[xliv]

And this, we would conclude, is the essence of Zion, which is made possible by fully taking upon us the name of Jesus Christ.

Author’s Note:

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

[ii] Mosiah 1:11.

[iii] Thomas, “Benjamin and the Mysteries of God,” 281.

[iv] Haight, “The Sacrament—and the Sacrifice,” 59; emphasis added.

[v] 2 Nephi 31:13.

[vi] Moroni 4:3; D&C 20:37.

[vii] McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, 101.

[viii] D&C 115:4; 3 Nephi 27:7–8.

[ix] Isaiah 9:6; 2 Nephi 19:6.

[x] D&C 76:54, 71, 76, 94; 93:22; 107:19.

[xi] Abraham 1:18.

[xii] Oaks, “Taking Upon Us the Name of Jesus Christ,” 80; quoting D&C 18:21.

[xiii] 1 Peter 3:15.

[xiv] Ether 12:41.

[xv] D&C 107:23.

[xvi] Thomas, “Benjamin and the Mysteries of God,” 277.

[xvii] John 3:7.

[xviii] Mosiah 5:7; see also Alma 5:14; 36:23–26.

[xix] McConkie, A New Witness for the Articles of Faith, 284.

[xx] John 17:19.

[xxi] Mosiah 3:13.

[xxii] Mosiah 4:3.

[xxiii] Thomas, “Benjamin and the Mysteries of God,” 285–86.

[xxiv] Mosiah 1:11–12.

[xxv] Thomas, “Benjamin and the Mysteries of God,” 292.

[xxvi] Mosiah 5:15.

[xxvii] Thomas, “Benjamin and the Mysteries of God,” 293.

[xxviii] Thomas, “Benjamin and the Mysteries of God,” 290.

[xxix] Smith, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith, 425.

[xxx] 1 Kings 3:2; 5:5; 8:16–20, 29, 44, 48; 1 Chronicles 22:8–10, 19; 29:16; 2 Chronicles 2:4; 6:5–10, 20, 34, 38.

[xxxi] D&C 109:26.

[xxxii] Oaks, “Taking Upon Us the Name of Jesus Christ,” 80.

[xxxiii] McConkie, Doctrinal New Testament Commentary, 3:459.

[xxxiv] Smith, Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, 22.

[xxxv] Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 454–56.

[xxxvi] Mosiah 5:12.

[xxxvii] 3 Nephi 11:14–17.

[xxxviii] Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 1464; McConkie, Conference Report, Oct. 1955, 13.

[xxxix] D&C 76:55–58.

[xl] Encyclopedia of Mormonism, 191.

[xli] Jeremiah 15:16.

[xlii] McConkie, Conference Report, Oct. 1955, 13.

[xliii] Thomas, “Benjamin and the Mysteries of God,” 292.

[xliv] Thomas, “Benjamin and the Mysteries of God,” 277.

It is a well-known fact that the sacrament serves to align our lives with Jesus Christ like a compass aligns us to true north. When we are faced with a child who is off course, a most useful, redeeming tool for parents is to remain on course. According to numerous parents who have suffered long with a wayward child, the sacrament was the single gospel principle upon which they relied to weekly anchor them to their covenants and to infuse them with power to press forward in faith and hope.

The Purposes of the Sacrament

The ordinances of the sacrament and baptism are interconnected. Baptism is the covenant of salvation;[i] Jesus Christ is the agent of salvation. When we renew our baptismal covenants by partaking of the sacrament, we should recommit to the terms of baptism that ensure our salvation, and we should recommit our lives to Jesus Christ. The major purpose of our gathering in sacrament meeting is to partake of the sacrament. “When ye come together therefore into one place, is it not to eat the Lord’s supper?”[ii] The Apostle Paul suggests three great purposes for the sacrament.

• The sacrament is a memorial. “This do ye . . . in remembrance of me.”[iii]
• The sacrament is a testimonial. When we partake, we “shew the Lord’s death till he come.”[iv] (Note that the word shew means to “proclaim or announce.”)
• The sacrament is an examination. “But let a man examine himself.”[v]

When we partake of the sacrament, do we fulfill these three main purposes? Do we rejoice in our recollection of the wonder and majesty of the Atonement? Does our partaking of the sacrament testify of our faith in the Redeemer? Do we look closely at our lives to see if we are worthy and if we are conducting ourselves as disciples ought? Again, many parents of wayward children have testified that the sacrament, because it focuses on our relationship with Jesus Christ, brought them comfort, purpose, hope, and the power to face their challenges and to obtain divine assistance for their children.

The Sacrament and the Promise of the Holy Ghost

Nothing in the process of redeeming a wayward child is as essential as having the guidance of the Holy Ghost. Significantly, the sacrament’s sanctifying promise is the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost: “Those who partake of the sacrament place themselves under covenant with the Lord to take upon them the name of Christ, to always remember him, and to keep his commandments. The Lord in turn covenants that they may always have his Spirit to be with them.”[vi]

This implication is often missed. When we are baptized and confirmed, we are commanded to “receive the Holy Ghost.” Elder Bruce R. McConkie points out that this commandment is also a gift—a right, not a guarantee, “based on faithfulness, to the constant companionship of the member of the Godhead. It is the right to receive revelation, guidance, light, and truth.”[vii] Our ability to retain the companionship of the Holy Ghost is apparently dependent upon our honoring our baptismal covenants by means of the sacrament. In plain terms, the sacrament is the ordinance that makes retention of the Holy Ghost possible.

The Holy Ghost and Sanctification

Elder Dallin H. Oaks said, “When we worthily partake of the sacrament, we are promised that we will ‘always have his Spirit to be with [us].’ To qualify for that promise we covenant that we will ‘always remember him’ (D&C 20:77).”[viii] Because we enjoy the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost, we enjoy the constant sanctifying power of that gift, which sanctification, in addition to all other considerations, enables us to seek redeeming blessings for those whom we love.

The Holy Ghost is the Sanctifier. Receipt of the Holy Ghost is called the baptism of fire, which follows the baptism by water. We are immersed both in water and in the Spirit. Remission of sins is not possible without the baptism of fire. Of the necessity of these two baptisms, the Prophet Joseph Smith said, “You might as well baptize a bag of sand as a man, if not done in view of the remission of sins and getting of the Holy Ghost. Baptism by water is but half a baptism, and is good for nothing without the other half—that is, the baptism of the Holy Ghost.”[ix] Because “no unclean thing can dwell in a divine presence,” and because “people are saved to the extent that they are sanctified,”[x] we cherish and rely on the Holy Ghost, who burns out of us all impurities and creates of us a “new creature.”[xi]

As its name implies, baptism by fire is hot. Malachi described the work of the Lord and his agent, the Holy Ghost, as a refiner’s fire.[xii] Both the Savior and the Holy Ghost are engaged in the work of refining souls. This knowledge is important to parents of wayward children and speaks to the theme of my book: The redeemed become the redeemers.

Our ability to rescue and redeem a wayward soul is directly linked to our level of sanctification. Therefore, we are told that before we attempt to pluck out the mote in another’s eye we must first excise the beam from our own.[xiii] That process requires the Holy Ghost. As we pray for the Lord’s help to rescue our children, we might be surprised that He focuses His attention on us first. The Lord might use the child’s situation to sanctify us. If we will submit to the refiner’s fire, once we emerge from it, we will be in a much better position to help our children when they experience it.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie wrote of the sacramental covenant and the Holy Ghost as paths to redemption:

Those who partake of the sacrament worthily thereby put themselves under covenant with the Lord: 1. To always remember the broken body and spilled blood of Him who was crucified for the sins of the world; 2. To take upon themselves the name of Christ and always remember him; and 3. To keep the commandments of God, that is, to “live by every word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of God.” (D&C 84:44.)

As his part of the contract, the Lord covenants: 1. That such worthy saints shall have his Spirit to be with them; and 2. That in due course they shall inherit eternal life. (D&C 20:75–79; Moro. 4; 5.) “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:54.) In the light of these covenants, promises, and blessings, is it any wonder that the Lord commanded: “It is expedient that the church meet together often to partake of bread and wine in the remembrance of the Lord Jesus.” (D&C 20:75; Doctrines of Salvation, Volume 2, 338–350.)”[xiv]

Clearly, none of these blessings are possible without the sacrament.

Coming to the Altar of Sacrifice

Each Sunday our attention should be focused on the sacramental table—the altar of sacrifice—where the priests of God prepare emblems of bread and water that remind us of the Lord’s sacrifice. Jesus said that He is the Bread of Life[xv] and the Living Water.[xvi]

In the sacramental covenant, both parties make promises to and agree to sacrifice for each other. The Lord’s promises are the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost and eternal life; our promises are those that we made at baptism, specifically, to take upon us the name of Christ, to always remember Him, and to keep His commandments. Jesus’ sacrifice is His body and His blood; our sacrifice is a “broken heart and a contrite spirit.”[xvii] The altar is where all of this takes place.

At the altar of sacrifice, the priests of God prepare and consecrate the sacrifice and set forth the terms of the covenant. The sacrament, like the Passover, is the memorial of our salvation and deliverance. That single hope should sink deeply within our souls as we consider the Atonement’s saving and liberating implications for our children.

The Supernal Blessing of the Holy Ghost

By living in a way that we always honor our baptismal covenants, we “retain a remission of our sins,”[xviii] “and the remission of sins bringeth meekness, and lowliness of heart; and because of meekness and lowliness of heart cometh the visitation of the Holy Ghost, which Comforter filleth with hope and perfect love, which love endureth by diligence unto prayer, until the end shall come, when all the saints shall dwell with God.”[xix] The promise of the Holy Ghost is unequalled: “The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.”[xx]

Therefore—and in no other way—by the simple, sanctifying act of worthily partaking of the sacrament, we renew our baptismal covenant and secure the promise that we received in our confirmation: the constant companionship of the Holy Ghost. And we know that it is the Holy Ghost who sanctifies us, which sanctification fills us with power to rescue our wayward children.

Author’s Note

Note: This article is adapted from Rescuing Wayward Children. Follow this link to learn more.

Also, to receive a sample of my new 5-book series, The Three Pillars of Zion, Click here.

[ii] JST 1 Corinthians 11:20.

[iii] 1 Corinthians 11:25.

[iv] 1 Corinthians 11:26.

[v] 1 Corinthians 11:28.

[vi] Encyclopedia of Mormonism, “Sacrament,” 1243–1244.

[vii] Bruce R. McConkie, “Gift of the Holy Ghost,” Mormon Doctrine, 312.

[viii] Dallin H. Oaks, “Pornography,” Ensign, May 2005, 88.

[ix] Robert, B.H., History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Volume 5, 499.

[x] Encyclopedia of Mormonism, “Holy Ghost,” 649–650.

[xi] 2 Corinthians 5:17.

[xii] See Malachi 3:2.

[xiii] See Matthew 7:3–4.

[xiv] Bruce R. McConkie, “Sacrament,” Mormon Doctrine, 660.

[xv] See John 6:35.

[xvi] See John 4:10.

[xvii] D&C 59:8.

[xviii] Mosiah 4:12.

[xix] Moroni 8:26, emphasis added.

[xx] D&C 121:46.

In the beginning of the 34^th year of the Nephite calendar, a terrible destruction occurred. According to Mormon, on the fourth day of the first month of the year, the Nephite nation was visited with cataclysms on the scale of the Flood and Sodom and Gomorrah. To the survivors, the voice of the resurrected Christ pierced the strangling darkness with both a rebuke and an invitation. We are obligated to consider these canonized words, because Mormon handpicked them as a way for us to prepare for and receive the resurrected Christ and his Zion.

O all ye that are spared because ye were more righteous than they, will ye not now return unto me, and repent of your sins, and be converted, that I may heal you?

How do we prepare to receive Christ and his Zion? Return, repent, and be converted. And what is the promise? Complete healing.

Mormon zeroed in on an exhortation that Jesus made when he later appeared to the Nephites. As we shall see, this exhortation helped to prepare the people for Zion:

And there shall be no disputations among you, as there have hitherto been; neither shall there be disputations among you concerning the points of my doctrine, as there have hitherto been. 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. Behold, this is not my doctrine, to stir up the hearts of men with anger, one against another; but this is my doctrine, that such things should be done away (3 Nephi 11:28-30).

In other words, stop arguing; stop fighting. Quit competing, gossiping, judging, and saying and doing hurtful things to each other. All of these things come of pride and selfishness. So stop thinking so much about yourself and start thinking more about others.

The Preparatory Year

We note with interest that Jesus’ voice was heard in the beginning of the thirty-fourth year. Then Mormon lets the record goes silent, as silent as the weighty silence that shrouded the earth after the Savior’s first pronouncements. When Mormon picks up the account again, he announces that we are “in the ending of the thirty and fourth year,” nearly one year later.

What happened in the lives of the surviving Nephites during those twelve months? Mormon gives us the answer in 4^th Nephi, and these verses provide us a key to likewise qualify to come into the presence of the Lord and become a Zion people.

And it came to pass in the thirty and sixth year, the people were all converted unto the Lord, upon all the face of the land, both Nephites and Lamanites, and there were no contentions and disputations among them, and every man did deal justly one with another.

And they had all things common among them; therefore there were not rich and poor, bond and free, but they were all made free, and partakers of the heavenly gift….

And it came to pass that there was no contention in the land, because of the love of God which did dwell in the hearts of the people.

And there were no envyings, nor strifes, nor tumults, nor whoredoms, nor lyings, nor murders, nor any manner of lasciviousness; and surely there could not be a happier people among all the people who had been created by the hand of God.

Clearly, the people had done as Jesus had directed one year earlier. In the subsequent twelve months, they had managed to return to him with full purpose of heart; they had repented; they had become converted. Then, as promised, when the Lord came, he healed them. Moreover, after Jesus came, and perhaps most importantly, the people had purged themselves of disputations and contentions. Now they were ready to become a Zion people, among the happiest “people who had been created by the hand of God.”

Is Zion that close? Could we, too, qualify for the supernal blessings enjoyed by the Nephites by practicing the same principles and eliminating the same vices?

Brigham Young said, “[Zion] commences in the heart of each person.” “The length of time required ‘to accomplish all things pertaining to Zion’ is strictly up to us and how we live.”

The Problem with Contention

Contentions and disputations had always been the common denominators of Nephite decline, apostasy and war. Contentions had also brought down the Jaredite civilization, and later contention had nearly destroyed the Nephites after the birth of Christ. We are not exempt. Mormon seemed to take a prophetic view of our day and single out a significant barrier that would stand between us and Zion. Quoting Jesus, Mormon reminds and warns us about the dangers of contention and disputation, then commands us to abandon such behavior once and for all.

A cursing is pronounced upon those who contend, and prophets and great leaders have sought to teach unifying principles to avoid the possibility of contention. King Benjamin warned, “But, O my people, beware lest there shall arise contentions among you, and ye list to obey the evil spirit…. For behold, there is a wo pronounced upon him who listeth to obey that spirit; for if he listeth to obey him, and remaineth and dieth in his sins, the same drinketh damnation to his own soul; for he receiveth for his wages an everlasting punishment, having transgressed the law of God contrary to his own knowledge.”

Later, Alma commanded the members of the Church “that there should be no contention one with another, but that…their hearts [should be] knit together in unity and in love one towards another.” Looking out across the generations of his children, Nephi prophesied that contention would define his people’s history and eventually cause their downfall: “For behold, I say unto you that I have beheld that many generations shall pass away, and there shall be great wars and contentions among my people.”

When the resurrected Jesus appeared to the Nephites, he commanded them to never again contend or dispute with each other. If they would obey this command, they would also impede to a great degree envy, strife, tumult, sexual sins, lying, murder, lasciviousness, secret combinations and economic and social distinctions.

We might conjecture that if we would diligently strive to come unto Christ with full purpose of heart, repent, become converted, and rid our lives of contentions and disputations, we too might qualify in a short period of time, even in as little as one year, as the Nephite record and Brigham Young suggest, for the Lord to come to us and establish us as individual Zion people, Zion marriages, Zion families, Zion wards and stakes, and a Zion church.

“It is high time to establish Zion”

Could becoming Zion people be that simple? If we were to really believe what we have been taught and really live what we have been given, could we also become Zion people in as little as one year? Joseph Smith said, “So long as unrighteous acts are suffered in the Church, it cannot be sanctified, neither can Zion be redeemed.” Our responsibility is to act now and embrace the principles of Zion, “or else,” the Lord warns, our “faith is vain.”

An editorial written by Bishop Newel K. Whitney and his counselors in the Messenger and the Advocate sums up the urgency: “Whatever is glorious. Whatever is desirable-Whatever pertains to salvation, either temporal or spiritual. Our hopes, our expectations, our glory and our reward, all depend on our building up Zion according to the testimony of the prophets. For unless Zion is built: our hopes perish, our expectations fail, our prospects are blasted, our salvation withers, and God will come and smite the whole earth with a curse.”

President Spencer W. Kimball taught, “Zion can be built up only among those who are the pure in heart, not a people torn by covetousness or greed, but a pure and selfless people. Not a people who are pure in appearance, rather a people who are pure in heart. Zion is to be in the world and not of the world, not dulled by a sense of carnal security, nor paralyzed by materialism. No, Zion is not things of the lower, but of the higher order, things that exalt the mind and sanctify the heart.”

Finally, President Lorenzo Snow exhorted, “It is high time to establish Zion. Let us try to build up Zion. Zion is the pure in heart. Zion cannot be built up except on the principles of union required by the celestial law. It is high time for us to enter into these things.”

A Challenge for the New Year

Let us adopt a challenge to become more Zionlike during the coming year. Write this goal on paper and attach it to the refrigerator:

Zion in One Year!

Come unto Christ

Repent

Be converted

No more contention

As simple as this goal might appear, it is nevertheless scriptural and proven among a people very much like us.

Author’s Note

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

See 3 Nephi 8:5.

3 Nephi 9:13.

3 Nephi 10:18.

4 Ne 1:2-3, 15-16.

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 9:284.

Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, vol. 9:283.

See 1 Nephi 9:4; 12:3; 19:4; 2 Nephi 26:2, 32; 28:4; Omni 1:17; Words of Mormon 1:12; Mosiah 9:13; Alma 2:5; 4:9;50:25; 51:9; Helaman 16:22; 3 Nephi 2:11.

See Ether 11:7.

See 3 Nephi 2:11.

See Ether 4:8.

See Mosiah 29:7.

Mosiah 2:32-33.

Mosiah 18:21.

2 Nephi 26:2.

See 4 Nephi 1:24-25.

Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, vol. 2:146.

See D&C104:54-55.

N. K. Whitney & R. Cahoon. V. Knight, Messenger and Advocate, vol. 3 (October 1836-September 1837), Vol. 3 September, 1837 No. 36 p.563.

Kimball, The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, 363.

Lorenzo Snow, The Teachings of Lorenzo Snow, p.181.

My mother was a woman of great faith,” recounts Avilda’s daughter. “It was Mother’s practice to never let a day go by without praying to God for his watchful care. When I was a small child growing up in Monroe Louisiana, Mother had a dream one night that she was driving along a country road with my sister and me playing in the back seat of the car. En route, my mother suddenly glanced in the rearview mirror and saw smoke and flames shooting from the trunk area. Quickly, she pulled to the side of the road, jumped out, and began searching for something to douse the flames. In a nearby gully, she spotted a rusty bucket filled with rainwater. Grabbing it, she ran back to the car and emptied the bucket on the fire. A strange dream, my mother thought as she awoke. And she let it go at that.

The next morning, Mother piled my sister and me into the car for a sixty-mile trip to attend Sacrament Meeting. About halfway there, on an infrequently traveled road, she was suddenly startled to see flames and smoke rising from the trunk of the car. My sister and I were frightened, but because of her dream Mother knew what to do. Pulling over to the side of the road, she quickly got out, ran about ten yards to a nearby gully, located a rusty bucket of rainwater, and extinguished the fire. Then, catching her breath and offering a simple prayer of gratitude, she settled back in the car and drove to church.

Avilda’s miracle story is not uncommon. Many people have experienced divine intervention from an unseen Source. Often, that intervention came at a time of crisis when other options had failed. Pure and simple, it was a gift.

What Are Gifts?

Gifts, by definition, are pure, voluntary offerings of love, indisputable evidence of the Giver’s affection. A gift cannot be earned; it is freely imparted with no expectation of repayment. Furthermore, inherent in the gift is the personality of the Giver. The gifts of God, for example, reveal his perfect attributes of character-his power, his awareness, his love-upon which believers rely and upon which their faith pivots.

These gifts-miracles-are unique in that they are inexplicable by the laws of nature. We receivers cannot duplicate them. Large or small, the gifts of God attest to his nearness and his interest in our welfare. As Elder Neal A. Maxwell said, “God is found in the details of our lives.” Thus we can expect to find him as we struggle with relationships, finances, health and weaknesses. We discover him as we labor over difficult decisions. We become acquainted with him as we receive unanticipated warnings of danger, gain added strength to endure, and follow carefully prepared paths of escape. From time to time we glimpse him delivering unexpected bouquets of affection, those almost anonymous offerings that communicate, “I am aware. I am near. I love you.”

Gifts often come when extraordinary help is needed; gifts provide us evidence of the existence of the Giver and illustrate his active involvement in our lives. God’s gifts provide hope, anchor faith, and demonstrate that prayers are heard and answers come. One man wrote:

Our family had suffered through a string of serious illnesses that had taken their toll on our family. My husband, who had been sick for three years, had finally come to the conclusion that his business could not be saved and that he needed to liquidate the inventory to pay his creditors. He made the difficult decision to close down the company and begin to pay off $300,000 in debts–without a job! Two years later, he had managed to pay back only $100,000 by liquidating the best of the remaining inventory. To retire the last $200,000 seemed impossible and he began to despair.

On New Years day, 1993, he called a friend whom he knew to be a man of faith. After my husband had explained our situation, he and his friend decided to pray and seek God’s help. Then the friend, in the authority of the priesthood, laid his hands on my husband’s head and sought divine counsel. The words of the blessing were astonishing.

“The time for your efforts is over. Heavenly Father has prepared another way to pay your debts.”

When the blessing had ended my husband asked, “I don’t understand. What should I do?”

“Go about your daily life,” his friend answered. “Your debts are God’s now.”

Ten days later, the area where we lived experienced a massive snowstorm.

Early on the morning of January 10th, my husband received a phone call and was told that he should hurry down to the warehouse where his inventory was stored. When he arrived, he could not believe his eyes. The warehouse roof had collapsed under the weight of the snow. A water line had broken and water was gushing all over his inventory. It appeared as though a bomb had exploded. Substantially everything was damaged.

As we later gathered to consider our options, bankruptcy was the only thing that came to mind. It was a discouraging alternative, one that we had tried to avoid for several years. Then we remembered the insurance policy. Five months earlier, the thought had weighed on my husband’s mind that he should reinsure the inventory for a value equal to what we owed the creditors. Although he had to scrimp to find the money for the extra premium, he had followed the prompting.

The result?

Within six weeks from the day of the priesthood blessing we were out of debt. The insurance company paid us $200,000!

Gifts Draw Us Close to the Giver

People who receive gifts from God often consider their experiences as holy ground whereon they become acquainted with the Giver. Diverse and intimately personal, gifts are woven from a common loom, summoning within their owners deep confidence in their Father in Heaven. Placing hope in the Giver of gifts proves not to be a vain effort after all.

Sometimes receivers of gifts experience miraculous intervention, and other times gifts come as quiet love notes. In either case, those who receive the gifts experience an increase of faith so that when they encounter difficulty again, they are better equipped to once more appeal to a loving Father who has the ability to help, is indeed aware, and cares enough to help. Receivers of gifts believe that their hope is anchored to something substantial. Simply put, they believe they are not alone.

This is not to say that there is an equation for God’s intervention: A+B=C. Our definition of deliverance is seldom God’s definition. We can dictate neither timelines nor terms. Nevertheless, we can be absolutely confident that our every prayer is heard and counts, and that somewhere in the process of working through, a divine encounter will happen. A son in Utah recounts:

When Mother was dying of cancer, she asked for a blessing to know the will of the Lord. I agreed to give the blessing, but I knew it would be the hardest of my life. Not that it would be harder for the Lord. I knew that he could heal cancer as easily as a cold. But for me, I had to prepare. I dared not approach this blessing casually.

Over the next few days, I attended the temple and prayed and humbled myself before the Lord. I read the scriptures about miraculous manifestations of power and healing. I counseled with wise men that had spent a lifetime exercising their priesthood righteously. Then I began to fast. I would not eat until the blessing was given. Mother lived six hours away.

As I drove through the night, I prayed continuously. I attempted to remove all doubt from my mind. I knew that God could heal Mother; I knew that the priesthood was the power; I knew that the ordinance of anointing and sealing had been revealed for this very purpose. I had come to that point of confidence and clarity. I pushed aside the temptation to craft words and plan the blessing. I had no desire to be eloquent or clever. I only wanted to plainly state what would be dictated by the inspiration of the Spirit-and remarkably, I now felt fully prepared to pronounce the promise of healing and witness a miracle.

I will not recount my reaction to stepping into Mother’s room and witnessing her frail, weakened body. My emotions were so tender. I loved my mother. How I longed for divine permission to say the words of healing. Our family knelt in prayer. We pled for a miracle. I was sure it would come.

It did.

At the moment I laid my hands upon my mother’s head, the Spirit said, “No.”

I wasn’t prepared for the answer. I felt Mother relax and concede under my hands. The miracle followed–sweet words of comfort and peace, every word dictated by a loving influence that knew her and understood her pain. Mom was going home.

Gifts Build Faith in God

In the Lectures on Faith, the Prophet Joseph Smith laid out the fundamentals of our achieving faith in God. Imperative in that process is our having a correct idea of God’s perfect attributes of character, including power, knowledge and love. Hope and faith in God turn on the belief that he possesses these and other attributes in perfection.

Otherwise, what’s the use in petitioning God at all?

In times of urgency, we hope that God has the power to help, we hope that he is aware of us, and we hope that he loves us enough to rush to our rescue. We reach out to the Giver and plead for his gifts because we believe that he has both the ability and the disposition to grant them. In the end, perhaps there is no better way to know him.

A great example is found in the oft-told tale of the ill-fated journey of the Martin and Willie handcart companies. Having begun their westward trek late in the fall of 1856, they were caught in an early winter storm in Wyoming. Although help was quickly dispatched from Salt Lake City, the storm took a terrible toll. Some people froze to death; others starved. When the survivors had later recovered in the safety of the valley, they settled and tried to piece together their lives. Years of controversy ensued. Debating the wisdom of their journey made good fodder for backyard courts and juries.

Much later, in the setting of a comfortable, frontier Sunday School class, criticism was raised once more over the company’s shortsightedness in leaving so late in the year.

An old man in the corner sat silent and listened as long as he could stand it, then he arose and said things that no person who heard him will ever forget. His face was white with emotion, yet he spoke calmly, deliberately, but with great earnestness and sincerity.

In substance he said, ‘I ask you to stop this criticism. You are discussing a matter you know nothing about. Cold historic facts mean nothing here, for they give no proper interpretation of the questions involved. Mistake to send the Handcart Company out so late in the season? Yes. But I was in that company and my wife was in it…. We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Not one of that company ever apostatized or left the Church, because everyone of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities….’ (Relief Society Magazine, January 1948, p. 8.)

It is upon our own personal holy ground that we add stories of our receiving God’s gifts to these. It is within our individual sacred space that we become acquainted with Someone who hears, who knows us, who has the ability to help, and who loves us enough to shower us with his gifts.

“Abruptly, I felt the earth move beneath me, as though it had suddenly become liquid. I steadied myself with a hand on the monument, while something akin to a tremor reverberated through the air. It hit me hard as if it had been the blast of a trumpet, but I heard no sound. Then, as unexpectedly as the quake had occurred, everything became absolutely still. Everything became as completely silent as one might experience deep in the belly of a cave. Nothing moved. No breeze, no far-off sound of sheep lowing, no noise of crickets or nightlife. Nothing. I was only aware of the rapid beating of my heart. I did not move; I did not breathe.

“Suddenly, as though it had been a spectacular strike of lightning, a blinding light burst forth from heaven and flooded Shepherds Field. Instantly, everything became brighter than midday. The light pierced the darkness of night like the first dazzling rays of morning, immediately eclipsing the light of the moon and the stars. It was unlike any other light that I had experienced. The light struck me with such force that I found myself lying on my back staring heavenward, unable to move, my strength having fled. The light felt amazingly tangible; it entered my body with the sensation of coming in from the cold and drinking warm fluid. It seemed to seep into every fiber of my soul until my entire body was warmed and enlightened by it. The light dispelled every particle of darkness in my being, and its warmth seemed to cleanse me; its presence seemed to wash away impurities, and its brightness burned out every doubt. If love were a substance then this light was love, for it filled me with the most profound assurance of celestial affection and enveloped me as with a holy embrace.

“As I gazed into the light, I suddenly beheld a glorious being standing above me-an angel from the presence of God. His countenance was brilliant. If it was possible, his body appeared brighter than the light that surrounded him. In fact, I could see that he was his own source of light; it radiated from him as though he were the sun. Nevertheless, his brilliance surpassed that of the sun, which in comparison would have appeared as a dim planet. Somehow I became aware that every particle of his body was vividly alive in a way that it could perceive and communicate truth. He was dressed in a robe of the most exquisite whiteness, a golden sash girded around the middle and tied on the side. His dress could have been that of a priest, except that his head was bare, as were his feet and hands. He wore a white beard the color of crystalline snow in the blazing sun, and his equally white hair flowed down over his shoulders in waves. His skin was not flesh colored, but radiant white and as clear as amber, almost transparent, and his eyes were as the flame of fire. In every way, the angel was a being of glorious light, as splendid a specimen of manhood as I had ever encountered.

“My first reaction was fear, not frightened fear, but holy fear, that sensation of profound reverence, awe and respect. The angel gently bent toward me and gestured with his hand, as would a friend. “Fear not,” he said, and when he did so, a thrill of hope shot through my body like lightening. His voice was mild and harmless, and yet it was commanding; although it was soft, it trumpeted a message of grand import. His words issued from his mouth like the sound of rushing water, making my voice sound coarse, awkward and primitive in comparison. Although the angel spoke in my language, I perceived his communication more in my mind, and that caused me to struggle to attune my ears to his message. I was suddenly impressed with divine proximity; God was near. The feeling carried with it complete awareness, concern, and remarkably, familiarity. I could not remember feeling so safe or so well known. I sensed that nothing could happen to me that heaven could not repair, that all would be well, no matter what happened.

“As I gazed into the light surrounding this holy being, the thought struck me that I was perceiving glory-the visible manifestation of divine presence, the ancient glory of the Lord that had always signaled his nearness. It was the Shekinah, the brilliant pillar of light that had rested upon the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle, as our fathers had sojourned in the wilderness, following Moses to the Promised Land. This glory of the Lord had departed Israel hundreds of years ago in the days of Ezekiel because of wickedness, and ever since the people had mourned its loss. But now, tonight, the ancient glory had returned signaling the fact that the light of God was once again coming to the earth. Suddenly, I became aware that this glorious light was sustaining me in a manner that allowed me to behold the angel and endure his presence. Amazingly, as the light filled and washed over my body, I felt enlightened, and somehow I knew more. Principles that had evaded me now seemed clear, and questions that had haunted me now vanished. My mind was fully open; the light poured into it without resistance or restriction, filling me with intelligence and truth. Moreover, each of my senses was heightened and on fire: I could see more, hear more, smell more, feel more, and understand and love more.

“By the act of merely speaking, the angel’s presence seemed to search me, and I was suddenly aware of every misdeed that I had ever committed that had distanced me from my God. Now, more than ever, I yearned for reconciliation, and I had no desire to do or think evil. I only wanted to bask in this love and remain in the divine presence forever. No price seemed too great to pay. At the angel’s first words, I recognized that I was about to hear something singular. I glanced down upon the meadow below and noted that my father and the other shepherds were experiencing this same vision. When I turned back to behold the angel, he continued with his message: “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”

“Could it be? The promised Savior, the Messiah, had been born today in Bethlehem? Since the world began, all the prophets had foretold this event, and now it had happened? But why tell us? We were but lowly shepherds, the poorest of society, a hiss and a byword among the people. Why not proclaim the news to the Jewish leaders of the venerable Sanhedrin? Why not tell them that the promise of the ages, the glory of Israel, had finally come to all people! Why not proclaim the news in the courts of emperors? The King of Kings is born today!”

Author’s Note
This narrative comes from my new book, The Shepherd’s Song. Click here for more details.