Faith to Stay (full audio book) - Inspiring New Discoveries, Stories & Insights To Help Strengthen Your Faith During the Storms of Life

This is the full streaming audiobook for Faith to Stay.  This is my gift to you.

It was written to help those who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who may be struggling with their faith.

Please feel free to share this with anyone who you feel could use it.

For more information about Faith to Stay, or to get the Free Digital version, go to www.faithtostay.com.

Enjoy!

Scott Brandley

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Faith to Stay Inspiring New Discoveries,
stories and Insights to HelpStrengthen your Faith During the
Storms of Life.
By Scott Brantley, narrated bythe author.
Introduction what you are aboutto read is a bit unconventional
when it comes to the topic offaith, but sometimes, when we go
through trials and aresearching for answers, it can be
helpful to take a step back andlook at things from a different

(00:24):
perspective.
This book helps you to do thatby introducing you to several
new discoveries, stories andinsights that you've likely
never heard of, don't know muchabout or haven't really
considered before.
It also explores a variety ofunique concepts and ideas that
will spark your mind in new,creative ways to help enlighten
and inspire you and bring youcloser to God.

(00:46):
So here's the deal If you're amember of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints whostruggles with doubts or
concerns, but still has thefaith and courage to believe
even when things are hard andyou feel like giving up, then
this book is for you.
My ultimate purpose is to helpyou strengthen your faith in the
gospel, and I do that by takingyou on a unique journey

(01:07):
spanning a variety of engagingtopics, including many things
that traditional LDS books don'ttypically discuss, like God and
creation versus macroevolution.
The importance of primary andsecondary questions.
The Goldilocks principle andhow it affects everything around
us.
The Kedav Hinnom scrolls andother ancient Paleo-Hebrew

(01:29):
discoveries linking Jehovah toChrist.
Incredible statisticalprobabilities surrounding the
prophecies of Christ.
Insights and parallels intoChristianity and world and
church history.
A deep dive into unique churchdoctrines.
Revisiting Lehi's journeyacross the Arabian desert using
documented expeditions, newdiscoveries and modern

(01:52):
technology.
An exciting ancient artifactfound in a dig by the
Smithsonian Institute.
Recent discoveries of ancientpetroglyphs and pictographs
found in Illinois of all placesrepresenting the resurrected
Savior.
Interesting parallels betweenrepentance and forgiveness.
A fascinating concept calledPascal's Wager dating back to

(02:16):
the 1600s.
Innovative ways to cope withdifficulties and hardships that
affect our faith, and much more.
There are also numerousscriptures and quotes from
prophets and apostles, alongwith many uplifting,
faith-promoting stories,creating a well-rounded,
intellectual, emotional andspiritually edifying experience.

(02:37):
My hope is that by the time youreach the end of this book, the
truths, concepts and ideas youdiscover along the way will
touch your heart and reigniteyour faith.
Regardless of your currentlevel of activity, whether you
went to church last week orhaven't been in years, you'll
find the information in everychapter to be well laid out easy
to understand and verythought-provoking.

(02:57):
Before you get started, I wantyou to know that I have a
testimony of Heavenly Father,jesus Christ, the Prophet Joseph
Smith, the Church of JesusChrist of Latter-day Saints and
the Book of Mormon.
My testimony is woventhroughout every single sentence
, paragraph and page in thisbook.
This is my gift to God, a smalltoken of my deep love and

(03:19):
appreciation for all that he andthe Savior have given to me and
my family.
I truly hope you enjoy it andthat it strengthens your faith
and helps you to stay strong inthe gospel when the storms and
pressures of life conspireagainst you.
Remember that Christ is alwaysthere, reaching out as a light
in the darkness.
All you have to do is reachback out.

(03:41):
Chapter 1.
Is God Real?
A Crisis of Faith?
I have a confession to make,and this isn't easy to admit,
but I experienced a faith crisiswhen I was serving as a bishop
several years ago.
When I originally startedwriting this book, I knew that I
had to share this experience,but at the same time, I was
worried that if I shared toomany details, that I might put

(04:03):
other people's faith at risk,which was the exact opposite of
my intent, and so I wroteseveral different versions to
try to minimize and even writearound some of the more
difficult elements of my story.
What I eventually realized isthat, however challenging it may
be to share certain details,they provide significant insight
and context into otherimportant areas of the book that

(04:25):
can really help to increase anddeepen the faith of the reader.
Without them, that context islost, and so I've decided to
share with you my fullexperience, with the hope that
it will ultimately help you inyour faith journey and bring you
closer to God.
A Bishop's Unexpected Struggle.
My story starts in 2014.

(04:46):
I was a brand new bishop at thetime, 39 years old and ready to
take on the world.
While my life was far fromperfect, the faith-building
experiences I had faced up tothat point seemed to far
outweigh my trials andchallenges.
As a result, I felt trulyconverted to the gospel.
I had no idea just how easilyand quickly my faith could be
tested.

(05:07):
I had only been serving in myposition for a few months when a
young couple in my ward told methey were questioning their
faith and were consideringleaving the church.
It caught me by completesurprise.
Not only had they both servedmissions, but they had
faithfully and diligently servedin a variety of callings over
the years, including leadershippositions.
They also had small children towhom this decision would

(05:29):
profoundly affect.
They were, honestly, one of thelast couples I ever expected to
say that.
I just couldn't believe it.
As we sat together, the husbandtold me in pensive, sorrowful
tones that their reasons forleaving involved certain points
of doctrine and events in churchhistory that stemmed from
recent essays that the churchhad published on their website.
I wasn't aware of these essaysat the time, so I told them that

(05:52):
I would do some research andprayerfully consider their
concerns and meet with themagain.
The questions that shook myfaith.
The first thing I did afterthat meeting was go directly to
the church's website.
As it turned out, they hadrecently published several
essays on different topics.
The first thing I did afterthat meeting was go directly to
the church's website.
As it turned out, they hadrecently published several
essays on different topicsregarding certain points of
church history and doctrine thatthey felt needed additional

(06:13):
clarification.
These essays included thingslike the nature of God, the
first vision, heavenly mother,plural marriage, race in the
priesthood and the translationof the Book of Mormon.
It was a noble effort by thechurch to create a source of
truth where people could learnabout various events in church
history and unique doctrinaltopics.
But reading them all at oncewas overwhelming.

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I don't know if it was the shockof the couple's announcement or
the sheer amount of informationI was absorbing, or the
desperation I felt in trying tofind compelling answers to their
questions.
But within mere hours of thatinitial meeting, I suddenly and
unexpectedly found myselfquestioning my own faith.
This was deeply concerning tome.
Thoughts of doubt started tocreep into my mind and it

(06:58):
consumed my thoughts andemotions.
For several days I keptthinking to myself this can't
possibly be happening to me.
What would my wife and myfamily think if they knew I was
questioning my faith?
What would my ward think?
I didn't dare tell anyone whatI was going through, but I also
knew that I wouldn't be able tokeep it a secret for very long
if I wasn't able to find aresolution.

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After a lot of walking,pondering and prayer, I felt a
strong impression that I neededto try to break my faith down
into its most basic principles,re-examine each principle
objectively to the best of myability and then, if I
determined that it was correct,to put it back in its place.
I felt that this was the onlyway for me to reconfirm to
myself the truth of my beliefs,and so I decided to start with

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the most important fundamentalquestion I could think of Does
God exist?
However, if I was to be trulyobjective, it meant that I also
had to sincerely consider thealternative what if God doesn't
exist?
Examining the Alternative SinceI was already well-versed in
arguments for God's existence, Idecided to explore what I

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deemed to be the only otherpossible alternative evolution
to see if there was anyirrefutable evidence that would
give me a reason to doubt myfaith.
There was so much on the line,so much to lose, including my
family, my friends, my socialcircle, my calling, my way of
life and, ultimately, myidentity, but I had to know for

(08:24):
sure if what I believed was true, and so I, reluctantly but
purposefully, started my journeyinto the unknown.
Does God Exist?
As I began to delve into theworld of evolution, I made some
important initial observations.
My first observation was thatthere were two general camps the
creationist or theist camp, andthe evolutionist or atheist

(08:47):
camp.
Creationists believe in adivine creator, that God
designed and formed the universe, the earth and all things in it
, including man.
Evolutionists, on the otherhand, believe that the universe
originated from nothing throughthe Big Bang, and that life
began in a primordial swamp as asingle-celled bacteria.
Over the course of 3.5 billionyears, this bacterium is said to

(09:10):
have evolved into the vastdiversity of plant and animal
life on earth, including man.
My second observation was that,while evolution is presented
often as a fact, it is actuallya belief, just like Christianity
is a belief.
And while I already knew thatmost scientists believed in
evolution, I was surprised todiscover that there were subtle

(09:30):
shifts taking place whereprominent members of the
scientific community werestarting to publicly question
the validity of the theory.
For example, in my studies Idiscovered a website called
dissentfromdarwinorg, where morethan a thousand prominent
scientists around the world havepublicly signed a statement
declaring we are skeptical ofclaims for the ability of random

(09:52):
mutation and natural selectionto account for the complexity of
life.
Careful examination of theevidence for Darwinian theory
should be encouraged.
My third observation was thatmany Christian churches spend a
lot of time and resources tryingto debunk evolution, which
really helped me in my research.
One of the reasons why I don'tthink that Latter-day Saints

(10:13):
spend very much time onevolution is because we have the
Book of Mormon as our secondwitness of God.
However, every other Christianreligion lives or dies by the
Bible alone, so they have noother choice but to put a stake
in the ground and fight fortheir position.
Things I didn't know aboutevolution.
Through my research, Idiscovered so many fascinating

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things that I didn't know aboutevolution, but every time I
found something new, whether itwas for or against it, there was
always a rebuttal from theother side attempting to
discredit the idea or discovery.
So, to try to be as objectiveas possible, I attempted to
break down and narrow thesediscoveries into their basic
elements or claims.
I then tried to determine ifthere were any hard facts for or

(10:57):
against those claims.
After careful thought andconsideration, I concluded that
I couldn't find any solidevidence to definitively prove
evolution.
Ultimately, there were threethings that made evolution a
difficult pill for me to swallow.
One macroevolution hasn't beenproven to exist.
When it comes to evolution,there are two types

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microevolution andmacroevolution.
Microevolution is the abilityfor diversity and small
differences to occur within aspecific species.
It's a common occurrence innature.
Macroevolution is the idea ofone type of species turning into
another, completely differenttype of species over time, like
seaweed becoming an apple tree,a fish becoming a crocodile or a

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bird becoming a monkey.
When it comes to scientificvalidation, microevolution is
widely accepted by scientistsbecause it can easily be seen
and proven, but macroevolutionis widely taught in schools and
institutions almost as a factinstead of a theory, and has
proliferated much of thescientific and professional

(12:00):
community, even though there'sno conclusive evidence that's
ever been found to prove it.
In fact, macroevolution is soprevalent that in most cases it
has replaced creationism thebelief that God created the
world and everything in it asthe de facto standard in
educational textbooks,effectively indoctrinating
millions of people to acceptevolution and reject God as the

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reason for our existence.
This is one of the primaryreasons why faith has become
such a challenge for so many.
In my search, I kept findingexamples of microevolution that
evolutionists seem to repeatedlymislabel as macroevolution.
They often reference specificplant types evolving into other
plants of the same variety.

(12:44):
They referred extensively toDarwin's finches, a group of
finches that Charles Darwin, thefather of the theory of
evolution, discovered on theGalapagos Islands, that had
different sizes of beaks.
They also referenced a study onmoths that changed their wing
color to blend in with theirbackground to protect themselves
from predators.
But in every case I could findthere was not a single example

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of macroevolution Plants werestill plants, finches were still
finches, moths were still moths, and so on.
I also discovered that the lackof physical evidence regarding
macroevolution has become a realchallenge when examining fossil
records.
Based on Darwin's teachings,paleontologists should find
traditional fossils in abundanceas countless species evolved

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and diversified over billions ofyears.
But instead of finding a vastsmorgasbord of transitional
treasures, they've continuallycome up empty-handed.
Even renowned paleontologist,stephen Jay Gould, one of the
most influential scientificwriters of this generation,
wrote that the extreme rarity oftransitional forms in the

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fossil record persists as thetrade secret of paleontology.
The reason he wrote thisadmission was because the lack
of transitional fossils was sostriking to him as a
paleontologist that he riskedhis entire career and went
against traditional Darwinism inan effort to postulate a new
theory of his own to try toexplain their uncomfortably

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obvious absence.
2.
Genes rarely, if ever,replicate into something better.
One of the fundamental ideas ofmacro evolution is that, over
time, genes mutate into improvedversions of themselves,
ultimately leading to thecreation of new and diverse
species.
However, genetic science hasshown the opposite is happening

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in the world today.
When it comes to mutations, thevast majority are either nearly
neutral, which are slightlydamaged but still functional, or
harmful, which are slightlydamaged but still functional, or
harmful, which aremalfunctioning or dysfunctional,
with positive mutations beingthe very rare exception.
This accumulation of damagedmutations over time is called

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genetic entropy.
To visualize the process ofgenetic entropy, picture a large
jar full of 1 million whitemarbles.
If you were to take 100 whitemarbles out every day and
replace them with 80 graymarbles, or nearly neutral
mutations, 19 red marbles orharmful mutations, and one green

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marble positive mutations andyou did that daily for 5,000
days, where one day equals onelifetime.
At the end of that process, youwould have 500,000 white
marbles left, with 400,000 graymarbles, 95,000 red marbles and
only 5,000 green marbles.

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Now, in the real world, thereare other variables, of course,
like survival of the fittest,that could potentially slow down
genetic decline.
However, even in the bestpossible scenario, the number of
positive mutations is sominuscule compared to the
overwhelming number of negativemutations that any long-term
improvement is statisticallyimprobable.

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The 5,000th descendant wouldalmost certainly be in a
significantly worse geneticstate than the first, as we see
happening today with geneticdisorders and species
degeneration.
As you can imagine, geneticentropy creates a huge dilemma
for evolutionists becausemacroevolution and genetic
entropy are polar opposites andcan't possibly coexist.

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Entropy are polar opposites andcan't possibly coexist.
Either the majority of ourrandom genetic mutations are
positive, which would bemacroevolution, or they are
negative, which would be geneticentropy, and modern day science
clearly shows us that it's thelatter.
3.
Life cannot come from aninanimate object.
Billions of dollars have beenspent on biotechnology, where

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countless numbers of the bestand brightest scientists, using
the most cutting-edge tools,have tried to create life.
But as hard as these scientistshave tried in every lab
experiment ever done, none haveeven come remotely close to
doing so.
The closest they've ever cometo creating life is through
cloning, which involves taking apiece of pre-existing DNA from

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one living cell and adding it toa piece of pre-existing DNA
from another living cell, orcreating new life from existing
life.
In his article Evolution isReligion, not Science, dr
Michael J Hout's PhD states Manyfamous evolutionists have
calculated the odds of a cell,or even just the proteins of a

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cell, randomly assembling.
These odds, calculated byevolutionists themselves, so
discredit the theory that theyare typically not mentioned in
discussions of the topic.
The famous atheistic astronomer, sir Frederick Hoyle,
calculated the odds of even justthe proteins of an amoeba

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arising by chance at 1 in 10 tothe 40,000th power, or 1,
followed by 40,000 zeros.
Biophysics and biochemistry atYale University calculated the
odds that a simple single-celledorganism might randomly

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assemble itself frompre-existing building blocks as
one in ten to the 100 billionthpower, or one, followed by 100
billion zeros.
Carl Sagan and other famousevolutionists, including Nobel
laureate Francis Crick, theco-discoverer of DNA, have come

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to similar conclusions.
Calculations such as these werethe basis of Sir Frederick
Hoyle's famous quote that theprobability of spontaneous
generation is about the same asthe probability that a tornado
sweeping through a junkyardcould assemble a 747 from the
contents therein.
Let's take a moment to reallyput this into perspective.

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According to the OxfordUniversity Press, nasuia
deltocephalinicola, the smallestbacteria genome, or in other
words, the smallest livingsingle-celled organism that
scientists have ever discovered,has 56,045 nucleotide base
pairs.
If you recall from your highschool chemistry class, all DNA

(19:16):
is comprised of only twodifferent base pairs adenine and
thymine, or AT, or cytosine andguanine CG.
These two base pairs arerepeatedly strung together into
one massively long strand thatmakes up every living organism's
DNA.
Now if you were to take all56,045 base pairs for this

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particular bacteria and wroteits exact DNA sequence out on
paper, it would be theequivalent of a 75-page
paperback book that would readsomething like this CG, ta, at,
at, cg, cg, ta, at, etc.

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Mathematically, the odds ofthis sequence happening randomly
is 4 to the 56,045th power,where 4 is the total number of
ways the base pair can bearranged, which is AT, ta, cg
and GC, and 56,045 is the totalnumber of base pairs.

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If you multiply 4 to the56,045th power, every calculator
will reply with infinity,because the number is so
impossibly large.
Even if you tried to just get20 nucleotide base pairs to be
sequenced in the proper order,the odds are 1 in a trillion.
And if you added just 5 morenucleotide base pairs and tried

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to sequence 25 of them in theproper order, the odds jump to 1
in a quadrillion, which meansit's 1,000 times harder to
sequence.
Now try to fathom theimpossible odds of all 56,045
base pairs coming together andrandomly aligning themselves in

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exact order just to create thesmallest, most simple bacterial
DNA sequence on Earth.
However mind-blowing this featmay be on its own, it's just the
very first step of assemblingthis incredibly intricate puzzle
.

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Since we just discussed DNA,let's start there.
For simplicity, let's pretendthat the very first primordial
DNA strand, 3.5 billion yearsago, just happened to have the
same number of nucleotide basepairs as today's smallest known
bacteria, and that all 56,045base pairs somehow came together
and were perfectly organized,sequenced and ready to go.
For this primordial DNA to evenhave a chance of survival, it

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would need somewhere to exist, aplace where its code could
remain stable and protected fromthe elements.
It would need a cell membrane.
For the sake of discussion,let's say that somehow a cell
membrane spontaneously formedaround this impossibly complex
strand of self-assembledprimordial DNA.
Even if this happened, it stillwouldn't be nearly enough.

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The next miracle that would haveto happen is that several body
parts would have to appear outof nowhere to successfully
perform a variety of vitalfunctions necessary for its
survival.
For a prokaryotic cell, thetype of cell that this would
have to have been internal andexternal functions are performed
by things like the cytoplasm,ribosomes, pili and flagellum.

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It would need these and othercritical parts to absorb food,
turn that food into energy, getrid of waste, move around its
environment, sense itssurroundings, grow and replicate
itself.
Then, once all of theseessential cell parts and pieces
somehow morphed into existence,to create a fully formed single

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cell, the cell body would thenneed to be able to understand,
process and execute the DNA codeinside of it.
It would also have to turn anyinstructions it received into
meaningful actions that woulddirectly benefit and promote
both the longevity and theprogeny of the cell.
Here's the bottom line.
Without all of these incrediblyintricate vital parts and

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systems being fully present andactively working in perfect
harmony with each other, there'sno possible way that a
biological cell couldsuccessfully function or even
exist.
But let's say that somehow thismiracle DNA and all of its
microscopic cell parts andpieces spontaneously came into
existence all at the same timeand all in the exact same

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primordial swamp billions ofyears ago, and that it
simultaneously combined to formthe first ever cell.
Even if all this happened,there's still one massive
problem it wouldn't be alive.
It would be nothing more thanan inanimate object sitting
there just like an unpluggedcomputer with all the parts it

(24:11):
needs to properly function, butwithout the power supply to do
anything about it.
But let's keep going.
Just for fun, let's say thatsomehow our theoretical cell
spontaneously came to life, justlike the proverbial gingerbread
man jumping out of the oven.
Even after that, it would stillhave the impossible challenge
of successfully replicatingitself on the very first attempt

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and then positively mutatingand growing into literally
millions of other viableorganisms, plants and animals,
with each mutated species beinga vastly improved genetic
version of its original self,eventually culminating in the
evolution of its ultimatemasterpiece, a human being.
Did you know that humans have3.2 billion nucleotide base

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pairs in every single cell?
That's the equivalent of 4.3million pages of DNA code in
exact sequence, compared to the75 pages in the original
bacterium.
That's approximately 57,000more times DNA code in every
single human cell, times 37.2trillion cells in the human body

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that make up more than 70extremely complex interrelated
organs, all of which worktogether in perfect unison.
When you break it down likethis, evolution miserably fails
on every possible level.
So to summarize, let's recapthe list of impossibilities.
Dna can't possibly organizeitself randomly into the proper

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exact sequence of tens ofthousands of nucleotide base
pairs that are necessary tocreate even the simplest
single-cell bacteria.
A cell can't just appear out ofthin air with all its vital
parts and organs automaticallyassembled and working, with the
DNA magically inside, ready togo, assembled and working with

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the DNA magically inside, readyto go.
A cell can't possibly functionwithout some way of being able
to read and translate its DNA,to carry out the DNA's
instructions successfully,replicating itself to ensure its
own survival and having someway to ingest and absorb energy
to sustain its life.
A life form can't add more DNAto itself, improve its DNA or

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turn itself into entirely newspecies through changes in its
existing DNA.
And finally, if scientiststoday were to somehow create the
perfect cell in a lab witheverything necessary for that
cell to properly function,survive and replicate, they
couldn't possibly, under anycircumstances, just somehow

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magically cause the cell tospring to life.
Life cannot come from aninanimate object.
Not only is each step of theprocess above impossible on its
own, but we're talking aboutadding impossibility on top of
impossibility, over and overagain, to an absurd level.
Ultimately, just like yoursmartphone or laptop can't exist

(27:09):
or function without anintelligent designer and a
continuous power source, there'sno living thing that can exist
without a higher power,intricately and painstakingly
designing it, creating it and,most importantly, giving it
precious life.
It creating it and, mostimportantly, giving it precious
life the Goldilocks Principle.
Once I was convinced thatmacroevolution was impossible, I

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decided to look at the earthand see how likely it was that
it just happened to randomlyexist in its current state.
What I discovered can best bedescribed by the story of
Goldilocks.
We all know the story ofGoldilocks and the Three Bears,
where everything that Goldilockswe all know the story of
Goldilocks and the Three Bears,where everything that Goldilocks
tried was either too hot, toocold, too big, too small, too
hard, too soft or just right.

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This idea of things being justright has turned into something
called the Goldilocks Principle.
It's currently used in a widevariety of disciplines,
including developmentalpsychology, biology, astronomy,
economics and engineering.
The interesting thing aboutEarth is that virtually
everything that allows us tolive on this incredibly complex

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planet follows the Goldilocksprinciple.
For example, our solar systemjust happens to be in the
galactic habitable zone in theMilky Way.
Our solar system just happensto be in the galactic habitable
zone in the Milky Way.
It's in the ideal location atthe edge of a spiral arm called
the Orion Arm, about two-thirdsof the way from the center of
the galaxy, where there aresignificantly fewer stars,

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minimal space debris and lowerlevels of radiation, which makes
it stable and safe.
The sun just happens to be theperfect size for our solar
system.
It provides the earth with theperfect amount of light and heat
to support all forms of life.
The earth just happens to be inthe perfect distance from the
sun.
Orbiting the sun in theGoldilocks zone, which is its
actual name Just a few degreesfrom its current orbit around
the sun, either closer orfurther away, would make the

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Earth uninhabitable.
The moon just happens to be theperfect distance from Earth,
the perfect size and in theperfect orbit.
The moon orbits at the perfectspeed to stabilize the Earth,
slow down its rotation, createtides to keep the oceans
oxygenated so they don'tstagnate, normalize our weather
and provide many other benefits.

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Also, did you know that the sunis 400 times larger than the
moon and 400 times farther awayfrom the earth than the moon?
This is why the moon and sunappear to be the exact same size
during an eclipse.
Is this an incrediblecoincidence or something more?
The earth's core just happens tobe strong enough to create
something called a magnetosphere, which creates a powerful

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shield around the Earth thatcontinuously deflects radiation
from the sun and space andprotects us from solar flares,
solar winds and meteors.
Without it, the Earth would beuninhabitable.
The Earth just happens to havean ozone layer, which is very
rare and reflects ultravioletradiation from the sun.
Dubbed the Earth's sunscreen,the ozone layer protects plants

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and animals from overexposurethat would otherwise lead to
excessive radiation.
Without the ozone layer, lifeon Earth would die.
The Earth's atmosphere justhappens to have the ideal
chemical composition tofacilitate all different kinds
of plant and animal life.
This combination of 78%nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1%

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other elements happens to alsocreate the ideal atmospheric
pressure, which allows liquidsto form and allows us to breathe
an optimal amount of oxygen.
Our atmosphere is also idealfor the Earth's water cycle to
properly function.
Without it, the Earth wouldbecome uninhabitable.
The Earth just happens to havemassive amounts of liquid water

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that make all life possibleabsorbs heat from the sun,
stabilizes the world's overalltemperature, absorbs carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere andso much more.
Without liquid water, the Earthwould definitely be
uninhabitable.
The Earth just happens to betilted at 23.5 degrees.
This is the ideal tilt to allowthe Earth to have multiple

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seasons and optimal sun exposure.
If the Earth were tilted anymore or less, it would lead to
catastrophic atmospheric eventsthat would impact the Earth's
overall stability and long-termcapacity for life.
The Earth also just happens tohave the ideal amount of gravity
.
Just a 5% difference in gravityeither way would be disastrous

(31:37):
because of everything itdirectly impacts, including the
Earth's magnetic field, ouratmosphere, our orbit around the
Sun, the Moon's orbit aroundthe Earth, the speed and
rotation of the Earth andcountless other things.
So what does all of this mean?
It means that every day we goabout living our normal lives
without giving a second thoughtto things like the galaxy, the

(32:00):
sun, the magnetosphere, theozone layer, the atmosphere, the
moon, water, earth's gravity orEarth's tilt and orbit.
But all of these things andcountless other Goldilocks
systems, alignments, processes,protections and unbelievably
fortuitous circumstances allcombine to create the impossibly

(32:22):
perfect set of ideal conditionsthat allow us and all other
types of plants and animals tobe able to live and thrive in
abundance.
Again, when you stack up theimpossibilities on top of
impossibilities, it can't happenby chance.
It's too perfect and tooorganized to not be intimately
and painstakingly designed tothe last detail.

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My Ultimate Conclusion Afterdeeply and sincerely pondering
the theory of evolution andconsidering the implications of
living in a godless world, Icame to the following conclusion
If we are nothing more than theproduct of random chemical
reactions and life simply sprangup from a swamp and evolved by

(33:07):
chance.
Then everything we know,everything we love and
everything we hold dear is allthe result of an accidental
chemical spill.
Which would mean we don'treally matter.
Not in any ultimate sense, notbeyond the fleeting moment of
time we occupy.
There is no purpose to ourexistence, beyond whatever we

(33:30):
invent to distract ourselvesfrom the crushing reality of our
own insignificance.
It would also mean that thereis no God, no Savior, no plan of
salvation, no heaven or hell,no right or wrong, just survival
, existence and the passing oftime before we, like every other

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living thing, simply vanishforever.
Sure, we could make the most ofit by trying to find meaning in
life as we know it, but in thegrand scheme of things, it would
be all pointless.
If we truly acceptedmacroevolution, we would have to
accept that as humans we haveno more importance or intrinsic

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value than the grass on ourfront lawn, mold growing on a
rock or a goldfish at the petstore.
We just happen to win thegenetic lottery.
And the worst part, everyone welove our parents, our siblings,
our spouse, our friends andeven our children would all
exist only right here and now,and once they die, they are gone

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forever.
It's heartbreaking to know thatmillions of people live under
the crushing weight of this cold, hollow and hopeless reality,
especially when the alternativeis so rich with meaning, purpose
and hope.
What if God does exist?
If we didn't somehow emerge andevolve from a meaningless

(34:57):
accident, then that means thatwe were placed here deliberately
, not by chance or by somerandom mutation process, but by
an eternal, all-powerful,all-loving Creator.
He carefully and painstakinglycreated the universe, our galaxy
, the solar system, this amazingearth and every single

(35:18):
incredible thing in it,including us, and designed it
all to work together in perfectharmony for our benefit.
It also means that God, ourCreator, has a specific purpose
and plan for each of us, whichgives life incredible depth,
meaning and joy.
This is the most importantthing that any human can

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possibly know that God existsand that he has a plan for us.
This is ultimately the answerthat I found as a result of the
trial of my faith, and whilethis may seem like an obvious
answer on its surface, because Iwas willing to put the reality
of God to the test, I now have amuch deeper appreciation,

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humility and sense of wonder forthis precious and powerful
truth, which I am incrediblygrateful for, the Foundation of
Our Faith.
In the end, believing in God isa choice that we each must make
on our own.
When asking ourselves does Godexist?
Our natural instinct is toattempt to answer it to the best

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of our ability using knowledge,logic and reason.
Those are all greatdecision-making tools, but we
also need to believe that heexists.
Knowledge, logic and reason andour belief in God, combined
with our unique life experiencesand personal revelation, become
the core foundation of faithupon which our testimonies are

(36:44):
built.
Become the core foundation offaith upon which our testimonies
are built.
Once we have this foundation,we can begin to establish and
build or rebuild if necessaryadditional principles of our
faith based on the Savior, theProphet Joseph Smith, the Book
of Mormon and the Church itself,all of which further combine to
deepen and strengthen ourbelief in God.
My hope is that what I'veshared in this chapter and

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throughout the rest of this bookwill expand and strengthen your
faith, not just in God'sexistence but in His love for
you, because he is real and hedoes love you, and that
knowledge changes everything.
I'm so grateful for this truthin my life, and I hope you are
too.
Let's see where that knowledgetakes us from here.

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Chapter 2.
Asking the Right QuestionsPrimary and Secondary Questions.
The second time someone told methey were leaving the church,
it was a sister in my wardacting on behalf of both her and
her husband, and it all starteda couple years earlier when she
was studying the gospel online.
At first she studied using thechurch's website, but over time

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she was drawn to other sitesthat were not sponsored by the
church.
Some of those sites presentedinformation that created
questions in her mind and causedher to eventually doubt her
faith.
I met with her and her husbandseveral times, trying to answer
their questions and resolvetheir concerns, but I was
unsuccessful, despite my bestefforts.
Ultimately, they left thechurch and took their children

(38:13):
with them.
A few years later, I came acrossan incredible BYU talk called
Stand Forever by Elder LawrenceE Corbridge, a General Authority
Seventy.
This talk changed my life.
In it, elder Corbridgeaddresses the loss of faith that
many people are experiencing inthe world today.
He says there are countlessways that members of the church

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can be distracted or evendeceived.
He then introduces a simple butpowerful solution that allows
us to avoid unnecessarydistractions and deceptions that
can damage or derail our faith,he states Begin with the
primary questions.
There are primary questions andthere are secondary questions.
Answer the primary questionsfirst.

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Not all questions are equal andnot all truths are equal.
The primary questions are themost important.
Everything else is subordinate.
There are only a few primaryquestions.
I'll mention four of them.
Is there a God?
Who is our Father?
Is Jesus Christ the Son of God,the Savior of the world?
Was Joseph Smith a prophet?

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Is the Church of Jesus Christof Latter-day Saints the Kingdom
of God on earth?
By contrast, the secondaryquestions are unending.
They include questions aboutchurch history, polygamy, people
of African descent, women inthe priesthood, how the Book of
Mormon was translated, the Pearlof Great Price, dna in the Book
of Mormon, gay marriage, thedifferent accounts of the First

(39:39):
Vision, and on and on.
If you answer the primaryquestions, the secondary
questions get answered too, orthey pale in significance, and
you can deal with things youunderstand and things you don't
understand, things you agreewith and things you don't agree
with, without jumping shipaltogether.
In addition to the four primaryquestions that Elder Corbridge

(40:00):
mentioned, I'd like to add onemore Is the Book of Mormon true?
As we focus on and reinforcethese primary questions in our
life, our faith and testimonynaturally increase and
strengthen, and the desire tohave certain secondary questions
answered becomes less importantwhen weighed against our
primary beliefs.
This doesn't mean thatsecondary questions aren't

(40:21):
important or that there's not agood answer for them.
It just means that once youtruly know that God exists and
that Jesus Christ is the Saviorof the world, secondary
questions tend to become less ofa priority.
Another thing to considerregarding secondary questions is
that in many cases, we don'thave the complete answers for
one or more reasons, especiallywhen it comes to questions that

(40:43):
involve the past, because weweren't there to experience
firsthand what actually happenedand why, or questions regarding
the power of God or the plan ofsalvation outside of our actual
life here on earth, things wecan't directly see, feel and
experience with our own eyes orother senses.
And to make matters even morecomplicated, because of the

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information age that we live in,we have instant access to
seemingly countless opinions andanswers to our questions, but
we never really know the trueintentions and motivations
behind these answers.
If we're not continuously onguard and careful about the
source of our information, wecan unknowingly put our eternal
salvation into the hands ofthose who come to us in sheep's

(41:25):
clothing, but inwardly they areravening wolves.
This is one of the main reasonswhy putting too much attention
or weight on secondary questionscan be harmful and potentially
dangerous to our spiritualityand faith, because the answers
we often end up finding areincomplete, inaccurate, biased,
highly speculative orintentionally deceptive.

(41:47):
This is why it's so importantto focus on answering the
primary questions first andgaining a true testimony of each
of them for ourselves.
There's a reason why this bookstarted with the first and most
important primary question isGod real?
It's because, without a solidanswer to that question and a
firm testimony of God, we areunable to effectively counter

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the constant barrage ofsecondary questions that attempt
to challenge His existence,purpose and plan.
Ultimately, it's the answers tothe primary questions that
create the deepest roots of ourtestimony and give us the
strength necessary to overcomethe difficulties, persecutions,
trials and challenges of lifethat continually try and test

(42:29):
our faith.
The rest of the story During myfaith crisis, when I broke my
faith down into its fundamentalprinciples, in addition to
asking myself, is God real, Ialso came up with four
additional questions Is JesusChrist the Son of God?
Is Joseph Smith a prophet?
Is the church true?

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Is the Book of Mormon true?
It was by sincerely andobjectively answering these five
questions through prayer,reflection, research and
inspiration that I was able torebuild my testimony and
strengthen my faith.
Five years after my faithcrisis and two years after I'd
started writing this book, elderCorbidge's talk came out, and

(43:11):
his primary questions almostperfectly matched my fundamental
questions.
As I watched him speak, I knewthat his message was for people
just like me, the two couples inmy ward and countless other
members of the church who, atone point or another, have
struggled with their faith.
The idea of focusing on theprimary questions as the
foundation of our faith andtestimony is so powerful that

(43:35):
once you realize its importance,it completely changes how you
view the gospel.
Going forward.
Over the next four chapters,we'll dive into the remaining
primary questions and see whatadditional insights, discoveries
and hidden treasures we canfind.
Chapter 3.
Is Jesus Christ the Son of God,the Savior of the World?

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Understanding the Father toUnderstand His Son?
Before we attempt to answer thesecond primary question
regarding the divinity of Christ, it's important to fully
address the first primaryquestion that Elder Corbridge
posed Is there a God?
Who is our Father?
While chapter 1 focused onestablishing God as the creator

(44:15):
of our existence and thefoundation of our faith, it only
alluded to the second part ofthe question, regarding God
being our Father.
However, if we are truly tounderstand the role of Christ in
our lives, we need tounderstand both our relationship
to God and the Savior'srelationship to God.
It's important to know that Godis our Father for several

(44:35):
reasons.
One, it makes our relationshipwith God very personal, rather
than an unknowable, unfathomableand all-powerful being giving
us life for no apparent rhyme orreason.
This knowledge gives us both aspiritual and familial bond with
God.
No longer are we randomcreations wandering around

(44:57):
without purpose.
We are spiritual sons ordaughters of the most powerful
being in the universe.
He is the actual father of ourspirits and the source that
gives our bodies life.
This makes our view of lifeinfinitely more valuable,
because it gives us a completelydifferent perspective of our
individual divinity and worth.
It also allows us to have ameaningful relationship with God

(45:20):
because it connects us with Himon a personal level, as a
loving Father who has our bestinterests in mind and deeply
cares about us, the lives welead and the choices that we
make.
This knowledge also createswithin us a profound personal
sense of humility and gratitudefor all the blessings and
opportunities we have, becausewe know the source from which

(45:41):
they originate and the trueintent behind them.
2.
It establishes the importanceof family relationships.
God, being the literal fatherof our spiritual body, creates a
paternal bond directly betweenus and God.
This is why the term HeavenlyFather is so sacred and
endearing, because it denotes anintimate connection between a

(46:02):
father and his son or daughter.
The knowledge that God is thefather of our spirits also ties
every person on earth togetheras part of a global family.
In addition, god being ourspiritual father, also sets a
precedence for the importance offamilies here on earth.
It also gives us purpose andjoy as we bring children of our
own into the world, teach themand experience with them the

(46:24):
joys, trials and adventures oflife.
3.
It's the foundation of the planof salvation.
Without the knowledge that Godis the Father of our spirits,
the plan of salvation would lookvery different.
Instead of being the childrenof God, we would instead be
creations of God, which would,in effect, remove the intimate,

(46:44):
ever-loving paternal bonds thattie a father to his children and
children to their father.
Without this deep, emotionallydriven family bond.
Our relationship with God wouldbe much more formal and rigid,
more authoritarian, standoffish,separated and process-oriented.
The family relationship wouldalso become less important or

(47:06):
even irrelevant.
Ultimately, removing God as ourloving Father would effectively
turn our relationship with Godinto a master-servant paradigm
instead of a father-childparadigm.
The two are vastly differentand a master-servant paradigm
would frustrate the purpose ofthe plan of salvation as we know
it.

(47:29):
4.
It ties us directly to Christas both our Savior and our
brother, because God is ourHeavenly Father or the Father of
our spiritual bodies and theFather of Christ's spiritual
body.
It means that Christ is ourbrother.
Knowledge of that relationshipallows us to create an emotional
personal means that Christ isour brother.
Knowledge of that relationshipallows us to create an emotional
personal bond with Christ andhe with us.

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This adds much moresignificance to our Heavenly
Father.
Allowing Christ to willinglysacrifice Himself for us,
knowing that he was sending HisSon, our brother, to suffer and
die His sacrifice in performingthe atonement makes it so that
we might all be able to beforgiven of our sins and
ultimately be resurrected andexalted to return to live with

(48:10):
God again.
Bottom line relationships mattera lot, especially when we're
defining the core relationshipsbetween God, christ and
ourselves and how they relate toour salvation and eternity.
These relationships define thelens through which we view
everything around us throughoutour entire lives.
Is Jesus Christ the Son of God,the Savior of the world?

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To contemplate this question,let's consider it from the hinge
point of truth.
We've established so far thatGod exists and has a specific
purpose and plan for us.
Then let's attempt to add asecond hinge point by seeking to
discover if Christ is real.
When it comes to establishingthe importance of Christ in his

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role as Savior and Creator, youprobably don't have an issue
with the fact that Jehovah inthe Old Testament is Christ in
the New Testament.
However, because my purpose isto help you see things from a
different perspective, I want tohighlight something interesting
about the relationship betweenJehovah and Christ of which
you're probably not aware, andin a later chapter I'm going to
show you a fascinating discoverythat also ties back to it.

(49:16):
Ancient Discoveries ConnectJehovah to Christ, to Christ.
Looking back to the creation,the oldest record we have
regarding Adam and Eve'srelationship with both God, the
Father, and Jesus Christ, theSon of God, is the book of
Genesis in the Old Testament.
According to EncyclopediaBritannica, moses authored the

(49:37):
first five books of the Bibleshortly after he freed the
Israelites from bondage,sometime in the 13th century BC.
After the death of Moses,additional books were added to
the Old Testament over time.
The last book, malachi, wasadded more than 500 years before
the birth of Christ.
We can further validate thetimeline of the Old Testament

(49:59):
thanks to the discovery of theKedeph Hinnom Scrolls, two
silver scrolls discovered nearJerusalem that date sometime
between 625 BC and 600 BC.
These scrolls existed beforeBabylon destroyed Jerusalem and
are the earliest known citationsof texts found in the Bible.
Both contain parts of the threeblessings found in Numbers 6, 6

(50:23):
, verse 24 to 46, and one ofthem also contains a variation
of Deuteronomy 7, 9.
Because these scrolls are soold, they are written in
Paleo-Hebrew, which is aprecursor to Modern Hebrew.
The importance of these scrollsis fourfold.
First, they prove that books ofthe Old Testament were alive

(50:44):
and well in Jerusalem at least600 years before Christ was born
.
Second, they show thatPaleo-Hebrew was being actively
written at the time.
Lehi lived in Jerusalem andsince we know that he was
well-educated, it's likely thathe would have known how to read
and write it.
Third, it proves thatscriptures were inscribed on

(51:05):
metal sheets before the time ofLehi and in the place where he
lived.
Fourth, these ancient scrollscontain the oldest known Old
Testament passages everdiscovered, and they reference
the name YHWH multiple times.
In modern Christianity, we knowthat YHWH is Jehovah, and while

(51:28):
that may seem like a minorlinguistic detail, it may hold a
profound implication when itcomes to validating the identity
of Christ.
Let me explain.
In Hebrew, each letter has aspecific sound and a meaning
attached to it, and in the caseof YHWH, the sounds of the four
letters are Yod, he, vav and he.

(51:50):
Over the thousands of years,the Hebrew language has evolved
visually through three majorstages Modern Hebrew,
paleo-hebrew and the even olderAncient Hebrew, which was often
carved into stone in the form ofpetroglyphs.
Now here's where it getsfascinating.
When we look at the charactersin ancient Hebrew, each letter

(52:12):
is more than just a sound.
It's a symbol or a picture withdeep meaning.
As we examine each of theletters in ancient Hebrew, we
discover that Y or Yod isassociated with a hand and arm
stretched out.
H or he is associated with aman standing with both arms

(52:33):
raised to heaven, as if inworship.
W or Vav is associated with anail or something used to fasten
or secure, and H or he is againthe man with his arms raised.
So when you interpret thisvisually, yhwh can literally be
read as hand, behold, nailbehold or, more poetically,

(52:59):
behold the nailed hand.
It's a phrase that seems topoint unmistakably to Christ, to
someone whose hands werepierced.
Now, to add to that, if weexamine the sounds of each
letter in Hebrew, theycorrespond closely to the
pronunciation Yehovah or Jehovah.
Historically, out of reverence,the final letter, another, he

(53:23):
was left silent, which is whythe modern pronunciation is
Jehovah.
And here's the irony Even if wewere to prove that the name
YHWH literally translates toBehold the Nailed Hand, many
Jewish scholars would stillreject any association with
Jesus because they don't believethat he's the Messiah, and many

(53:44):
Christians, on the other hand,believe that Jehovah refers to
God, the Father, not JesusChrist.
So this powerful insight,hidden in plain sight for
thousands of years, has gonelargely unnoticed.
Fortunately, as members of thechurch, we know that Jehovah and
Christ are the same person,which makes this discovery very
exciting for us.
After all, what are the chancesthat the Hebrew name for

(54:07):
Jehovah from the time of Mosesto this very day has a hand and
a nail in both its character,design and its meaning.
How poetic that Christ himselfsaid Behold the wounds which
pierce my side and also theprints of the nails in my hands
and feet.

(54:28):
Old Testament Prophecies ofChrist Changing gears.
Let's take a moment to considerthe miracle of Christ and the
incredible prophecies in the OldTestament that predicted his
birth, life, ministry, death andresurrection.
The word prophecy is defined inMerriam-Webster as 1.
An inspired utterance of aprophet.

(54:49):
2.
The function or vocation of aprophet, specifically the
inspired declaration of divinewill and purpose.
3.
A prediction of something tocome.
If we were to consider thisdefinition in the context of all
the Old Testament prophets whoprophesied of Christ, we could
actually rewrite it to make it alot more specific.

(55:09):
It might read something likethis Old Testament Prophecy of
Christ A prediction or inspiredutterance from Old Testament
prophets who were divinelyinspired to declare God's will
regarding the future birth, life, death and resurrection of
Christ.
If the Old Testament is trulythe word of God written by

(55:30):
ancient prophets of God, thenany prophecies that follow this
definition must come to pass.
Otherwise, the Old Testament,if it's translated correctly,
can't be true.
If it's not true, it's not fromGod and it's not part of God's
plan.
However, the opposite is alsotrue If the prophecies do come
to pass, then it demonstrablyshows that the Old Testament, or

(55:54):
declared prophecies, and theNew Testament fulfilled
prophecies, are both from Godand they contain God's plan for
us.
With that in mind, let's discussOld Testament prophecies of
Christ.
From Adam and Eve to the birthof Christ.
The salvation of man rested onthe hopes of every Old Testament
prophecy of Christ's comingtrue, and we're not talking

(56:17):
about just a few obscureprophecies of the Savior.
We're talking about more than50 direct prophecies, with
several being time or locationspecific.
There are also more than 50direct prophecies, with several
being time or location specific.
There are also more than 300indirect prophecies.
Also, as previously mentioned,we know that every book in the
entire Old Testament was writtenbefore 500 BC.
That means that it's highlyunlikely that these prophecies

(56:40):
were added after the books hadbeen completed.
Here are some of the morewell-known scriptures in the Old
Testament foretelling Christ'sbirth, ministry, death and
resurrection.
I've added an asterisk next tosome of the prophecies that have
special meaning, which I'lldiscuss a little later on.
He would be born in Bethlehem,asterisk.

(57:01):
This is very specific.
It's also interesting to notethat Bethlehem was a tiny place,
with some sources estimatingfewer than 1,000 people living
there at the time.
He would be a forerunner whowould announce the people to
prepare for his arrival,asterisk.
This scripture is uniquebecause, once John the Baptist

(57:21):
officially announced that Jesuswas the Messiah, he in effect
set in motion his responsibilityto successfully fulfill all the
foretold prophecies regardinghis ministry in every detail.
He would begin his ministry inGalilee.
He would be innocent andwithout sin.
He would perform many miracles,like healing the deaf, blind,

(57:43):
mute and lame.
At the height of his ministry,he would enter Jerusalem as a
king, but would also do soriding on a donkey.
This sounds so strange to ustoday, but in ancient times,
kings and royalty would ride adonkey as a sign of peace,
whereas they would ride horsesas a sign of war or aggression.
The Jewish people knew that thepromised Messiah would enter

(58:06):
Jerusalem on a donkey, which iswhy they celebrated his arrival.
However, the Pharisees alsoknew this and no doubt saw
Christ's arrival as the ultimateform of blasphemy.
He would atone for the sins ofthe world.
He would be betrayed by one ofhis disciples, asterix.
The price of the betrayal wouldbe 30 pieces of silver, asterix

(58:30):
.
This is a very specific amountof money with which to betray
someone you love, especiallyhundreds of years before it
happens.
The 30 pieces of silver forwhich he was betrayed would
ultimately be given to a potteror someone who makes pottery,
asterix.
This is of particular interestbecause it's so unique and

(58:51):
specific.
In Matthew, chapter 27, verses6 through 10, when Judas
Iscariot went back to the chiefpriests, he threw the coins they
gave him on the ground and fled.
The chief priests knew that itwas blood money, so instead of
putting it back into thetreasury, they bought a piece of
land from a local potter wherethey subsequently buried

(59:11):
strangers who died in the city.
He would be wounded, beaten,oppressed and afflicted, but
would not open his mouth todefend himself.
Asterix, what person, if beingbeaten or on trial for his life,
would not try to defend orprotect himself?
His persecutors would cast lotsfor his clothing.

(59:32):
He would have his hands andfeet pierced.
Asterix, christ was never askedhow he wanted to die.
It was decided for him.
Also, death on a cross wasreserved for the worst criminals
, which would make it a veryunlikely outcome for most people
at the time, for prophetshundreds of years in the past.
To prophesy that the Savior ofthe world would die in such a

(59:54):
horrific fashion is ludicrous,and yet it happened.
None of his bones would bebroken.
When the Lord first institutedPassover through Moses, he
commanded the Israelites thatsacrificial lambs should not
have any of their be broken.
When the Lord first institutedPassover through Moses, he
commanded the Israelites thatsacrificial lambs should not
have any of their bones broken.
When Christ was on the cross,pilate ordered Roman soldiers to
break the legs of those beingcrucified to ensure they died.

(01:00:16):
Before the Sabbath, they brokethe legs of the other two and
were just about to breakChrist's legs, but discovered
that he had died.
In this case, we're talkingabout a 1400-year-old prophecy,
and its fulfillment literallycame down to mere seconds.
He would thirst and be givengall and vinegar.

(01:00:36):
To drink, gall and vinegar or,as Mark recorded, wine mingled
with myrrh was customarilyoffered as an anesthetic to ease
the suffering of someone whowas dying.
Often it was wine that hadfermented and gone sour, which
is why it was called vinegar.
He would die and be resurrected.
He would make his soul anoffering for sin and intercede

(01:00:59):
for the transgressions of man.
He would make a new covenantcalled the Law of the Gospel and
do away with the old covenant,the Law of Moses.
As you can see by reading justthese 18 prophecies, anyone who
claimed to be the Messiah had tomeet very specific and unique
qualifications for that claim tobe true.

(01:01:20):
Christ was the only person whocould have and ultimately did
meet every single one of them.
What are the odds when you stepback and consider the
mathematical probability of onesingle person fulfilling all the
messianic prophecies in the OldTestament?
The odds of someone fulfillingeven a handful of them, let

(01:01:42):
alone all of them, arestaggeringly improbable, if not
impossible.
The only way it could happen isif that person was in fact the
Messiah.
Even though the number isimprobable or impossible to
calculate, people are stillwilling to try.
During his tenure as chairman ofthe Department of Mathematics
and Astronomy at PasadenaCollege is chairman of the

(01:02:06):
Department of Mathematics andAstronomy at Pasadena College,
peter Stoner was very interestedin biblical prophecies.
He decided to try to determinethe odds of just eight of the
Old Testament prophecies ofChrist being fulfilled.
Together with 600 of hisstudents, he examined these
eight prophecies the ones in thelist with the asterisk next to
them.
He and his studentscollectively determined the most
conservative odds in which eachof the eight prophetic

(01:02:28):
scriptures could be fulfilled bya single person.
The conclusion was staggering.
They determined that theprospect that any one man could
satisfy these eight prophecieswas one in 10 to the 17th power,
which is one in 100 quadrillion.
He goes on to explain the oddslike this Suppose that we take

(01:02:49):
10 to the 17th silver dollarsand lay them on the face of
Texas, they will cover all ofthe state two feet deep.
Now mark one of these silverdollars and stir the whole mass
thoroughly all over the state.
Blindfold a man and tell himthat he can travel as far as he
wishes, but he must pick up onesilver dollar and say that this

(01:03:12):
is the right one.
What chance would he have ofgetting the right one?
Just the same chance that theprophets would have had of
writing these eight propheciesand having them all come true in
any one man from their day tothe present time, providing they
wrote using their own wisdom.
Now, these prophecies wereeither given by inspiration of

(01:03:34):
God or the prophets just wrotethem as they thought they should
be.
In such a case, the prophetshad just one chance in 10 to the
17th of Christ coming true.

(01:03:55):
Now imagine the odds of all theprophecies of Christ in the Old
Testament coming true which theydid and the number becomes so
impossibly large that you can'teven fathom it.
So what can we conclude fromall of this so far?
God exists and he is our Fatherin Heaven.
He loves us.
He created this amazing worldfor us.

(01:04:16):
He has a plan for us.
He put prophets on earth totell us about His plan and to
prophesy of Christ.
Jesus came into the world andfulfilled his part of the plan.
All the prophecies of Christcame true.
Jesus Christ is truly the Sonof God and the Savior of the

(01:04:37):
world, making Christ Personal.
In the next chapter we'll delvemore deeply into God's plan, but
for now I want to share apersonal experience about the
Savior that I had while on mymission in South Africa.
I was at a zone conference,which is a special meeting where
missionaries gather to beinstructed by the mission

(01:04:58):
president and his APs, orassistants to the president.
As the meeting started, one ofthe APs got up to speak and said
something to this effect Closeyour eyes.
Imagine yourself standing in anempty room.
You see a door on the oppositeside of the room.
As you're standing there, thedoor opens and a man walks in

(01:05:18):
and gently closes the doorbehind him.
As he turns to meet your gaze,you suddenly realize it's the
Savior.
You have five minutes alonewith him.
Then he sat down.
Before I share with you mypersonal experience, I invite
you to do this yourself Push,pause, close your eyes for a few

(01:05:38):
minutes and imagine yourself ina room standing face to face
with the Savior.
Please don't skip this.
Just humor me.
Stop listening and give it atry and see what happens.
As I stood there, I realizedthat there was nowhere I could

(01:06:01):
hide, no walls, no justification.
I knew that he knew me andcould see the intent of my heart
.
I hesitated for a moment,looked at his eyes and then ran
up and hugged him as tightly asI could.
I felt his arms embracing meand knew that he loved me deeply
.
As I embraced him, I utteredthree short statements to him

(01:06:22):
that seemed to come from my souland that have stayed with me
for the rest of my life I loveyou.
I'm sorry, I need more time.
As I've reflected over the yearson this incredibly vulnerable,
raw spiritual moment, I've cometo realize that the reason why
those five minutes had such animpact was because I was

(01:06:42):
brutally honest with myselfabout my life up to that point.
I realized that I truly lovedChrist and that I was so
grateful for him in my life.
He made me want to be the bestpossible version of myself every
day.
I also realized that I wastruly sorry for all the stupid
mistakes, bad decisions and sinsthat I had committed in my life
.
I realized, too, that while Iwas incredibly grateful for his

(01:07:05):
willingness to take those fromme, I still felt bad that he had
to suffer on my behalf.
I wished at that moment that Ihad made some better choices
along the way.
Finally, I realized that I hadso much more to give during my
time here on earth and I wasn'tready to go back to my heavenly
home yet.
This realization has caused meto reflect on my life on

(01:07:26):
numerous occasions since, and torecommit to do better when I've
found myself falling short.
A few years ago, I was preparinga talk for a sacrament meeting
and I decided to share thisexperience with the congregation
.
As I prepared my talk, Ithought to myself I wonder what
my experience with the Saviorwould be like today.
So I closed my eyes andrecreated the experience that I

(01:07:49):
had as a young missionary.
I still gave the Savior a bighug, but after I hugged him this
time I let go, stepped back andfaced him with incredible
gratitude in my heart.
I said to him I love you, thankyou, what more can I do?
My first statement hadn'tchanged, but it had become more
heartfelt and genuine.
The feeling of love was bothgiven and reciprocated

(01:08:12):
unconditionally.
My second statement changedfrom I'm sorry to thank you.
I was so incredibly grateful tohim for my life, my family and
all the joy, peace and happinessthat His atonement had given me
over the years.
Finally, instead of asking formore time, I changed my original
statement to a question askingHim what more can I do?

(01:08:35):
This change may have been theresult of having more life
experiences to draw from, but inthat moment I truly wanted to
do more to show him my sinceregratitude and appreciation.
Upon reflection, I believe oneof the reasons why this
experience was so powerful andpersonal is because rarely, if
ever, do we get the opportunityto talk to or interact with

(01:08:58):
Christ directly.
We always pray and talk toHeavenly Father, not to the
Savior, even though we thank ourFather for the Savior and do
many things in His name.
This experience gives us theunique ability to talk to Him
directly and intimately, likelyfor the first time ever, which
can be very introspective,meaningful and even

(01:09:18):
life-changing.
The Reality of Christ, as thischapter is shown and future
chapters will continue tovalidate, there is overwhelming
historical and scripturalevidence that Christ is real,
that his birth, ministry, deathand resurrection were prophesied
hundreds of years in advance,and that all the prophecies

(01:09:40):
about him came true and werefulfilled.
That being said, it's importantto remember that, while ancient
discoveries and scriptures giveus unique insights into the
life of the Savior, it's theSpirit and personal revelation
that confirm the truth of hisdivinity to our heart and mind
and help us to ultimately answerthe primary question of
Christ's existence for ourselves.

(01:10:02):
It is my hope that this chapterhas helped to give you new
perspective and appreciation forthe miracle of his life in
yours.
Chapter 4.
Was Joseph Smith a prophet?
What would you do?
In the previous chapter, Istarted to discuss some of the
unique differences in how we, asmembers of the church, view God

(01:10:23):
and Christ compared to the restof the Christian world, but as
I continued writing, I realizedjust how different many of our
other beliefs are as well.
However, to truly answer theprimary questions, we must
seriously consider and addressthe differences between our
church and the rest ofChristianity, because if the
answers we discover in theexploration of those differences

(01:10:46):
help us to determine whetherGod truly has one plan for all
of us, then they are essentialnot only for our own salvation
but for the salvation ofeveryone on earth.
So if you are reading this bookand are not a member of the
Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter-day Saints, I hope this
helps you to understand mysincere intent in exploring

(01:11:06):
these differences, and I wouldalso ask you to thoughtfully
consider whether there could beadditional truths or teachings
about God and His plan that youmight not already know, truths
that could potentially enhanceor improve your existing
relationship with both Him andthe Savior.
Christianity in Chaos.
As I was doing research forthis chapter, I was shocked to

(01:11:29):
discover that there arecurrently more than 45,000 known
Christian denominations andorganizations in the world.
Each of these denominationsconsiders itself to be a
distinct religious body withinChristianity, professing unique
organizational and doctrinaltraits.
The irony is that, while all ofthem believe in the Bible and

(01:11:50):
teach from the Bible, they don'tall agree on the same doctrine.
Every Christian believes thatthe Bible contains the Word of
God, but the problem is thatit's only one source of truth
and each denomination sees whatthey believe to be true, based
on the only viewpoint they trusttheir own.
This ultimately begs the vitalquestion which Christian

(01:12:11):
denomination teaches the onetrue plan of God?
It's a very important topicthat deserves serious
exploration because, asChristians, common sense tells
us that God can't possibly have45,000 different plans for us.
Rather, it tells us that hewould have one specific plan and
purpose for all of mankind andthat the Savior would have

(01:12:32):
taught that singular plan to theprophets in both the Old and
New Testaments.
So where does that leave us?
Well, it leaves us with 45,000Christian denominations, all
believing that the Biblecontains the word of God, but
each unable to agree on whatGod's actual plan is.
And since his plan stronglyinfluences and guides our lives,

(01:12:52):
defines who we are and directlyaffects our moral choices and
actions, it should not only beimportant but vital that we know
what it is.
But how do we possibly do thatwith so many different versions
of the plan?
Well, if we take everything weknow about Christianity and the
original Church of Christ,meaning the organization that

(01:13:12):
Christ personally establishedduring his ministry.
We can distill things down toone of two main conclusions.
One Peter, whom Christ ordainedto be the chief apostle and
leader of his original church,passed on his leadership and the
keys of the priesthood to Linus, a possible bishop in the
original church before he died.

(01:13:32):
Linus then passed those keys onto his successor, and so on and
so on down to the current pope.
This is the Catholic Church'sofficial belief.
2.
Because of widespreadwickedness and persecution
outside of the original churchand apostasy and corruption
inside, the apostles did notpass on the priesthood keys.

(01:13:53):
The priesthood authority wasinstead taken from the earth to
be restored at a future time.
So why only two conclusions?
Well, it stands to reason thatGod would reveal and establish
His one true plan for all ofmankind through Christ's
original church and not throughany offshoots, outliers,
break-offs or branches.

(01:14:14):
This means that if we go withconclusion one, we must
eliminate all 45,000 Christiandenominations other than the
Catholic Church 45,000 Christiandenominations other than the
Catholic Church.
Alternatively, if we go withconclusion two, we only find one
other denomination claiming tohave the fully restored gospel
of Christ's original church,along with a restoration of the
priesthood and priesthood keys,the Church of Jesus Christ of

(01:14:36):
Latter-day Saints.
Now, only having two optionsmight sound incredibly
presumptuous on its surface, butthe logic behind it is based on
one absolute, indisputabletruth the church that Christ
himself established is andalways will be his one true
church with his one true plan,must believe that, while

(01:15:05):
prophets may be fallible andmake mistakes, christ would
never allow any prophet orchosen leader of his church to
do anything that would lead itastray.
Therefore, christ's churchcan't possibly be any other
church than the Catholic churchor a restored church, because he
simply would not allow anyother option to happen.
If we don't hold to thisfundamental truth, then we have
to concede that at severalpoints over the past 2,000 years

(01:15:26):
, christ knowingly allowed notone, not two, but several
prophets to lead his churchastray, to the point that new
branches had to be establishedin order to continue to adhere
to the original church'sauthority and doctrine.
He couldn't allow that tohappen, otherwise his
fundamental purpose and the planof God itself would be

(01:15:49):
frustrated.
That means that there was not,nor could there ever be, a
branch or break-off of the truegospel of Christ, leaving only
the Catholic Church or theChurch of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints remaining asviable options, the Two Viable
Options.
When trying to determine whichof the two remaining options is

(01:16:09):
Christ's original church and thechurch through which God has
revealed his true plan, thefirst and most obvious thing to
do is to compare the two and seewhich one makes more sense a
continuation of authority or arestoration of authority?
Catholics believe that Christ'soriginal church continued after
his death and became theCatholic Church Because, before

(01:16:31):
he died, peter passed on hisleadership and the keys of the
priesthood to Linus.
Since there are no otherChristian churches that existed
anciently that aren't break-offsfrom the Catholic Church,
catholics simply dismiss them asapostates and thereby claim
themselves as Christ's only truechurch.
For me, the continuation ofauthority through the Catholic
Church is unlikely for severalreasons.

(01:16:51):
First, it doesn't make sensethat Peter, the chief apostle,
would pass on the keys of theadministering of the church to a
bishop in the church instead ofto another apostle.
Different priesthood officeshave different responsibilities
for a reason.
As the leader of the church,peter more than anyone would
know this and therefore wouldsimply not do that.

(01:17:13):
Second, christ set up the twelveapostles for a specific reason,
so why wouldn't the churchcontinue to run the way he had
just organized it.
Why would it suddenly change assoon as he left?
We know that after JudasIscariot died and Christ had
died and was resurrected,matthias was called to be an
apostle to fill the void.
Why would they do that ifhaving a quorum of 12 apostles

(01:17:35):
wasn't important to running andadministering the church?
Third, why would God go togreat lengths to reveal his
teachings through prophets forthousands of years up to the
time of Christ and thencompletely do away with prophets
and change to popes instead?
There's no mention of the wordpope in the Bible and it wasn't
part of Christ's original church.

(01:17:55):
Even in the Catholic Church,the official use of the term
pope wasn't specificallyreserved for the bishop of Rome
until 1073 AD, more than 1,000years after Christ's mortal
ministry.
Fourth, there is no evidence,scripture or historical record
showing that Peter passed on thepriesthood and his apostolic

(01:18:15):
keys to Linus.
The entire theory, which iscalled the Petrine theory, is
based on conflicting sources andweak inferences from records
that were written hundreds ofyears after Christ and Peter
were both long gone.
On the other hand, the Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints believes that thepriesthood and the keys were
taken off the earth after thedeath of the apostles.

(01:18:35):
They were then restored toJoseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery
by Peter James and John,conferring upon them the
Melchizedek priesthood.
By Peter James and Johnconferring upon them the
Melchizedek priesthood,ordaining them to be apostles
and giving them the keys of theministry.
To me, this seems much morelikely for the following reasons
.
First, the idea of angels andheavenly beings appearing to
people is quite common inscripture.

(01:18:57):
Therefore, it's completelyplausible that the leaders whom
we know had the priesthoodauthority and keys during
Christ's ministry could easilyappear to Joseph Smith and
Oliver Cowdery, restoring thepriesthood to the earth.
Second, we are told severaltimes in the scriptures that
there had to be an apostasy anda restoration of the gospel
before the second coming ofChrist.

(01:19:17):
If the original church wasnever taken away or lost, then
it couldn't be restored andthese prophecies would be left
unfulfilled In Jesus the Christ.

(01:19:37):
Elder James E Talmadge writesof the gospel of Christ by
admixture with so-calledphilosophic systems.
Two unauthorized additions tothe priesthood rights of the
church and the introduction ofvital alterations in essential
ordinances.
Three unauthorized changes inchurch organization and
government.
When I consider this quote inthe context of the early

(01:20:00):
Catholic church, there seems tobe a lot of alignment,
especially when you consider theCouncil of Nicaea and the
creation of the Nicene Creed.
The Creed introduced theconcept of the Trinity and
forever changed the way theworld looked at God, christ and
the Holy Ghost.
President Spencer W Kimball putit this way In the early
centuries of the Christian era,the apostasy came not through

(01:20:21):
persecution.
In the early centuries of theChristian era, the apostasy came
not through persecution but byrelinquishment of faith caused
by the superimposing of aman-made structure upon and over
the divine program.
Many men, with no pretense norclaim to revelation, speaking
without divine authority orrevelation, depending only upon

(01:20:42):
their own brilliant minds butrepresenting, as they claim, the
congregations of the Christiansand in long conference and
erudite councils, sought thecreation process to make a God
which all could accept.
The brilliant minds with theirphilosophies, knowing much about
the Christian traditions andthe pagan philosophies, would

(01:21:03):
combine all elements to pleaseeverybody.
They replaced the simple waysand program of the Christ with
spectacular rituals, colorfuldisplay, impressive pageantry
and limitless pomposity, andcalled it Christianity.
They had replaced the gloriousdivine plan of exaltation of

(01:21:23):
Christ with an elaborate,colorful, man-made system.
They seemed to have little ideaof totally dethroning the
Christ nor terminating the lifeof God as in our own day, but
they put together anincomprehensible God idea.
When the church was restored, itwas organized as Christ had

(01:21:43):
originally established it whenhe was on the earth, with
apostles and prophets to leadand guide it.
Additionally, the true natureof God, the Savior and the Holy
Ghost were once again revealedas three separate and distinct
beings, with God and Christhaving bodies like ours.
Third, as part of therestoration, joseph Smith
received the gold plates and wasgiven the ability to translate

(01:22:05):
them through the gift and powerof God, resulting in the Book of
Mormon.
This book is truly the keystoneof our religion and an
incredibly important gift fromGod to the entire world.
Because of its very existence,our claim of being Christ's true
church on the earth becomesincredibly hard, if not
impossible, to ignore.
True church on the earthbecomes incredibly hard, if not

(01:22:26):
impossible, to ignore.
Fourth, because of the Book ofMormon, we no longer have just a
single point of truth orreference by which to judge and
interpret the teachings of theBible.
We now have a second witness ofGod's teachings and His plan,
which means there are two booksof scripture from two sets of
prophets being written at thesame time on opposite sides of
the world and then comingtogether in our day to prove the

(01:22:46):
divinity and reality of God andclarify his teachings by having
a second book of scripture.
All 45,000 other denominations,including the Catholic Church,
find themselves in a verydifficult situation, because the
only church that can unlock thetruth of God's one and only
plan for all of mankind is thechurch that has both books.

(01:23:08):
So why would God allow 45,000Christian denominations to exist
?
At this point, you might beasking yourself why would God
allow 45,000 Christiandenominations to exist and
believe different things if hewanted everyone in the world to
know his one true plan?
I don't know all of God'sreasons, but I do know one

(01:23:33):
Agency.
While Christ was prophesied tocome in the meridian of time, it
is painfully clear by thesimple fact that his own people
chose to crucify him and kill orexile all of the prophets, that
the world wasn't ready for thefullness of the gospel.
After Christ's death, theapostles tried to continue
running the church, but therewas so much opposition and

(01:23:53):
persecution from the outside,combined with desertion and
dissension on the inside, thatit ultimately couldn't continue
in its true form.
Within a relatively shortamount of time, we see man,
beginning to intercede on behalfof God and Christ, redefining
and redesigning the church intotheir own vision of what they
thought it should be.
Then, for nearly 2,000 years,mix in multiple religious

(01:24:17):
councils, wars, schisms,politics, power struggles,
distance, schisms, politics,power struggles, distance and
limited communication, with onlyone single point of doctrinal
truth the Bible to guide them inapostasy and darkness, and you
ultimately end up with 45,000differing points of view.
But because God loves us, hepromised to restore the truth

(01:24:41):
and his plan when mankind wastruly ready to receive it.
Ironically, it was the creationand proliferation of multiple
Christian denominations thatmade it possible for the
restoration to occur.
Without them, there never wouldhave been a religious revival
in Joseph Smith's day and hewould have never had the desire
to pray and ask which church wastrue.

(01:25:02):
Fortunately, one of the greatand comforting truths revealed
in God's true plan is that everysingle person who has ever
lived on earth, regardless oftheir belief in this life, will
have the opportunity to betaught His true gospel plan and
accept or reject it.
This is why we see the factthat there are 45,000 different
Christian denominations as agood thing, because all of these

(01:25:25):
amazing believers of Christ arealready striving to actively
follow his teachings and be likehim.
Everything has its opposite, ifyou think about it.
In many ways, joseph Smith wasthe ultimate Protestant breaking
away from Christianity in orderto save it, and even though he
was mocked, ridiculed, torturedand ultimately killed for

(01:25:46):
ushering in the restoration, heremained true and steadfast to
the end.
One of the unique realizationsI had while writing this chapter
is that many of the teachingsand doctrinal truths restored by
Joseph Smith were then, andstill are to this day, either
completely foreign or in directopposition to the doctrines of
mainstream Christianity.

(01:26:07):
To even consider the idea thata simple farm boy's vision and
subsequent revelations wouldstand up against the entire
known body of Christendom seemsso completely absurd that it's
almost impossible to conceive.
And yet that's exactly whathappened.
And rather than theserevelations and doctrines

(01:26:28):
crumbling under intense pressureand scrutiny over the past 200
years, they've only served tofurther highlight, strengthen
and solidify the desperate andtimely need for them in our day,
standing out as powerfulbeacons of truth and light and
continually reiterating the needfor a restoration.

(01:26:50):
The Love of Fellow Christians.
As I mentioned earlier, one ofthe things that I love about the
restored gospel and therestored knowledge of God's one
true plan is that it giveseveryone, past or present, the
opportunity to accept or rejectit, regardless of their current
religious beliefs.
To me, that's another sign ofits truthfulness.
However, I also realize that,because of the last 2,000 years

(01:27:13):
of religious history, traditionand turmoil, the restored gospel
is not something that mostliving Christians are likely to
accept until the millennium, butthat doesn't mean that we
should treat them anydifferently.
I'd like to share a personalexperience about a new love and
appreciation that I gained a fewyears ago for the many
different types of faithfulbelievers in Christ.
When I was a bishop, the BoyScouts in my area participated

(01:27:38):
in an annual event called theTen Commandments Hike, where the
scout troops in the area wouldvisit 10 different churches
throughout inner city Ogden andbe taught one of the Ten
Commandments at each location.
As part of that experience,they could ask any questions
that they wanted about thatreligion.
It was such a positive,eye-opening experience the first
year that I went that I tookboth my sons and my daughters

(01:28:00):
with me the next year.
There were several reasons whythis event had such a profound
impact on me.
First and foremost, I was ableto meet people of many different
faiths, and in every case Icould feel their genuine love
and dedication to God.
It gave me a whole newappreciation for religion
outside of our church and allthe good that the gospel does in
people's lives, regardless ofwhat denomination they're a part

(01:28:22):
of.
Second, it gave me a uniqueopportunity to see firsthand how
other people worship God.
The most striking thing to mewas how noticeably different
each denomination's teachingswere compared to each other, and
how each church focused itsbeliefs on very particular
gospel principles and doctrines.
These included things likedevotion to service, traditional

(01:28:45):
and ceremonial rituals, theTrinity, science, being born
again and saved by grace, andeven the Old Testament.
As one of the stops was aJewish synagogue, it was almost
as if each church took a pieceof the gospel truth and then
built their religion around it.
Third, it made me realize justhow much I take the fullness of
the gospel truth and then builttheir religion around it.
Third, it made me realize justhow much I take the fullness of

(01:29:06):
the gospel for granted.
As I observed these people, itwas incredible to see how they
were each striving in their ownway to do the best they could
with the knowledge they had.
In some ways, it felt like manyof them, were more devoted to
God than I was, which was veryhumbling.
My point in sharing this storyis that, as members of the
church, it's easy to forget justhow truly marvelous it is to

(01:29:27):
have the fullness of the gospelin our lives every single day.
This experience allowed me tosee members of other churches
with fresh new eyes, as thosewho truly love God and are
diligently striving to serve Him, while holding on dearly to the
precious truths that they haveavailable to them.
If you want to gain a newadmiration for the fullness of
the gospel, go visit some otherchurches in your area.

(01:29:49):
It will give you a newappreciation of Heavenly
Father's mercy and love for hischildren and the wonderful
eternal plan he has for all ofus.
What does any of this have to dowith Joseph Smith?
When we consider the life ofJoseph Smith, especially as a
youth or young man growing up inthe early 1800s, he seems to be

(01:30:10):
an unlikely conduit throughwhich God would restore his plan
to mankind.
In fact, if you lookobjectively at his overall
situation, joseph Smith had theodds heavily stacked against him
.
He lived on the frontier, inthe middle of nowhere.
He was a farmer.
He had very of nowhere.
He was a farmer, he had verylittle education, he had no

(01:30:33):
money, he had no credentials andhe had no credibility.
But yet in other ways, it seemslike the circumstances were
ideal.
The Protestant Reformation wasin full effect, america was a
free country and a land ofreligious opportunity and
freedom.
Men were allowed to worship Godfreely and legally establish
new religions.
These were radical new ideas atthe time, and they opened up

(01:30:56):
new ways of thinking thatweren't possible before this
period in world history.
For the first time in centuries, the world was ready to once
again accept the true gospel,and God took the opportunity to
open the last dispensation byanswering a young boy's prayer
and calling him to be a prophet.
This faithful young man waspivotal in restoring God's true
plan back on the earth, andthrough him, many important

(01:31:17):
things were restored, includingChrist's original church, the
priesthood, important doctrines,revelation temples and the Book
of Mormon, all of which we willdiscuss in more detail in the
following chapters.
Ultimately, all of Christ'steachings, principles, truths,
powers and ordinances needed tobe made available to us once
again in order for all ofhumanity to truly benefit from

(01:31:39):
God's master plan, and Josephwas the one who God chose to
restore it all back to the earth?
So was Joseph Smith a prophetof God?
For millions of members of thechurch today, there's no doubt
that Joseph Smith was a prophetof God, but what that really
means is that every singlemember at some point has had to
go on their own personal journeyof spiritual discovery to find

(01:32:02):
out for themselves.
People who truly want theanswer to this question must be
willing to weigh their knowledgeof Joseph Smith against all the
combined knowledge they'velearned about him throughout
their lives, using wisdom,discernment, the Holy Spirit and
faith as their guides in thepursuit of truth.
They also must be able to setaside some potentially difficult
and even unanswered secondaryquestions about him, knowing

(01:32:25):
that they might not be fullyanswered until the next life.
But ultimately, it's therestoration of Christ's church,
along with his priesthoodauthority and the knowledge of
the vital importance of God'sone true plan, that can help
earnest truth seekers todetermine whether Joseph was a
true prophet of God.
That can help earnest truthseekers to determine whether
Joseph was a true prophet of God.

(01:32:50):
Let's move on to the nextprimary question, to see what
other wonderful truths have beenrestored through the prophet
Joseph Smith, chapter 5.
Is the Church of Jesus Christof Latter-day Saints, the
kingdom of God on earth, aquestion really worth
considering.
As I contemplated theimportance of the next primary
question is the Church of JesusChrist of Latter-day Saints
truly God's one true church onthe earth?
My first impression was that ifJoseph Smith was a prophet,

(01:33:15):
then the church had to be truesimply by default.
However, the more I thoughtabout it, the more I realized
that God wouldn't just want youor I to blindly accept that as
the answer.
He would want us to study itout in our hearts and minds and
confirm its truth for ourselves,with the teachings of the
church having the ability to actas a witness to the
truthfulness of Joseph as aprophet.
The ultimate answer to thisquestion is very important

(01:33:36):
because the teachings of thechurch directly influence
virtually every aspect of ourlives, including what we believe
, how we act, the choices wemake, who we marry, who we
socialize with, how we raise ourchildren, what we spend our
time and money on, where we live, what we eat and drink, and
even what our goals and dreamsare.

(01:33:56):
Because these teachings are soall-encompassing, we really need
to know if the church is true.
Fortunately, there's a way foreach of us to receive this
answer?
By their fruits, ye shall knowthem.
As Jesus was giving his famousSermon on the Mount, he shared a
prophetic warning along withsome valuable counsel to all

(01:34:17):
within the sound of his voiceBeware of false prophets which
come to you in sheep's clothingbut inwardly.
If we break this down, christis saying that we should use our
discernment and reason when anypotential claims from religious

(01:34:38):
leaders are presented to us asGod's truth.
Ultimately, we need to look atthe results or fruits of their
claims or teachings and seewhether they ultimately bring us
to the actual truth or whetherthey mislead or misdirect us.
There are many false prophets inthe world today.
Some are easily spotted, whileothers are much more difficult

(01:34:58):
to detect, even to the pointthat they shall deceive the very
elect.
This is why it's so importantto find God's one true plan and
Christ's true church, becauseonce we do, it's much more
difficult for us to be persuadedor deceived.
For this chapter, our goal isto determine whether the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-daySaints is Christ's true church

(01:35:19):
on the earth today.
As I mentioned, the easy answerwould be to just go off the
previous chapters and assumethat everything we've discussed
so far is the truth that God isreal, jesus Christ is the Savior
of the world and that JosephSmith was a prophet of God, and
to simply accept that therestored church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints is alsotrue.
However, let's suspend thatoption temporarily and instead

(01:35:42):
follow the advice of Christ.
Let's really dig into thetruths and teachings of the
church today and see what itsfruits are and if they are truly
good.
Six Major Doctrines RestoredThrough Joseph Smith.
In 1989, the church released atwo-part series titled the
Restoration of Major DoctrinesThrough Joseph Smith.

(01:36:04):
In this series, the authorsexplored six of the major
doctrines that were restoredfrom Christ's original church,
which are the Godhead, thenature of man, the creation, the
priesthood of God, scripture,and temples and their ordinances
.
As I read this series, I feltthat these six doctrines

(01:36:24):
perfectly aligned with thischapter, and so I've included a
summary of them in this chapter,supplemented with my own
research, thoughts and ideas.
As we explore each of theseareas, I encourage you to look
for the good fruit that Christhas challenged us to seek when
discerning truth.
Also consider how unique,special and powerful these
teachings are when compared tomainstream Christianity, and ask

(01:36:47):
yourself these three questionsAre these teachings good and do
they make sense to me?
Do these teachings play animportant role or purpose in my
life?
Do these teachings enlighten mysoul and bring me closer to God
?
Let's jump in.
Enlighten my soul and bring mecloser to God.
Let's jump in.
1.
The Godhead.
In Joseph Smith's time, themain Christian sects of the day

(01:37:10):
Presbyterians, baptists andMethodists were all break-offs
of the Catholic Church and thusbelieved in the Trinity.
The Trinity was one of theirfoundational beliefs because of
the Nicene Creed and otherrelated creeds, like the
Athanasian Creed, whichdescribed the Godhead as one God
in Trinity and Trinity in unity, neither confounding the

(01:37:31):
persons nor dividing the essence.
Some of the break-offs, likethe Presbyterians, continued to
even further mystify the Godheadby introducing doctrines that
defined God as a most purespirit.
By introducing doctrines thatdefined God as a most pure
spirit, invisible, without bodyparts or passions, immutable,

(01:37:53):
immense, eternal,incomprehensible.
Compare this ever-evolvingtransformation and obfuscation
of the definition of deity toJoseph Smith's experience in
1820.
As a young 14-year-old boy,joseph went behind his home to a
grove of trees to pray and askGod which of the sects was right
.
As a result of that prayer, andwithout him even realizing the
importance of it.
At the time, the true nature ofGod and Christ was revealed as

(01:38:14):
they both appeared before him.
Not only did he see for himselfthat God and Christ were two
separate beings, but that truthwas confirmed by God the Father,
as he personally introduced hisson, jesus Christ, to Joseph.
This was the very first truthrestored to the earth.
It didn't take extensivedocuments compiled by dozens of

(01:38:35):
educated scholars, or hundredsof years to define who they were
.
It was simple and clear.
God and Christ were twoseparate exalted men.
They both had bodies of fleshand bone and Christ was the Son
of God, as God himself stated.
It was a simple truth,untainted by centuries of
philosophy and endless debate.

(01:38:57):
Knowing this truth makes it seemso obvious when Moses says God
created man in his own image.
In the image of God, created hehim male and female, created he

(01:39:30):
them.
Moses goes into even moredetail in Genesis, chapter 5,
when he says this is the book ofthe generations of Adam, to
describe the birth of his ownson.
Even using the same wording, ifAdam was made in God's image
and likeness and Seth was madein Adam's image and likeness, as
the scripture states, wouldn'tall three of them have the same

(01:39:51):
image and likeness being that ofa human male.
If God has no body parts orpassions, it would mean, by
definition, that he is not humanand therefore he would not be
able to create us in his ownlikeness and image.
The reality is that numerousscriptures clearly show God,
christ and the Holy Ghost asthree separate beings with one
unified purpose.
Without seeing them as trulyseparate, you can never fully

(01:40:19):
relate to any of them.
Knowing that they are human iswhat binds us to God as our
spiritual father and Christ asour spiritual brother and savior
.
It helps us to understand whythey love us and why they would
create this incredible world forus, just like we love our
parents and our children andwant the best for them.
But most importantly, it helpsus to understand why God would
allow Christ to come to earth tosuffer for our sins and die for

(01:40:40):
us, which gives us a muchdeeper appreciation for that
incredible sacrifice, as itstates in John 3.16,.
For God so loved the world thathe gave his only begotten Son
that whosoever believeth in himshould not perish but have
everlasting life.
Simply replace the world withhis children, and this scripture

(01:41:02):
instantly takes on a muchdeeper, personal meaning.
This scripture is not talkingabout the world.
It's talking about his children, us.
He loves us.
He created us.
He created this amazing worldfor us.
He wants us to become like him,just like we want our kids to
become like us.

(01:41:22):
Can we truly have a lovingfather, son or father-daughter
relationship with anintelligence that is unknowable
and that takes up the immensityof space but has no body parts
or passions?
Can we really call the Saviorthe Son of God, the Father, if
God doesn't have a male body?
Can we call Christ our brotheror God our Father if family is

(01:41:48):
nothing more than a man-madeconstruct to give our temporal
lives meaning?
These questions naturally leadto other questions like if God
himself doesn't have a body, whywould he want us to be
resurrected with our human body?
Why wouldn't we just be spiritslike him?
Why do we even have to beresurrected?
Why would God create heaven forus?

(01:42:10):
Why go through all the troubleof creating this earth for us,
having us be born, die, beresurrected and go to heaven, if
there's not an importantpurpose or plan for it all
beyond this life?
These questions have justscratched the surface, but I
think you get the point From aTrinitarian perspective, without

(01:42:31):
the full knowledge of the truenature of God, we get a very
incomplete picture of who wetruly are, why we're here and
what our eternal potential canbe.
However, with the truth of thegospel restored through the
prophet Joseph Smith, all ofthese questions are answered.
This helps us to more clearlyunderstand our true identity and
purpose here on earth, whichultimately provides us with the

(01:42:54):
opportunity to have a moreintimate personal relationship
with Heavenly Father, his Son,jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost.
2.
The Nature of man.
Just like the Godhead, ourknowledge of the nature of man
completely separates us from therest of Christianity.
The predominant belief amongmost Christian denominations is

(01:43:14):
the idea of ensoulment, that Godcreates a person's spirit at
the very moment of or shortlyafter the moment of conception.
Because of this belief,mainstream Christianity rejects
the idea of a premortal life.
But without a premortalexistence, serious doctrinal
questions arise.
Consider the war in heaven inRevelation, chapter 12, where

(01:43:37):
Satan is thrust out of heavenand down to earth, followed by
one-third of the hosts of heaven.
Or Jeremiah, chapter 1, verse 5, where he's told by the Lord
that he knew Jeremiah before hewas born, and Job talks about
how all the sons of God shoutedfor joy when God laid the
foundations of the earth in Job,chapter 38.

(01:43:59):
These are just a few examples.
Fortunately, with the knowledgeof the premortal existence
restored, we begin to understandwhy God created the earth.
As spiritual children of God,we had to be born, receive a
physical body and undergo amortal existence to become like
God.
We also learn why there was awar in heaven and that we

(01:44:20):
successfully fought for ourchance to have agency.
Unfortunately, when Satanconvinced one-third of the
spirits in the premoralexistence to follow him, they
were cast out of heaven and didnot receive a body.
In addition, we learn that,because of the pure nature of
God, only those who are cleancan dwell with him, which is why
we needed someone to be ouradvocate and savior.

(01:44:41):
Jesus Christ atoned for oursins, making it possible for us
to return and live with himagain if we repent.
In the Pearl of Great Price,more knowledge is given as we
discover that Abraham saw theintelligences that were
organized before the world was,and among all these there were
many of the noble and great ones.
And God saw these souls, thatthey were good, and he stood in

(01:45:03):
the midst of them and he saidthese I will make my rulers, for
he stood among those that werespirits and he saw that they
were good and he said unto meAbraham, thou art one of them.
Thou was chosen before thou wasborn.
This tells us that we all haddifferent levels of intelligence
before we were born, whichwould make sense if we lived

(01:45:24):
with God as spirits.
It would also explain the warin heaven, which consisted of
differing ideas and opinionsregarding the salvation of man,
why God and Lucifer were moreprominent figures in the war
because of higher intelligence,being more noble and great, with
extensive knowledge andinfluence, and why two-thirds of
the hosts of heaven stayed andone-third were cast out because

(01:45:47):
of the ability to deliberate,choose and fight for one's own
destiny.
Speaking of these things, josephSmith said At the first
organization in heaven, we wereall present and saw the Savior

(01:46:10):
chosen, we sanctioned.
The plan was so we could havethe opportunity to come to earth
and fully exercise our agency.
This can be either comfortingor unsettling, depending on the
choices we make in life, butultimately we chose to have our
agency, knowing that God wouldbe fair and just if we did our
part.
One of the unique doctrinesregarding the nature of man that

(01:46:31):
was restored through JosephSmith is that each of us can
become like God.
This might be a difficult pillto swallow for those who are
raised in a different Christiandenomination, because they
really have no context orperspective to allow them to
presume something so bold orgrand.
However, from our point of view, knowing what we know about the
premortal existence, we notonly learn that it's part of

(01:46:53):
God's plan for us to become likehim, but he wants us to become
like him.
That's why there's a plan inthe first place.
It's the reason why we're evenhere.
Think about it.
Why else would God go throughall of this effort?
Why would he do everything thathe has done for us, the
Herculean, painstaking detailand wonder of it all, from the

(01:47:15):
microscopic to the universal?
It's because God is a creatorand we are his ultimate creation
, and our purpose and joy bringshim purpose and joy.
Consider something you've donein your life that has brought
you incredible happiness.
Once you've experienced thatthing, what do you immediately
want to do?

(01:47:35):
You want to share thatexperience with those you love.
You want to see their joy asthey experience the same joy
you've experienced, becauseseeing them have joy brings you
joy.
We bring God joy.
What does God say to Moses, forbehold, this is my work and my
glory to bring to pass theimmortality and eternal life of

(01:47:58):
man.
And Nephi tells us that men arethat they might have joy.
If we exist then to have joy,then there's no doubt that our
joy brings God joy.
And because God loves each ofus personally, not only does he
want us to have joy andhappiness, but he also wants us
to progress and reach our fullpotential, both in this life and

(01:48:19):
the eternities with him, alongwith all those that we love,
including our ancestors and ourposterity.
It's the ultimate plan ofsalvation and exaltation and
it's truly the greatest giftthat God can give.
3.
The Creation.
While our view and the rest ofChristianity's view of the

(01:48:39):
creation in Genesis 1 aresimilar on many accounts, one of
the truths restored through theprophet Joseph Smith regarding
the creation of the world andthe universe is that stars and
planets didn't just appear outof thin air.
They were organized out ofexisting elements and matter.
Most other Christian sects atthe time of the Restoration
believed in a concept called exnihilo, which meant to create

(01:49:03):
something out of nothing.
They believed, and many stilldo today, that God created the
entire universe and everythingin it out of literally nothing.
He simply willed it and it cameto exist.
Joseph Smith, however, revealedthat matter cannot be created
or destroyed and that Christ,under God's direction, organized
existing elements and materialsto create this earth and other

(01:49:26):
worlds without number, prior tothe 3rd century AD.
Records show that earlyChristians believed in creation
through organization similar towhat Joseph Smith taught.
For example, justin Martyr, anearly Christian apologist,
stated in his writings in 157 ADthat God in the beginning did
of his goodness for man's sakecreate all things out of

(01:49:50):
unformed matter.
When we look at the word createdin Genesis, chapter 1, verse 1,
and examine its original formof Hebrew, which is bara, we
find that it means to createshape, fashion or form, which is
consistent with the idea of anorganized creation.
Alternatively, the concept ofex nihilo is not found anywhere

(01:50:13):
in the Bible.
In fact, it wasn't formallydefined as dogma by the Catholic
Church until the Fourth LateranCouncil in 1215 AD.
Surprisingly, modern sciencesupports Joseph Smith's view
that the elements are eternal.
They do so based on twodifferent laws of physics the
law of conservation of mass,which states that in a chemical

(01:50:35):
reaction, mass is neithercreated nor destroyed, and the
law of conservation of energy,which states that energy is
neither created nor destroyed,only converted from one form of
energy to another.
These laws tell us that matterhas always existed and that it
simply changes between states.
When considering the differencebetween these two ideas, let's

(01:50:57):
set aside the universe for amoment and focus only on the
creation of the earth, somethingthat we have more experience
with and can relate to moreeasily.
Consider what makes sense Allthe elements of the periodic
table simply poofing intoexistence on demand, as God
needed them, like a geniegranting a wish, or God using
raw elements and materials thatalready exist and carefully and

(01:51:20):
thoughtfully gathering andorganizing them to create this
and other worlds.
If you still have any doubt, Ihighly encourage you to reread
Genesis, chapter 1, and makenote of the words that are used
like without form, moved,divided, made, gathered, bring
forth, set, created, let us make, and so on.

(01:51:43):
I would also encourage you tosearch the term nebula images on
Google.
There you will find hundreds ofbreathtaking pictures of
massive clouds of gases andelements that are the precursor
to the formation and creation ofplanets and stars.
There are trillions of nebulaein the universe, with the

(01:52:03):
average nebula measuring onelight year, or about 6 trillion
miles in length.
To give you an idea of howmassive that is, the Sun is 8.3
light minutes from the Earth andthere are 525,960 light minutes
in a light year.
960 light minutes in a lightyear that means that to travel

(01:52:28):
the length from one end of anebula to the other, you would
have to go the distance from theearth to the sun 63,369 times.
Now add width and depth inaddition to the length and you
start to get an idea of how muchunorganized matter is readily
available in just a singlenebula, of how much unorganized
matter is readily available injust a single nebula.

(01:52:48):
4.
The Priesthood.
The priesthood is the power andauthority of God and is how God
created and governs the heavensand the earth.
One of the gifts God has givento man is the ability to receive
and use the power and authorityof the priesthood under certain
rules and conditions.
Ordinances that can beperformed only with permission
from someone who is in authorityand who holds the keys to

(01:53:09):
authorize the ordinancesAuthority.
The priesthood must beconferred from one priesthood
holder to another, with theconferrer holding the proper
office Authority.
The power of the priesthood cancome only through personal
righteousness Power.

(01:53:30):
As mentioned in chapter 4, thereare only two possible options
here.
Either the priesthood power,authority and presiding keys
were passed on through the papalleadership of the Catholic
Church, or they were taken offthe earth due to wickedness,
corruption and apostasy andrestored through the prophet
Joseph Smith.
When considering the mostviable option, we should ask
ourselves these two questionswhich of the two churches'
priesthood organizationalstructures most closely aligns

(01:53:53):
with the church Christ organizedwhile he was on the earth?
Which of the two churches'modern-day use of the priesthood
most closely aligns with howthe priesthood was used both in
ancient times and during theministry of Christ?
When viewed objectively throughthis lens, the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints ismuch more aligned in both
structure and use.

(01:54:13):
Here are some examples Similarpriesthood organization and
structure to the ancient church.
Two priesthoods like in thescriptures, melchizedek and
Aaronic, or Levitical.
Modern-day revelation usingpriesthood power and authority.
Sealing power to sealpriesthood ordinances both on
earth and in heaven.
Unpaid lay ministry.

(01:54:36):
Priesthood keys given tomultiple levels of the church so
the priesthood could beeffectively run and administered
.
Temples to perform savingordinances for all those who
haven't received them.
Worthy male members of thechurch holding the priesthood
and using it in their everydaylives to bless both their
families and their communities.
It's these real-life examplesof the priesthood that set the

(01:54:59):
church's authority apart fromboth the Catholic Church and
other Christian denominations.
Just to be clear, this doesn'tmean that other churches don't
do or believe in some of thesethings, and it doesn't mean that
the members of these churchesaren't incredibly good,
god-loving people.
It also doesn't mean that Goddoesn't help them or that they
can't receive blessings ormiracles in their lives.

(01:55:20):
All it means is that they don'thave access to the full power
and authority of the priesthoodthat is currently available to
them as members of the church.
Hopefully, when given the rightopportunity, we can share these
additional truths with allthose who are willing to listen.
5.
Scripture when I was 17, myfamily and I went to Temple

(01:55:41):
Square.
As we were looking at a Book ofMormon exhibit inside one of
the buildings, I happened toglance over at a wall that
showed a simplified scripturaltimeline of the Bible and the
Book of Mormon.
It started out as one lineshowing the prophets in Israel
recording their experiences.
Then, in 600 BC, the line splitand it showed prophets in

(01:56:01):
America also recording theirexperiences.
From that point on, thetimeline showed two parallel
lines of both the prophets inIsrael and America receiving and
writing down their propheciesand revelations from God at the
same time, on opposite sides ofthe world.
For some reason, even though Ihad grown up active in the
church, the importance of theBook of Mormon didn't really

(01:56:23):
make sense to me until thatmoment.
For the first time I saw thegenius behind God having two
completely independent,complementary sources of truth.
God never intended to give usonly one book of scripture.
He strategically timed it sothat when the people of the
world were ready, they wouldreceive more truth and light.

(01:56:45):
While all the books in the NewTestament were completed by
approximately 70 AD, the Bibleas we know it wasn't fully
compiled and published untilaround 400 AD.
Ironically, that's around thesame time.
The Book of Mormon was fullycompiled by Mormon, who then
buried it in the ground in 421AD for future publication.
So from 400 AD to 1830 AD theworld had only one book of

(01:57:11):
scripture, but with the dawn ofAmerican and religious freedom,
more light and knowledge couldfinally be revealed and God's
second book of scripture couldbe officially introduced into
the world.
One of the ways we can know ofthe truthfulness of the Book of
Mormon is to look at itobjectively from a doctrinal
point of view, examining howwell it aligns to the truths and

(01:57:33):
teachings of the Bible.
The closer the two books align,the more likely they are both
from God.
When looked at from thisperspective, the Book of Mormon
delivers in spades.
Lehi is a prophet of God livingin Jerusalem and he receives
revelations from God, just likeother prophets in Jerusalem at
the time.
Lehi's family takes severalbooks of the Old Testament with

(01:57:57):
them to America, including thefive books of Moses, and teach
and educate their posteritydirectly from them.
They dutifully follow the lawof Moses for 600 years until
Christ is resurrected.
They build temples like theprophets do in Jerusalem.
They have similar priesthoodoffices, they perform baptisms

(01:58:19):
and teach faith and repentance.
Many miracles happen as peopleare righteous and destruction
happens as people become wicked.
Their prophets teach andprophesy to their people
regarding God, the Savior,salvation and many other truths
that are consistent with theteachings of the Bible.
Christ visits them after hisresurrection and ascension in

(01:58:43):
Jerusalem and teaches them thesame teachings that he taught
his followers in Jerusalem.
They replace the law of Moseswith the new higher law after
Christ visits them following hisresurrection.
Christ implements the sacramentamong them.
Christ establishes his churchamong them, just like he did in
Jerusalem.

(01:59:03):
Christ establishes a similarleadership structure consisting
of 12 disciples.
The people constantly talkabout Christ, both before and
after he visits them.
In fact, the Book of Mormonreferences Christ every 1.7
verses, on average verses, onaverage Bottom line.
There has never been a bookthat is aligned with, supported,

(01:59:25):
strengthened and proven thetruthfulness of the Bible more
than the Book of Mormon.
6.
Temples One of the most uniqueand wonderful teachings that was
revealed through Joseph Smithis the reinstitution of temple
covenants on the earth.
This teaching is found nowhereelse in the Christian world
today.
The temple is a vital part ofGod's plan for all his children

(01:59:50):
because it is the greatequalizer.
The entire purpose of thetemple is to give every single
person who has ever lived theopportunity to be baptized,
receive eternal ordinances andendowments and be sealed to
their spouses and families foreternity.
It's the Lord's house, a holyand sacred place and a

(02:00:10):
connection point between heavenand earth.
According to the Hebrew Bible,before the birth of Christ,
temples were called Beit YHWH orHouse of Jehovah.
Unfortunately, the importanceof temples and the vital,
eternally significant work thatwent on inside them anciently

(02:00:31):
has been lost to modernChristianity.
Without this knowledge, mostChristians don't realize that
temples are just as important,if not more important, to
Christ's true church today asthey were anciently.
They also don't understand thatboth Old Testament and modern
day temples were and always willbe the house of the Lord,
meaning Jesus Christ, the greatJehovah.

(02:00:52):
To us, this is a preciousrestored truth, as we see those
very words on the front of everytemple and humbly revere their
eternal significance andimportance whenever we enter his
holy house, and humbly reveretheir eternal significance and
importance whenever we enter hisholy house.
The Lord has always commandedpeople to build temples to
perform sacred ceremonies andordinances for both the living

(02:01:12):
and the dead.
Moses and the Israelites had aportable temple as they wandered
in the wilderness.
King Solomon built a temple inJerusalem that was destroyed in
587 BC by the Babylonians,rebuilt 70 years later and
destroyed again in 70 AD by theRomans.
We also know the Nephites builttemples in ancient America.
Building and using temples foreternal ordinances is a sign of

(02:01:35):
the true church in both the pastand the present.
While some churches today maycall their buildings temples,
they aren't true temples bydefinition.
While some churches today maycall their buildings temples.
They aren't true temples.
By definition, temples areplaces where eternal work for
salvation of souls is done, andthere is a lot of it to do.
Today, temples cover the earthand millions of eternal
ordinances are performed eachyear.
These temple ordinances connectour families and ultimately,

(02:02:03):
all of us as part of God'sfamily for eternity.
Unfortunately, this knowledgehas been completely lost to
every Christian denomination onearth today, except for the
Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter-day Saints.
Temples are one of the mostrewarding, fulfilling, joyous
blessings God has given us.
As you've listened to the sixmajor doctrines restored through
Joseph Smith, hopefully youtook Christ's challenge to heart

(02:02:24):
and examined these teachings bytheir fruits.
I also hope you remembered toask yourself the three questions
Again.
They are are these teachingsgood and do they make sense to
me?
Do these teachings play animportant role or purpose in my
life and do these teachingsenlighten my soul and bring me
closer to God?
Let's take a moment andconsider these restored

(02:02:46):
doctrines from a 10,000-footview as you listen to the
following statements, comparingour view of the gospel to the
rest of Christianity.
Consider the three questionsabove, how you feel inside and
the ultimate fruits of eachstatement God, christ and the
Holy Ghost are three separatebeings with one purpose, and God

(02:03:07):
and Christ have bodies of fleshand bone, just like we do, or
God, christ and the Holy Ghostare all one, god referred to as
the Trinity, and areincomprehensible and unknowable
without body parts or passions.
We lived with God before we wereborn and are spiritual children
of God.
He sent us here to gain a bodylike he has, so that we can

(02:03:31):
ultimately become like Him.
Or our spirits don't existuntil the moment we are
conceived and there really isn'ta reason for us to have a body
from an eternal perspective.
Nevertheless, we will beresurrected when we die and we
will live again with God inheaven.
God collected and organizedelements and matter to create

(02:03:53):
the earth, or God willed theearth to be created and all the
elements appeared out of nowhere, from nothing.
Christ ordained twelve apostlesto preside over his church and
when all of them were eitherkilled or exiled due to
wickedness and apostasy, christtook the priesthood off the
earth.
Then, when the world was onceagain ready to receive it, he

(02:04:15):
restored the priesthood in itsfullness, with modern-day

(02:04:37):
prophets, apostles andrevelation to guide us.
Or, and after John's death, thelast living apostle, all
revelations ceased.
God gave us two sets ofscripture, or two witnesses that
perfectly align and complementeach other, to ensure that his
truth is established and thathis one true plan is taught.
Or God gave us one source oftruth, the Bible.

(02:05:01):
His plan is to have 45,000Christian denominations all
teach different versions of whatthey believe to be the truth,
based on their own perspective.
And finally, god wants everysingle one of his children to be
given the opportunity to accepthis one true plan, whether in
this life or the next.
And he gave us the priesthoodto allow saving ordinances to be

(02:05:23):
done in temples to ensure thateveryone gets that chance.
Or God wants the living tolight a candle for those who
have died and pray to the saintson their behalf, so that he
might be merciful to them on theday of judgment.
If you're searching with anopen heart and mind, all of
these doctrines and many othersshow you that you truly can know

(02:05:45):
them by their fruits.
The good fruits that Godrestored to the earth through
the prophet Joseph Smith aresome of the greatest
contributions to the salvationof mankind.
God knew that Christ had to cometo the earth precisely when he
did, because only then would hisown people be prideful,
arrogant and wicked enough tokill him.
The prophets prophesied of ithundreds, even thousands of

(02:06:08):
years beforehand, in detail asdiscussed in chapter 3.
They also prophesied that therehad to be an apostasy after
Christ and the apostles died.
The Jewish leaders had justkilled their promised Messiah
that they had waited centuriesfor, along with most of the
apostles.
The world was clearly not readyfor the fullness of the gospel,
but the seeds of Christianityhad to be planted and have time

(02:06:32):
to grow and spread in order forthe fullness of the gospel to be
accepted and restored to theworld in the future.
The world was being preparedfor the time when God's true
plan could finally be returnedto the earth once again, and
many inspired Christiandenominations actively
participated and played anintegral role in that

(02:06:53):
preparation.
The long wait finally came to anend on a spring morning in 1820
, when a young boy named JosephSmith went into the woods behind
his house to pray.
He had nothing To the secularworld, he was no one.
He had no agenda, presumptionsor plans.
He was unprepared in so manyways.

(02:07:14):
Yet he was sober, sincere,humble, teachable and pure of
heart All the characteristicsand traits that truly matter.
And so.
Through the faith of a youngboy's plea, god, the Father and
Jesus Christ revealed themselvesto Joseph as two separate
beings, human beings just likeyou and me.

(02:07:35):
They knew him personally, theytaught him and they prepared him
to usher in the restoration ofthe fullness of the gospel.
The world was finally ready forthe truth.
The timing was right and JosephSmith was chosen by God and the
Savior to lay the foundation ofthis church and to bring it
forth out of obscurity and outof darkness.

(02:07:57):
The only true and living churchupon the face of the whole
earth, the Church of JesusChrist of Latter-day Saints, is
truly the kingdom of God on theearth and, by God's own design,
it stands as a beacon of truthand light to the world in the
last days.

(02:08:21):
Chapter 6 Is the Book of MormonTrue the Adventure of a Lifetime
.
Over the past decade, the Bookof Mormon has taken me on some
incredible adventures, leadingto discoveries that have brought
the people and places of theBook of Mormon to life in ways
that I never could have possiblyimagined.
One could say that thesediscoveries were a coincidence,

(02:08:41):
but I truly feel that God hasguided me down this particular
path for the purpose of sharingthem with others, with you.
I would venture to say thatmost members of the church have
never read about what I'm goingto share with you and, in some
cases, less than 10 members ofthe church have ever even seen
what I'm about to show you.
One of the main reasons why Ifeel like I've been prompted to

(02:09:03):
write this book is because theinformation I've learned and
discovered about the Book ofMormon is incredibly
faith-promoting and cansignificantly change the way you
perceive and read the Book ofMormon, literally bringing it to
life like never before.
Three Journeys of Discovery.
In this chapter, I'm going toshare with you three distinct
journeys of discovery.

(02:09:23):
In this chapter, I'm going toshare with you three distinct
journeys of discovery.
The first is the journey ofLehi and his family from the
beginning of the Book of Mormon,starting in Jerusalem and
continuing to the land Bountiful, where they built a ship and
sailed to North America.
The second journey documents afascinating discovery made by
the Smithsonian Institute aspart of an official
archaeological dig in 1889 ineastern Tennessee.

(02:09:45):
The third journey documents atrip that I took in 2019 with a
small group of friends andfamily.
We made some incredible newdiscoveries, including an altar
surrounded by numerouspetroglyphs depicting what
appears to be the resurrectedSavior.
Before you read this chapter, Iwant to be very clear that

(02:10:05):
everything I'm about to sharewith you is based on parallels
to the Book of Mormon, since theNephites and Lamanites lived
more than 1600 years ago.
Nothing that I say can bedefinitively proven.
However, it all alignsincredibly well and all of it
seems very possible, if notprobable.
I also want to say that mytestimony of the gospel is not

(02:10:28):
based on anything in thischapter.
I know the gospel is true andthat the Book of Mormon is true,
regardless of where theaccounts in it took place, and
if everything I share with youhere someday ends up being
completely wrong, then I willstill be as faithful as I am now
, and I hope you will be too.
Please know that I do not sharethis information lightly, and

(02:10:49):
for some of you it may bedifferent from what you've been
taught about Book of MormonGeography, but if you keep an
open mind, I promise you thatyou'll at least gain a different
perspective.
Finally, as much as I want toshare everything in detail that
I have discovered about Book ofMormon Geography, I fear that
sharing too much of it willdetract from the main purpose of
this book.
So, while I have more thanenough information to write an

(02:11:10):
entire separate book on thesubject, and may do at some
point in the future, for nowI'll attempt to condense as much
as I can into this chapter.
Consider this the Reader'sDigest version Journey number
one Lehi's family in Jerusalemand Arabia From Jerusalem to the

(02:11:31):
Valley of Lemuel.
About 10 years ago I discovereda book called Lehi in the
Wilderness by two explorersnamed George Potter and Richard
Wellington.
My uncle owned an LDS bookstoreat the time and this book
caught my eye.
Its subtitle read 81 NewDocumented Evidences that the
Book of Mormon is a True History.

(02:11:52):
The premise of the book wasthat George and Richard had
business dealings in and aroundJerusalem.
Since they were already there,they decided to try to replicate
Lehi's journey, from the timehe and his family left Jerusalem
to the point where they reachedthe land, bountiful, built a
ship and sailed to the PromisedLand.
The only problem was that, asfar as they knew at the time,

(02:12:12):
jerusalem and the Red Sea werethe only known documented
locations mentioned in the Bookof Mormon that still existed.
So, with those two knownstarting points, they researched
possible routes that Lehi couldhave taken, got in their SUV
and the rest, as they say, ishistory.
Literally, in 1st Nephi we getsome huge clues as to the path

(02:12:34):
that Lehi took.
And it came to pass that hedeparted into the wilderness and
he left his house and the landof his inheritance and his gold
and his silver and his preciousthings, and he took nothing with
him, save it were, his familyand provisions and tents, and
departed into the wilderness andhe came down by the borders,
near the shore of the Red Sea,and he traveled in the

(02:12:56):
wilderness, in the borders whichare nearer the Red Sea.
And he did travel in thewilderness with his family,
which consisted of my mother,saria, and my elder brothers,
who were Laman, lemuel and Sam.
And it came to pass that whenhe had traveled three days in
the wilderness, he pitched histent in a valley by the side of
a river of water and it came topass that he built an altar of

(02:13:16):
stones and made an offering untothe Lord and gave thanks unto
the Lord, our God.
And it came to pass that hecalled the name of the river
Laman and it emptied into theRed Sea and the valley was in
the borders, near the mouththereof.
And when my father saw that thewaters of the river emptied
into the fountain of the Red Sea, he spake unto Lemuel saying O

(02:13:40):
that thou mightest be like untothis river, continually running
into the fountain of allrighteousness.
And he also spake unto Lemuel Othat thou mightest be like unto
this valley, firm and steadfastand immovable in keeping the
commandments of the Lord.
Before I break this down, youshould know that Saudi Arabia,

(02:14:02):
which is basically the entirearea in which Lehi's journey
takes place, is one of thedriest, hottest, most arid
places in the world.
Those conditions make travelvery difficult, especially if
one travels long distances.
Unlike Lehi's family, who usedcamels to travel, george and
Richard used an SUV.
The trip would have beenimpossible otherwise they knew

(02:14:25):
that a camel could travelapproximately 25 miles per day
on flat ground and good soil.
Since they knew, lehi traveledsouth from the top of the Red
Sea for three days.
That meant the Valley of Lemuelhad to be within 75 miles.
They also noted that in verse 5it says that they traveled down
by the borders and then theytraveled in the borders which

(02:14:54):
are nearer the Red Sea.
In my research I have found thatGeorge, richard and other
scholars postulate that the termborders refers to mountains.
It just so happens that thereare two mountain ranges on the
east side of the Gulf of Aqaba,which is the northernmost top of
the Red Sea, running parallelto each other.
As you head south down the seaabout 40 miles, you literally

(02:15:14):
run into the first mountainrange nearer to the sea.
At that point, you have noother option than to go into a
wadi, which is a dry riverbedthat becomes active during the
rainy season, and enter into thefirst mountain range.
However, there are otherscholars who believe that the
term borders refers togeographical boundaries.

(02:15:36):
The Hebrew and Arabicdefinition for the word border
includes words like limit,boundary, edge, end and frontier
.
I'm inclined to lead towardsthis second direct
interpretation, mainly becausethe words mountains and borders
are used numerous timesthroughout the Book of Mormon
and are clearly defined to meanmountains and borders, in the

(02:15:58):
same way that we define themtoday.
The second interpretationimplies that once they hit the
mountains along the Red Sea,they were leaving known
geography, at least geographyabout which they knew.
They were entering an unknownfrontier and were in the borders
.
But either way, regardless ofhow you define the word borders,
in this instance, bothinterpretations work incredibly

(02:16:18):
well and ultimately you get tothe same place.
Interpretations work incrediblywell and ultimately you get to
the same place.
In the first definition, theyenter into the borders or
mountains, and in the seconddefinition they go beyond the
edge of the known borders orboundaries into the mountains.

(02:16:41):
George and Richard drove theirSUV into this wadi or dry river
valley, which initially forcedthem to drive about five miles
east away from the Red Sea.
The Wadi then turned south andran in a nearly straight line
parallel to the sea.
During this time they sawalmost no signs of life.
After about 30 miles, the Wadisuddenly turned back west and
there in front of them was anoasis in the middle of the

(02:17:02):
mountain range, with grassplants, grain berries and
various palm trees with threedifferent kinds of dates growing
on them, and just past theoasis there was a massive
granite canyon that cut all theway through the mountain.
As they started through thecanyon, they found a natural
perennial spring that ranthrough the valley and emptied

(02:17:25):
into the Red Sea.
It is the only known perennialspring that exists in Saudi
Arabia, even today.
As I read their book and lookedat the photographs, I was
floored.
What were the odds of all thesethings being found exactly as
described in the Book of MormonLeah's family leaving Jerusalem,

(02:17:45):
reaching the Red Sea, travelingsouth for three days, going
into the mountains, finding anoasis with different kinds of
food and resources available,right next to a massive,
2,000-foot-high, firm, steadfastand immovable granite valley
with a continually runningsource of water that empties
directly into the Red Sea.

(02:18:07):
I wanted to see it for myself,but how Suddenly I had a light
bulb moment Google Earth.
I ran over to my computer,opened the app and, sure enough,
it was all true.
The place they found is calledWadi Tayyab al-Izm and today
it's one of the top 10 touristattractions in Saudi Arabia

(02:18:30):
because it's so incredibly rareand unique.
In fact, when you look at thevalley from a satellite, the
valley is so deep that it lookslike a black crack running right
through the mountain.
Here's how the tourism industrydescribes it One of Saudi
Arabia's great natural wonders.
The spectacular red cliffs ofthe Wadi Tayyab Al-Ism gorge

(02:18:52):
rise up 600 meters in heightbefore they open onto the
turquoise waters of the Gulf ofAqaba.
From the beach and palm treesat Wadi Tayyab Al-Ism's idyllic
mouth, the chasm winds its waythrough the ancient mountains
for five kilometers, following asmall clear stream before
finally emerging on the otherside.

(02:19:13):
It's worth taking your timeover the Wadi Tayyab Al-Ism hike
to appreciate the scale andmajesty of this stunning sight.
There is definitely a higherpower involved in Lehi's family
finding and inhabiting thislocation.
It was beyond the borders ofnormal civilization but close
enough to be able to return toJerusalem without the need of

(02:19:35):
extensive planning, which theydid multiple times.
In addition, it provided themwith vital food resources,
much-needed shade from theArabian sun and, most
importantly, a dependable cleanwater source.
That wouldn't have beenpossible anywhere else, at least
in any other place where theycould be secluded, from the

(02:19:56):
Valley of Lemuel to Shazer.
After Lehi and Ishmael's familyleft the Valley of Lemuel, we
learn in 1st Nephi, chapter 16,some additional clues.

(02:20:19):
It says and we did pitch ourtents again and we did call the
name of the place, shazer, andit came to pass that we did take
our bows and our arrows and goforth into the wilderness to
slay food for our families.
And after we had slain food forour families, we did return
again to our families in thewilderness, to the place of
Shazer, and we did go forthagain in the wilderness

(02:20:45):
following the same direction,keeping in the most fertile
parts of the wilderness, whichwere in the borders near the Red
Sea.
Because they were in themountains, their natural path
would have led them in asouth-southeast direction,
staying close to the Red Sea.
Along this trajectory, thereare easily two wadis within a
four-day journey, one within 65miles and the other one within
70 miles.
Both wadis have oases thatstretch several miles and if

(02:21:07):
they were traveling during therainy season, there could have
been water in both wadis, givingthem a viable but temporary
water supply.
It's interesting to note thatat this point they are still in
the borders, meaning either inthe mountains or in uncharted
wilderness or uninhabited lands.
In this case, both definitionsstill apply and, with this being

(02:21:27):
a mountainous region, they werecontinually surrounded by
viable hunting grounds.
Another reason why I like thedirect interpretation of the
word borders is because duringthe initial portion of their
journey, they were deliberatelytrying to avoid populated areas
as much as possible.
Lehi was a well-known man whoselife was actively being
threatened, and Nephi and hisbrothers were possible suspects

(02:21:49):
in the death of Laban.
Being in uncharted oruninhabited borderlands, at
least during the beginning oftheir journey, significantly
lowered their risk of beingdiscovered.
From Shazer to the FrankincenseTrail From Shazer, george,
richard and other Book of Mormon.
Scholars believe Lehi and hisgroup cut southeast through the

(02:22:09):
mountain range and joined upwith the Frankincense Trail for
the remainder of their journey,which continues in a
south-southeast direction untilit reaches the Indian Ocean.
This is the most viable optionfor several reasons.
Beyond Schaefer, they travelnear, near the Red Sea instead
of nearer, which implies thatthey're moving away from it.
George and Richard's researchdetermined the most fertile

(02:22:33):
parts of the journeysouth-southeast down the Red Sea
were predominantly found on theeast side of the Hejaz mountain
range, not on the west side bythe sea.
The Frankincense Trail, anancient trail used to transport
frankincense from the IndianOcean to Egypt, jerusalem and
various ancient northern portsand cities, had been well

(02:22:55):
established for hundreds ofyears before Lehi's time.
It was the only known way totravel up and down the length of
Saudi Arabia and survive.
Lehi would have been well awareof this and by joining the
frankincense trail where theydid, they would have traveled
far enough south that anyconcerns regarding their
discovery would be gone.
The only dependable source ofwater and food past Shazer was

(02:23:19):
along the frankincense trail.
Wells were strategically dugall along the trail within a few
days of each other to maketravel possible.
Once they made it to thefrankincense trail, wells were
strategically dug all along thetrail within a few days of each
other, to make travel possible.
Once they made it to thefrankincense trail, they would
have been on the eastern side ofthe hejaz mountains from that
point, as they continued theirjourney south, southeast.
On the east side of the trailwas the arabian desert and

(02:23:40):
certain death.
However, on the west side ofthe trail was the Hejaz mountain
range, which included a numberof interspersed fertile wadis
and oases where food and watercould be gathered and game could
be hunted.
Lynn and Hope Hilton, a couplewho also made an exploratory
journey in Arabia to documentLehi's travels, said this after

(02:24:01):
considering the viability ofLehi traveling on his own.
Lehi could not have carved outa route for himself without
water, and for a city dweller todiscover a line of waterholes
of which desert dwellers wereignorant of is an unlikely
prospect.
The family, therefore, musthave traveled and survived as
other travelers of their day didin the same area, going from

(02:24:24):
waterhole to waterhole.
Not only were these wells alongthe Frankincense Trail
necessary for survival, but theyprovided much-needed safety and
refuge for travelers along thetrail, with the tribes who
controlled them offeringprotection in exchange for a
tribute.
Lehi and his family, having ahigh social status and being

(02:24:44):
well-educated, would likely havebeen warmly welcomed along
their journey, with theirtribute potentially being that
of an educational nature.
This also may help to explainwhy it took them eight years to
reach Bountiful.
Now we have to ask ourselveswhether it is possible that Lehi
and his group could haveremained on the west side of the
mountains as they headed downthe Red Sea.

(02:25:05):
Well, with God on your side,anything is possible, but
regardless of which side of themountain range they traveled
along, at some point betweenShazer and Nahum they had to
cross the range.
However, there is a veryinteresting discovery that may
further support the east sidetheory of travel the Lehayan

(02:25:26):
Kingdom.
As serendipity would have it, anew kingdom called the Lehayan
Kingdom emerged shortly afterLehi and his family traveled
south down the Red Sea.
In English, lehayan means thepeople of Lehi or Lehi.
In antiquity, the Lehayanitescovered the entire northern half

(02:25:46):
of the east side of the Red Sea, which is where Lehi and his
family would have traveled.
This kingdom replaced theancient Dedan kingdom,
referenced multiple times in theOld Testament, and remained in
power for 300 years.
Some items of particular noteare that the Lehians built a
large temple and had a baptismalfont which still existed when

(02:26:09):
the Hiltons explored the area.
Significantly, the name Nephior Nafi is one of the few names
found in ancient Lehian script.
Lynn and Hope Hilton in theirbook Discovering Lehi state.
Lynn and Hope Hilton in theirbook Discovering Lehi state.
We have a tribal group who cameto political power less than a

(02:26:33):
century after Lehi's sojourn intheir territory.
It is possibly called after aderivation of his name.
They preserved and used thepersonal name Nafi or Nephi,
built a temple and font similarto Solomon's and were located
astride Lehi's likely trail as awell-educated and successful
businessman of high socialstanding, not to mention a
prophet of God.

(02:26:54):
It is possible that Lehi and hisfamily left a lasting legacy
behind them that evolved intosomething more over time.
If anything, it's highlycoincidental.
But for this to really be aviable possibility, they would
have had to have traveled on theeast side of the Hejaz mountain
range From Shazer to Nahum.
As you travel further down theRed Sea, past the halfway point,

(02:27:17):
ancient oases become morescarce and watering holes are
further apart.
Making the journey along thisparticular portion of the
frankincense trail much moredifficult.
In addition, the summer monthscan reach 130 degrees Fahrenheit
and it gets so hot that itbecomes impossible to travel.
Ancient inhabitants were oftenforced into the higher, cooler

(02:27:39):
mountains to survive.
Coincidentally, as you read 1Nephi, chapter 16, verses 15 to
35, you can see how theirjourney becomes increasingly
more challenging between Shazerand Nahum Right after leaving
Shazer.
Verse 15 says that it came topass that we did travel for the
space of many days, slaying foodby the way with our bows and

(02:28:02):
our arrows and our stones andour slings.
However, as they continued totravel further south, finding
food gets a lot more difficult,especially when Nephi broke his
bow and his brother's bows losttheir spring.
Ultimately, they reached apoint of starvation.
Verses 19 and 20 really sum upthe level of incredible hardship
that they were experiencing.
And it came to pass that we didreturn without food to our

(02:28:25):
families and, being muchfatigued because of their
journeying, they did suffer muchfor the want of food.
And it came to pass that Lamanand Lemuel and the sons of
Ishmael did begin to murmurexceedingly because of their
sufferings and afflictions inthe wilderness, and also my
father began to murmur againstthe Lord, his God, yea, and they
were all exceedingly sorrowful,even that they did murmur

(02:28:46):
against the Lord.
Fortunately, nephi was able tofind wood that was strong and
flexible enough for him to makea new bow.
As one of George Potter andRichard Wellington's associates
discovered during theirexploration of this area of
Arabia, olive wood is a qualityhardwood that still exists in
that region today and can beused to make a viable bow.
There may also be othervarieties of hardwoods along the

(02:29:10):
Hejaz mountains, but as long asthere's at least one, we can
successfully validate Nephi'sclaim.
Ultimately, nephi was led by theLiahona to go to the top of a
nearby mountain by their campand was able to obtain food so
they could continue, butunfortunately, it appears this
part of the journey was too muchfor Ishmael and he died soon

(02:29:30):
after.
In verses 34 and 35, we aretold and it came to pass that
Ishmael died and was buried inthe place which was called Nahum
.
And it came to pass that thedaughters of Ishmael did mourn
exceedingly because of the lossof their father and because of
their afflictions in thewilderness, and they did murmur
against my father because he hadbrought them out of the land of
Jerusalem, saying Our father isdead, yea.

(02:29:53):
And we have wandered much inthe wilderness and we have
suffered much affliction, hunger, thirst and fatigue, and after
all these sufferings we mustperish in the wilderness with
hunger.
So, even after they arrived atNahum, things didn't improve,
because they were convinced morethan ever that they were going
to die from hunger.
While the death of Ishmael issad, nahum the place where he

(02:30:27):
was buried happens to be thelocation where Lehi's group
officially changed theirdirection of travel from
south-southeast to east, wherethey begin their final leg of
the Arabian part of theirjourney.
This gives us a very specificgeographical area where Nahum
would have to be located,because the two directions must
intersect each other.
At the time of the publicationof the Book of Mormon, there
were no physical locations inthis part of southern Arabia
called Nahum.
The actual name resurfaced inthe 1990s when a group of German

(02:30:49):
archaeologists excavated atemple site in Yemen and
discovered a solid limestonealtar dated to the 6th or 7th
century BC with the name Nahumengraved on it.
Since that time, two additionalaltars bearing the same
inscription have also beenexcavated, confirming NHM or

(02:31:09):
Nahom as an actual knownlocation.
The most incredible thing aboutthe discovery of Nahom is where
it's located.
Not only is it on theFrankincense Trail, but it is
also east from the land Lehieventually called Bountiful.
In other words, we now havehistorical evidence.
There was actually a placecalled Nahum, dating before

(02:31:31):
Lehi's time.
That is in the precise locationwhere the Book of Mormon says
it should be From Nahum to theland Bountiful.
By the time the group reachedNahum, the scriptures say that
Laman and Lemuel and the sons ofIshmael had been through such
an incredible amount of hardshipthat they decided to kill Lehi
and Nephi and go back toJerusalem.

(02:31:52):
But in verse 39, the Lordintervenes, chastens them and
blesses them with food.
And it came to pass that theLord was with us, that the Lord
was with us, yea, even the voiceof the Lord came and did speak
many words unto them and didchasten them exceedingly.
And after they were chastenedby the voice of the Lord, they

(02:32:13):
did turn away their anger anddid repent of their sins,
insomuch that the Lord did blessus again with food that we did
not perish.
This was both a literal andfigurative turning point.
Not only did they changedirections in chapter 17 and
head nearly eastward from thattime forth, but they also
changed their hearts andrepented of their sins.
This change made the final legof their harsh Arabian journey

(02:32:35):
bearable, as they were facedwith crossing the most deadly
and perilous part, the Arabiandesert itself.
During this leg of their journey, we are told that they
subsisted on raw meat, mostlikely some kind of dried meat
or jerky, which implies thatthey didn't light any fires.
This is very interestingbecause it is during this

(02:32:56):
portion of their journey thatthey would be the most
vulnerable.
They were, for the first time,completely surrounded by desert
and the threat of being raidedwas very real, especially due to
the scarcity of resources inthat part of the land.
Fortunately, god was with Lehiand his group.
George Potter and RichardWellington reported from their

(02:33:17):
nighttime desert observation ofencampments that had Lehi's
group used fire at night.
The light travels so far in theclear desert air that it would
have been possible to pinpointthe whereabouts of Lehi's family
on the trail from upwards of 30miles away.
We read in 1 Nephi, chapter 17,verses 1 and 2, and we did

(02:33:39):
travel and wade through muchaffliction in the wilderness and
our women did bear children inthe wilderness, and so great
were the blessings of the Lordupon us that while we did live
upon the land bountiful.
The Land Bountiful.

(02:34:03):
The entire Arabian Peninsulacovers 1.2 million square miles
of the driest, hottest, mostformidable landscape in the
world.
But for thousands of years,unbeknownst to most of the world
, there remained, hidden at thesouthern edge of the Arabian
desert, a 40-mile-wide strip ofbeautiful, luscious paradise,

(02:34:25):
teeming with all kinds ofanimals, birds, fruits, grains,
bees, trees, grasslands,freshwater rivers and lakes,
ocean life and more.
It was also the largestsupplier of frankincense in the
world and, as such, was thestarting point of the
frankincense trail.
It also housed an ancient portwhere frankincense and other

(02:34:50):
goods were exchanged andexported to other parts of the
old world.
However, as frankincense becamemore readily available in other
countries, this ancient hub,along with its beauty,
ultimately became lost toantiquity.
In fact, this Arabian Garden ofEden was so completely unknown
to anyone in the modern worldthat it didn't even appear in

(02:35:12):
any known books or publicationsuntil 1846, 16 years after the
Book of Mormon was published.
This beautiful land, which Lehicalled bountiful, is known today
as the Salalah Coastal Plain inOman and is one of the most
beautiful places in all ofArabia.
It's unique because it's theonly place along the entire

(02:35:34):
southern Arabian coast thatdirectly benefits from the
Indian Ocean monsoon season.
The reason why it's so green isbecause the Salalah Coastal Pl
plain is surrounded by the steepKara mountain range running
directly behind it.
When the monsoon season comes,the mountains act as a barrier,
causing the clouds to releasetheir moisture.

(02:35:54):
This fresh water in turn hasprovided a one-of-a-kind super
oasis that has thrived againstthe backdrop of one of the most
inhospitable places on Earth forcenturies.
Here's where things get reallyinteresting.
Google Maps makes it possiblefor us to see where Lehi turned
and headed east from Nahum,something you can only see from

(02:36:16):
space.
Once Lehi and his familycrossed the empty corridor,
which is 200 miles of harsh,unprotected desert, the empty
quarter, which is 200 miles ofharsh, unprotected desert, the
topography changes and theterrain becomes a vast maze of
thousands of wadis, deeplyeroded into the landscape for
hundreds of miles.
Li'aina's family would havebeen forced to travel within the

(02:36:38):
wadis wherever they led north,south, east or west and they
would have had to choose justthe right wadis to travel
through if they wanted to makeit to Bountiful.
This is likely why Nephi saidthey went nearly eastward and is
a part of the journey where theLiahona could have played an
important role.
Another fascinating thing aboutturning east at Nahom is that

(02:37:01):
the journey from Jerusalem toNahom was about 1,50 miles.
The only way for Lehi to get toBountiful was through a wadi
called Wadi Hadramat, which justso happens to be due east from
Nahom.
The entrance to Wadi Hadramatis only 25 miles wide and it
looks like a shark opening itsmouth.

(02:37:23):
Once you're in the mouth of theshark, it funnels you directly
into the wadi, but if you missthe opening, there's no other
way to get to Bountiful.
If Lehi's group had turned justa few miles before Nahum, after
crossing the empty quarter,they would have been forced
north into the heart of thedeadly Arabian desert.
If they had turned east just afew miles past Nahum, they would

(02:37:47):
have been forced south, arrivedat the Indian Ocean and found
nothing but lifeless desert sand.
Only by turning east at Nahumwere they able to enter the Wadi
Hadramat and make it toBountiful safely.
So, in other words, lehi andhis family traveled 1350 miles
south-southeast down the Red Seaon the desert's edge,

(02:38:09):
experiencing countless trialsand tribulations.
Then Lehi pointed his familyeast directly into the wide-open
desert, something they hadprobably imagined was certain
death.
They had to hit a narrow gap,only 25 miles wide on either
side, or they would very likelydie and never reach their
destination.

(02:38:30):
This incredible chain of eventsgets even more incredible when
we consider the additionalcriteria that must all be met
once Lehi arrives in Bountifulin order for us today to truly
say this is the place.
According to the Book of Mormon, there are nine criteria, found
in 1 Nephi, chapter 17, thatmust be met for a location to

(02:38:51):
qualify as bountiful.
It must have a mountain.
The entire coastal plain isliterally surrounded by
mountains.
The tallest is 5,000 feet.
It must be by the Sea of ManyWaters or Ariantum.
It's literally on the coast ofthe Indian Ocean.
It must have much fruit.

(02:39:12):
There are a wide variety offruits that grow there.
It's also the only place inArabia that actually grows
tropical fruits.
It must have wild honey,tropical fruits.
It must have wild honey.
Wild honeybees are native onlyto this particular area and are
found in no other place inArabia.
To this day, oman honeybeeshave not been fully domesticated

(02:39:36):
and honeycomb can be found inhollowed out logs or crevices in
caves and even hanging in trees.
It must have wood large enoughtimbers to build a ship.
Historically, large trees wereknown to exist in the Kara
Mountains, but they have beenlogged and deforested over time.
It would have also beenpossible to import large timbers

(02:39:59):
by ship.
In addition to wood, salala hasan abundance of coconuts, which
would have made great fibersfor sails and rope a necessity
for shipbuilding.
It must have somewhere to builda large ship.
The ancient port of Korrori islocated in the Salala coastal
plain and is the ideal locationto build and harbor ships,

(02:40:20):
because it has a natural inletthat is completely protected
from the ocean.
This protection would becritical during storms, as well
as during the spring and fallmonsoon seasons.
It must have a cliff whereNephi could have been thrown
into the depths of the sea.
There is only one place alongthe southern Arabian shoreline

(02:40:41):
with cliffs high enough to throwsomeone from the hundred foot
high cliffs that protect KhorRory.
It must have ore to make tools.
Different types of ores havebeen found in the Karra
mountains, but not in quantitieslarge enough to make them easy
to locate.
This may be why Nephi asked,and was directed by the Lord,
where exactly to find the ore heneeded.

(02:41:03):
Ironically, though, over theyears, large quantities of iron
and copper have been found inand around Korori, along with an
ancient building that was aworkshop for metals.
It must have animals to huntthat would provide meat to eat
and skin for a bellows.
In addition to Salala being arefuge for a wide variety of

(02:41:25):
wild animals, salala and thesurrounding region has
reportedly also had cattle sincebefore Lehi's time.
Either a wild animal, a cow oreven one of their camels, would
have been adequate to create abellows to molten ore for tools.
As you can see, the Salalahcoastal plain meets all of these
very specific criteria.

(02:41:46):
No matter how you look at it,there is no possible way that
Joseph Smith could have knownany of these things about the
Salalah region.
For him to even guess that aplace like the Salalah coastal
plain existed and that itincluded all nine of these
criteria would have been bothimpossible and utterly absurd,
considering what was known aboutthe southern coast of Arabia in

(02:42:07):
1830, unless, of course, theBook of Mormon is true.
He couldn't have known that aone-of-a-kind paradisical oasis
like Salalah existed on thecoast of the Arabian desert,
because nobody in America knewthat it existed.
He couldn't have known thatthere was an ancient natural
port and inlet where they couldbuild and sail a large ship

(02:42:30):
because, again, nobody inAmerica knew it existed, he
couldn't have known that therewould be wild honeybees.
Who in their right mind wouldeven imagine that something like
wild honeybees could possiblybe found in a vast, scorching
desert where there are virtuallyno plants, very little life and
certainly no flowers for beesto pollinate?
He couldn't have known any ofit and it wouldn't have even

(02:42:54):
made sense to consider thatsomething so incredible could
ever be found in such an aridwasteland.
Yet we're able to read allabout the land Bountiful in
detail in the Book of Mormon,because it's all true.
If we look at Lehi and hisfamily from when they first left
Jerusalem to the time theyfinally arrived in Bountiful, we
can't help but acknowledgeGod's guiding hand throughout

(02:43:17):
their journey.
Lehi and his family were achosen people led by inspiration
through some of the mosttreacherous landscapes and harsh
living environments inexistence.
They suffered extended periodsof starvation, thirst and
fatigue, and they were pushed totheir mental, physical and
spiritual limits.
But they persevered andultimately made it to Bountiful,

(02:43:38):
a much-needed respite beforetheir year-long passage across
the ocean to the promised land.
Journey number two Lehi'sfamily in America.
Unlike Lehi's travel in theArabian Peninsula, which are

(02:44:00):
generally agreed upon by churchscholars.
This isn't the case when itcomes to where Lehi's group
landed.
In fact, there are two verydifferent prominent theories
supported by two main groups.
One group supports what'scalled the Mesoamerican model
and the other group supportswhat's called the Heartland
model.
The Mesoamerican group believesthat Lehi and his family sailed
east across the Pacific Ocean,landed in Central America and
lived in and around Guatemala.

(02:44:21):
The Heartland group, on theother hand, believes that Leah
and his family sailed westacross the Atlantic Ocean,
landed around Florida and livedin the eastern United States.
Growing up, I was always taughtthe Book of Mormon events took
place in Central America, butabout 10 years ago I learned
about the Heartland model of theBook of Mormon.
I can tell you that I've spentcountless hours researching both

(02:44:43):
models.
I've also personally traveledto both locations multiple times
and have visited the ruins ofmassive, breathtaking ancient
civilizations in bothgeographical areas.
After carefully weighing andconsidering both models, my

(02:45:04):
personal belief is that themajority of the Book of Mormon
events took place in the easternUnited States.
However, that being said, thisbook is about helping you to
build and strengthen your faithin God, the Savior and the
Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter-day Saints.
It's not about the location ofBook of Mormon events.
So even though I could easilywrite a book about all the
fascinating things that havebeen discovered in the heartland
of America that directlyparallel and align with the Book
of Mormon, I will instead shareonly what I feel can be proven

(02:45:28):
and that ultimately comes downto one amazing discovery made in
1889 in eastern Tennessee.
Incredibly, this piece ofevidence found in the America's
heartland ties directly back toancient Jerusalem and our
discussion about the Bible fromchapter 3.
The Bat Creek Stone.
The Bat Creek Stone is a smallstone with ancient writing on it

(02:45:49):
and was professionallyexcavated in 1889 from an
undisturbed burial mound nearBat Creek in eastern Tennessee.
It was discovered as part of anofficial archaeological dig by
John W Emmert of the SmithsonianInstitute's Bureau of Ethnology
.
When Emmert and his team dugthrough the mound, they
discovered nine skeletons.

(02:46:10):
Under the head of one of theskeletons, they discovered this
stone along with two copperbracelets and several fragments
of polished wood that werebelieved to be ear spools.
The stone is 4.5 inches longand 2 inches wide and has a
lighter layer underneath with athin dark layer on top.
Several ancient characters areengraved on the stone.

(02:46:34):
When the stone was firstdiscovered.
Cyrus Thomas, who oversaw thedig, thought that the writing on
the stone was Cherokee, but notranslation attempts were
successful.
Soon after its discovery, thestone and other artifacts were
documented and stored at theSmithsonian.
In 1964, more than 75 yearsafter the stone was first
discovered, chicago patentattorney Henrietta Mertz came

(02:46:58):
across Smithsonian photographsof the stone.
As she examined it, sherealized that the characters
were upside down and that thewriting on the stone.
As she examined it, sherealized that the characters
were upside down and that thewriting on the stone was
actually Paleo-Hebrew, the samewriting on the Kedeph-Hinnom
scrolls found in ancientJerusalem.
This discovery wasindependently confirmed in 1971

(02:47:19):
by Semitic language scholar DrCyrus Gordon.
In determining the translation,both Gordon and Mertz agreed
that the second, longer wordblock, says for Judea or for the
Judeans, if the broken letteron the far left of the stone is
added.
Initially there was somespeculation on the shorter first

(02:47:39):
word found on the stone, butthe consensus by Cyrus Mertz and
Stieglitz, another Hebrewscholar, was that it says only,
which renders the translationonly for the Judeans.
How incredible that a stone inPaleo-Hebrew writing was found
in a Hopewell burial mound inthe eastern United States dating

(02:48:00):
back to Book of Mormon timesthat specifically refers to the
tribe of Judah.
In fact, it's so incrediblethat as soon as other scholars
got wind that the inscriptionwas Hebrew instead of Cherokee,
they immediately tried todiscredit it.
However, in 1988, the woodfragments found with the stone
were radiocarbon dated andreturned a date of 32 to 769 AD.

(02:48:25):
Those dates are consistent withthe Hopewell Burial Mound in
which the fragments werediscovered.
By way of explanation, theHopewell are a group of people
who settled in the Floridaregion sometime between 400 and
600 BC.
Over time, they moved north andgrew into a huge civilization
that covered most of the easternUnited States, building tens of

(02:48:46):
thousands of differentsettlements, mounds, hilltop
forts, temples and massiveearthworks.
They grew and flourished forhundreds of years until their
civilization inexplicablydegraded.
That resulted in significantinternal conflict, with many of
their cities and settlementsbeing surrounded by large
ditches and wooden stockades forprotection.

(02:49:07):
Ultimately, the hopefulcivilization disappeared near
the Great Lakes region around400 AD.
In 2004, 115 years after itsdiscovery, the Bat Creek Stone's
authenticity was questioned bytwo American archaeologists,
robert Mainfort and Mary Quaz.
They claimed that Emmert hadpotentially seen a Paleo-Hebrew

(02:49:31):
drawing of a similar phrase inan old Masonic book printed in
1870.
However, there were problemswith their hypothesis.
For example, the Back CreekStone text was missing, a letter
found in the drawing, and thestone also contained an
additional letter that was notfound in the drawing.
This additional letter was asignificant hurdle for Mainfort

(02:49:51):
and Quaz to overcome, especiallyconsidering that it changed the
meaning of the larger word fromJehovah to Judea, or Judeans,
if you include the additionalmissing letter that makes the
word plural, also not includedin the Masonic drawing.
But the real differentiatorthat effectively debunked this
attempt to discredit the stonewas a small dash that looks like

(02:50:14):
a comma separating the twowords.
This dash was not found in theMasonic drawing.
It appears that the author ofthe drawing erroneously assumed
that ancient Hebrew words wereseparated by a space, as they
are in the English or modernHebrew language.
He was wrong.
Ancient Paleo-Hebrew words wereseparated with a dot or a dash,

(02:50:35):
just like the one we find onthe Bat Creek Stone.
This simple, nondescript dasheffectively vindicated the
authenticity of the stone on itsown merit.
Then, in 2010, forensicgeologist and TV personality
Scott Wolter performed athorough investigation and
examination of the Bat CreekStone on an episode of America

(02:50:56):
Unearthed.
Wolter was given full access tothe stone and was able to
scientifically examine it andprove its authenticity using
cutting-edge technology.
He also wrote an officialreport of his findings, which
have been peer-reviewed andpublished.
In his report, he states thefollowing Based on the review of
the historical correspondenceand the reflected light and

(02:51:19):
scanning electron microscopicexaminations of the artifact on
May 28, 2010, the followingconclusions are appropriate 1.
Our geological findings areconsistent with the Smithsonian
Institute's field report writtenby John W Emmert.
2.
The complete lack of theorange-colored silty clay

(02:51:40):
residue in any of the charactersof the inscription is
consistent with many hundreds ofyears of weathering in a wet
earth mound comprised of soiland hard red clay.
3.
The inscribed stone and all theother artifacts and remains
found in the mound with it canbe no younger than when the
bodies of the deceased wereburied inside the mound.

(02:52:02):
So how does a stone buried inan ancient mound in North
America that dates back to Bookof Mormon times happen to have
Paleo-Hebrew writing on it thatdirectly refers to Jewish people
from the tribe of Judah who arefrom Jerusalem the only
possible explanation that evenremotely makes any sense, as if

(02:52:24):
the Book of Mormon took placethere, while there are numerous
other incredible discoverieswith ancient Hebrew writing on
them.
In the United States, the BackCreek Stone is the only one that
was excavated by theSmithsonian Institute in a
controlled dig, which is why Ichose to use it.
In addition to the Back CreekStone, there are many other
amazing discoveries andparallels authenticating the

(02:52:45):
Book of Mormon that have beendiscovered in the heartland.
The following list representsjust the tip of the iceberg.
Tens of thousands of ancientmounds dating back to Book of
Mormon times.
Numerous massive earthworksdating back to Book of Mormon
times, large defensive trenchesand timber fortifications

(02:53:05):
surrounding ancient cities,ancient roads.
Ancient gold, silver, iron,copper, lead and other precious
metals, metal swords, points,implements and jewelry,
defensive metal breastplates,defensive metal headplates and
protective headgear, advancedtextiles, freshwater pearls,

(02:53:31):
horse and elephant remains.
Dna markers tying ancientinhabitants directly to
Jerusalem, Dina or possibleJaredite and Hopewell, possible
Nephite civilizations that veryclosely match Book of Mormon

(02:53:52):
timelines and geography.
Numerous hilltop forts andplaces of resort.
Ancient stone walls.
Petroglyphs depicting Christ.
I have personally seen many ofthese places and things.
It is staggering just how manyancient discoveries have been
made in the eastern UnitedStates that members of the
church know very little, ifanything, about, even those who

(02:54:12):
live there.
Virtually every eastern town inthe heartland of the United
States has an old museum filledwith shelves of ancient
arrowheads, axe heads, shovels,grinding stones and more, with
many of them dating back to Bookof Mormon times.
To the locals, they just seethem as interesting curiosities
and collectibles found bytownsfolk in nearby farmers'

(02:54:34):
fields and riverbeds.
But there's so much more.
The third and final section ofthis chapter was actually
sparked by one of these localcollectors and his lifetime
hobby of looking for ancientartifacts around the area where
he lived.
It all started when my dad gotnews that this collector had
died and they were auctioningoff his collection about 50

(02:54:55):
miles north of Nauvoo, illinois.
It sounded like it would be funto go check it out, so me and
my dad, two of my uncles, acousin and a friend all jumped
on a plane.
Little did we know theincredible adventure that we
were about to embark on thatwould change our lives forever.

(02:55:17):
Journey number three Christhidden in plain sight.
We arrived in St Louis on theevening of Saturday, september
7th 2019.
On Sunday, we took in severalof the local sites, including
the St Louis Arch and themassive Cahokia Ancient Mound
Complex and Temple site justeast of St Louis.
We also picked up Wayne May.

(02:55:39):
Wayne is the creator andpublisher of Ancient American
Magazine, which has beendocumenting and publishing
ancient discoveries across theUnited States since the early
1980s.
Wayne is also one of theforemost experts on ancient
sites and civilizations acrossAmerica and has amassed an
impressive collection ofartifacts over the years.
Before the auction, we askedWayne if he'd be willing to fly

(02:56:01):
in a few days early and take usaround and show us some of the
ancient sites that had beendiscovered in Illinois, which he
was happy to do.
Ancient Hilltop Forts.
It just so happens thatsouthern Illinois is very
interesting geographicallybecause the entire bottom of the
state is literally surroundedby huge rivers, creating a

(02:56:21):
massive natural barrier that isvery difficult to cross.
On the east side of the stateis the Ohio River and on the
west side is the MississippiRiver.
These two rivers converge atthe very bottom of Illinois and
continue south as the mightyMississippi, unknown to most

(02:56:42):
people other than Illinoislocals.
The very bottom of the statehas a series of ancient hilltop
fortifications that form a lineof defense effectively
barricading off the bottom ofthe state.
Dating shows that these hilltopforts were erected well within
the Book of Mormon timeline,which creates a very interesting
parallel In an effort toprotect his people from the
Gadianton robbers, laconius isdirected by the Lord to gather

(02:57:06):
his people together in thecenter of their lands.
In 3 Nephi 3, it states he didnot hearken to the epistle of
Gideonhi, the governor of therobbers, but he did cause that

(02:57:26):
his people should cry unto theLord for strength against the
time that the robbers shouldcome down against them.
Yea, he sent a proclamationamong all the people that they
should gather together theirwomen and their children, their
flocks and their herds and alltheir substance, save it were
their land unto one place.
And he caused thatfortifications should be built
round about them and thestrength thereof should be

(02:57:47):
exceedingly great.
And he caused that armies bothof the Nephites and of the
Lamanites, or all of them whowere numbered among the Nephites
, should be placed as guardsround about to watch them and to
guard them from the robbers dayand night.
We also know from otherscriptures in the Book of Mormon
that the people dug ditches andused hills, towers and stone

(02:58:08):
walls to build areas of resortand protection.
Surprisingly, the hilltop fortsthat run across the bottom of
Illinois are strategically builton the tops of high bluffs that
, due to the geologicallandscape, have cliffs that
create natural barriers on thenorth, east and west sides.
These cliffs are virtuallyimpossible to scale, but the

(02:58:30):
really fascinating thing is thaton the south side of the forts
that aren't naturally protectedare massive stone walls.
These walls, originallymeasuring between 6 and 10 feet
high and just as wide, werepainstakingly erected from
countless large stones that weretransported from riverbeds as
much as 200 feet below to thetop of each fortified location.

(02:58:53):
This had to have been anincredible undertaking, since
many of the rocks weigh morethan 200 pounds and the walls
stretch hundreds of feet, thelongest being more than 600 feet
.
Some of the forts even havemultiple layers of stone walls,
one behind the other, with largeditches in front of them.
Some of these forts also hadlookout towers built into the

(02:59:15):
walls.
When visiting these forts, it isobvious that they were made to
protect the people inside ofthem, but were not made for
long-term habitation.
These forts were very possiblydefensive positions for armies
or guards whose job it was todefend the people in the
southern lands by watching forinvaders coming from the north.
George Jackson, a retiredDepartment of Natural Resources

(02:59:37):
employee for the state ofIllinois, says that 14 of these
ancient forts are still known toexist, but there could be more
than 40 such structures crossingeast to west.
Now is it possible that therejust happens to be a series of
strategically defensive ancienthilltop forts running along the
bottom of Illinois?
For some other reason Maybe,but it certainly looks like they

(02:59:58):
were built to defend the landsto the south of these
fortifications.
Each of these forts were closeenough to each other that they
could have used smoke signals toalert their neighbors to
intruders, and they were so wellprotected that whoever was
within these forts could havevery likely defended themselves
in the short term untilreinforcements arrived.

(03:00:19):
As cool as these hilltop fortsare if that's all we saw when we
were there with Wayne, itwouldn't have been compelling
enough to include in this bookabout faith.
But hidden within and aroundthese ancient forts were other
incredible discoveries, some ofwhich no one had ever found
before to our knowledge.
These additional discoveriesconvinced us that these people

(03:00:39):
not only knew Christ, but verylikely knew the resurrected
Christ.
These discoveries definitelyincreased our faith and it's my
hope that they'll increase yourstoo.
The Resurrected ChristPetroglyphs Several ancient
petroglyphs have been discoveredin the same area as these
hilltop forts.
The location of thesepetroglyphs has not been made

(03:01:01):
readily available to the publicin an effort to limit vandalism.
Fortunately, wayne knew theright people, which is how we
were not only able to visit someof the hilltop forts on private
land, but were also able togain access to the petroglyphs.
The first wall of petroglyphswe saw was near Fountain Bluff
Township in Illinois.
We had no preconceivedexpectations and had no idea of

(03:01:23):
the connections and discoverieswe were going to make to Christ
later that day and the next day.
So we all just looked at thedrawings engraved on the wall
with a passing interest and tooka lot of pictures.
While there were somepetroglyphs of animals, there
were also several handprintswith holes etched into the palms
, along with circle crosses onthe rock face that caught our
attention, along with circlecrosses on the rock face that

(03:01:44):
caught our attention.
At this point I thought thehandprints were interesting, but
I didn't make a potentialconnection between Christ and
the hands with the holes in thepalms.
It wasn't until our next stepthat the light bulbs started to
really turn on the Secret Altar.
Our second stop was a veryremote location called the
Whetstone Shelter Site.
This site is extremelydifficult to reach because of

(03:02:06):
its location in the middle of a400 high foot cliff that runs
along the Mississippi River.
Fortunately, because it's sodifficult to reach and its
location it's all but hidden tooutsiders and has been very well
preserved.
As we were trudging up and downsteep powerline trails
surrounded by dense forest, ourguide told us that we were
trudging up and down steep powerline trails surrounded by dense
forest, our guide told us thatwe were going to see what he and

(03:02:28):
other locals called the throne.
After we hiked through thewilderness for a couple of miles
, he pointed to a random log onthe side of the trail and told
us to make a sharp right andcarefully climb down the side of
the cliff.
It was incredibly steep, withvery little to hold on to, but
we all managed to make it to anatural recess in the cliff.
It was incredibly steep, withvery little to hold onto, but we
all managed to make it to anatural recess in the cliff face
.
As we looked out, we saw abreathtaking view of the

(03:02:52):
Mississippi River below us.
Then, turning toward the wall,we noticed several petroglyphs
surrounding a unique structurethat looked as if it was
literally carved into the stoneface.
From our initial impressions,it did in fact, look like some
kind of official seat or throne.
Behind it were three distinctpetroglyph panels carved into
the rock, one above another.

(03:03:13):
There were also strangecarvings in the actual seat
portion of the throne.
Unlike the first site, which hada mixture of animals,
handprints and circle crosses,this site didn't have any
animals.
Instead, it was handprints andcircle crosses.
This site didn't have anyanimals.
Instead, it was covered inhands and circle crosses with
different types of geometricshapes, such as diamonds,

(03:03:33):
circles, holes and lines used tocreate various types of story
panels.
As we were looking at thedifferent petroglyphs, it dawned
on us that we were looking atvery similar engravings,
particularly the hands andcircle crosses that we had seen
at the first site we had visitedearlier that day.
However, unlike the firstlocation, this site had places
where there were two handprintsinstead of only one.

(03:03:56):
One particular set of handprintshad the thumbs pointing away
from each other, which seemedvery odd to me.
However, it was also the mostprominent set and was carefully
and deliberately etched into thestone so that you could clearly
see the fingers and palms.
I wondered why the thumbs werepointed in different directions
and I asked my Uncle John toimitate what was carved in the

(03:04:18):
rock using his own hands.
As he recreated the handgesture, we both stood there in
shock.
The petroglyph looked as thoughit was the literal carving of
the resurrected Christ'soutstretched hands being shown
to the ancient inhabitants.
It was right there in front ofus, carved in rock, as we began
to realize the significance ofwhat we were seeing.

(03:04:40):
The potential meaning of allthe circle crosses next to the
hands with holes in the palms wehad also seen seemed to come
into focus as we viewed themthrough the lens of the
resurrected Christ.
They appeared to represent anempty cross or his suffering and
death inside of the sun, orlight and life.
What a simple yet powerfulsymbol to depict the Savior.

(03:05:03):
At this point we were besideourselves.
Little did we know that therewas even more amazing
discoveries about to be made.
On the way to the site, ourguide had told us about a large
crack in the rock that wasaligned with the summer and
winter solstice.
The crack lit up at the firstlight on those two days of the
year.
It turns out that thisstrategic crack was located to

(03:05:24):
the immediate right of theopen-faced handprints and
immediately to the left of thethrone, so as to be right in
between the two.
Since we couldn't do anythingwith the crack at that point, we
turned our attention to thethrone.
As we were looking at thestrange engravings on the seat
of the throne, we noticed thatone of the engravings looked
somewhat like an invertedhandprint.

(03:05:46):
My uncle then put his hand onit and it fit perfectly.
Someone had painstakinglycarved an inverted handprint
into the seat of the throne.
There was a small divot for thethumb, a smooth concave pad
where the palm naturally rested,and separately carved grooves
for each finger.

(03:06:07):
At this point we were freakingout.
Even our guide, a Baptistminister, had been to the site
numerous times over the yearswas in complete shock from both
of our discoveries First theoutstretched hands and now an
inverted handprint carved intothe seat of the throne.
As you can imagine, we couldhardly contain ourselves, but it
kept getting better.
We soon after found anotherinverted handprint for the left

(03:06:30):
hand.
It was at this point werealized that this wasn't a
throne at all.
It was an altar.
With his hands still in theinverted handprints, my uncle
slowly knelt down and we allstood there in reverence and
amazement.
He was kneeling before anancient altar with three
distinct petroglyph panelscarved out in front of him, the

(03:06:54):
first person in centuries to doso.
We spent another hour at thissite contemplating the
incredible significance of whatwe discovered.
We literally felt like IndianaJones, finding a rare, priceless
jewel that had been hidden forcenturies.
But it didn't end there.
The next day we went to anotherhilltop fort.

(03:07:14):
This particular fort took usmore than an hour to hike to as
we followed along an old,abandoned railway line into the
middle of nowhere.
As we approached this fort, itwas surrounded on three sides by
cliffs and a large pond.
On the fourth side was, ofcourse, a stone wall.
As we were exploring the fort,I walked to the far north end by

(03:07:37):
the cliffs to take photos ofthe pond below.
As I stood next to the cliff, Iturned and happened to look down
at a rock outcropping and myjaw dropped.
There in front of me was apictograph with two more
handprints with holes in bothpalms, and right next to them
was a circle cross.
Our guide was completelydumbfounded.

(03:07:58):
In all the times he had beenthere throughout his life, he
had never looked down at therock.
As we all stood therecontemplating all three separate
sites, all with hands withholes in the palms, and all with
circle crosses next to them.
We could hardly contain ourexcitement.
When we considered thesignificance of this third
discovery, we realized it wasactually inside one of the

(03:08:20):
hilltop forts.
Whoever built the forts verylikely carved the petroglyphs in
the other locations, whichmeant that these ancient hilltop
fort builders were likelyChristians, just like the
hilltop fort builders in theBook of Mormon were Christians.
It also meant that these fortbuilders knew Christ and knew
that he was either going to beor had already been resurrected,

(03:08:43):
even though he lived and diedin Jerusalem, on the other side
of the world.
How was it conceivably possiblefor them to know that?
The only way was if prophetsforetold it or Christ personally
came and visited them after hisresurrection, just like it says
he did in 3 Nephi 11 in theBook of Mormon, faith Rekindled.

(03:09:06):
Even before I started writingthis chapter, I knew it was
going to be the longest by far.
Several times as I was writingit I asked myself if I should
just take the whole chapter outand write a separate book,
because I was worried that Imight be straying too far from
the topic of faith.
But now that I've finishedwriting it and have read it over
several times.
It makes me feel excited andinvigorated about the gospel and

(03:09:27):
I feel an increase andrekindling of my faith.
I hope you do too.
I wish I could have been thereon our trip.
It was truly aonce-in-a-lifetime experience
that I will always treasure,which is another reason why I
decided to keep this chapter.
If I don't share theseincredible discoveries with you
and with other like-mindedindividuals, then literally no

(03:09:48):
one outside of our little groupwould ever even know they
existed, and that would be areal tragedy.
I personally believe that Godled us on this inspired journey
to make these incrediblediscoveries at this specific
point in time because he knew hewould share them with the world
, to all those who have eyes tosee and ears to hear.
I'll leave you with one morething.
In the third location foundinside the ancient hilltop fort,

(03:10:12):
there were no other pictographsor petroglyphs to be found
other than the two hands withholes in the palms and the
circle cross, beautifullydepicting both Christ's tragic
death and his glorious light,life and resurrection.
Consider that for a moment.
Out of all things they couldhave left behind, that's what
they chose and nothing else,because the most important thing

(03:10:35):
to them, the most importantmessage they could possibly
leave for us today was that theyknew the resurrected Savior.
If you'd like to see the photosof these petroglyphs, they are
included in the digital andprint versions of the book.
You can get the free digitalversion at faithtostaycom,

(03:10:58):
chapter 7.
Faith and Adversity.
Even bishops cry.
I don't cry very often, butwhen I was a bishop it seemed
like my emotions always got thebetter of me.
I remember a particularexperience where I was on a
pioneer trek.
Every trek that I've been onhas what's called a women's pull
, in which the women and youngwomen are asked to pull several

(03:11:20):
of the hand carts up a steephill without any help from the
men.
The men went first, pushingabout half of the hand carts up
a long, steep, rough incline.
It had to have been a goodquarter of a mile uphill.
Once we got to the top, we wereasked to line up along both
sides of the trail and stand insilence and reverence as the
women started at the bottom,made the climb and eventually

(03:11:41):
passed by us, struggling butcompleting their task.
The hill we were standing onwas quite high.
I stood on the edge of a ridge,overlooking the plains below.
I could see for miles the bluffwe were on was in the shape of
a quarter moon, and the trailstarted at one end of the bottom
and followed the inside of thecurve up to the top, which

(03:12:03):
allowed us to watch the womenthe entire time as they fought
their way up the unforgivingslope.
As I stood there taking in theview, two different women in my
ward distinctly came into mymind and an overwhelming sense
of pain and heartache swept overme.
I felt that they were bothgoing through incredible
adversity in their lives and Godwas making me aware of it.

(03:12:24):
The feeling was so intense thattears started streaming down my
face.
In that moment I wish I couldhave taken their struggles away,
but even in the midst of myemotions, I was reminded by the
very women struggling up theslope before me that sometimes
the people we love and careabout have to be allowed to
experience hard times anddifficult challenges in order to

(03:12:47):
strengthen their faith.
This chapter highlights severalinteresting thoughts, stories
and insights that can help touplift and inspire both you and
your loved ones throughdifficult times of trial and
adversity the Stories we TellOurselves.
A few years ago, I went on abusiness conference where I
heard Brene Brown speak.

(03:13:08):
Brene was a research professorat the University of Houston and
had spent many years studyinghuman behavior.
As a result of her research,she began writing books on the
topic and became a number oneNew York Times bestseller.
Her presentation was amazing,but one thing really stood out
to me.
She said that our lives were acompilation of stories we tell

(03:13:29):
ourselves, resulting from theevents that occur throughout our
lives.
Some stories are uplifting andempowering, and some are
limiting and debilitating, andultimately, the stories we tell
ourselves shape our lives, whowe believe we are, how we see
the world and, ultimately, whowe become.
Then she asked a question thatchanged my life.

(03:13:50):
She asked what stories are youtelling yourself that aren't
true?
Turns out, a lot of what wetell ourselves is based on our
own subjective interpretation ofour individual circumstances,
upbringing, education andperception of the world around
us, and our stories can be verydifferent from those of others.

(03:14:10):
In fact, two people canexperience the exact same event
and have two completelydifferent interpretations of it.
If you don't believe me, justask my wife.
That phenomenon is one of thethings responsible for conflict.
Brene then taught us a veryvaluable, highly effective
strategy for resolving thesetypes of situations.
She told us that whenever wedisagree with someone, there's a

(03:14:33):
very good chance that it'sbecause we're each telling
ourselves a different story andare trying to force our view of
the story on the other person.
So, rather than arguing toprove your point, she taught us
to rephrase what we're trying tosay by saying this.
Instead, the story I'm tellingmyself is if the other person
does the same thing, there's avery good chance the

(03:14:55):
communication channels will openand improve, helping both
parties to come to a faster,more meaningful understanding
and resolution.
This simple rephrasing of ideas, thoughts and feelings has been
a game changer in variousaspects of my life and the lives
of those around me.
The story I'm telling myselfhas become a common phrase that
my employees and I use incompany meetings, as well as a

(03:15:15):
tool that my wife and I haveused on occasion.
If we aren't seeing eye to eyeon something the next time you
find yourself in a conflict withsomeone, I highly recommend
that you give it a try.
For the most part, the storieswe tell ourselves, or our
perception and internalizationof the events we experience
throughout our lives, contributeto our overall personality and

(03:15:36):
become the building blocks ofwhat makes us unique, but
sometimes we can tell ourselvesstories that aren't true.
Sometimes we can tell ourselvesstories that aren't true.
If these stories are leftunchecked or unresolved, they
can cause significant damage toour self-esteem and self-worth,
and even our faith andspirituality.
For example, when someone sins,that person often feels guilty

(03:15:56):
and begins to feel unworthy ofGod's love and forgiveness.
Feeling unworthy, they distancethemselves from Him,
effectively cutting themselvesoff from the Spirit and many
other good, uplifting things inlife.
But the truth is that God stillloves them the same.
They're just telling themselvesa story that isn't true to
avoid facing the guilt they feelfor the bad decisions they've

(03:16:18):
made.
If left unresolved, this canlead to a life filled with pain,
sorrow and regret.
Another example is when aperson is abused or assaulted.
They often feel like it's theirfault or they did something to
cause it to happen.
But that's not true.
It's a story they tellthemselves to try to make sense
of a horrible event orimpossible situation.

(03:16:40):
This unfortunately, too oftenleads to incredible sadness,
frustration, depression andisolation.
Still another example is whentragedy strikes and someone we
love becomes sick, hurt or evendies.
Our initial reaction is oftento be angry at God.
We tell ourselves the storythat if God loved us or them, he

(03:17:02):
wouldn't have allowed suchhorrible things to happen.
Unfortunately, if we don'tchange this story, we can become
resentful and calloused and theworld around us can become a
much darker and lonelier place.
The reality is that we areconstantly telling ourselves
stories to try to justify thingsthat happen in our lives,
either for good or bad.
Once we realize this, we canthen begin to look more

(03:17:25):
objectively at these stories,particularly the bad or
conflicting ones, and startchanging them.
After all, our circumstancesdon't control us.
As human beings, we have agency, which means that we get to
decide who we are and what wecan become.
As we begin to change thestories of some of the more dark
and difficult stories we'vecreated and replace them with

(03:17:48):
better stories based on a moreobjective perspective, we invite
more light and power into ourlives, which inevitably makes
our lives better and brings uscloser to God.
One of my favorite Brene Brownquotes says the dark does not
destroy the light, it defines it.
To that I add suffering doesnot diminish our faith, it

(03:18:09):
refines it.
With that in mind, ask yourselfwho would I be today if I
hadn't experienced the struggles, hardships and challenges I've
had to face in my life.
Think about it.
Our lives are a culmination ofall the good and the bad.
Think about it Our lives are aculmination of all the good and
the bad, the joy and the pain,the blessings and the sacrifices
, and the light and the darknessthat we experience.

(03:18:30):
We can't have one without theother and still have meaningful
lives.
We all have to go through ourown trials, whatever they may be
, and there's no way around them.
And while some of our trialsmay be self-imposed and others
may be forced upon us, once wetruly realize that we choose the
stories we tell ourselves, werealize in that very moment that

(03:18:54):
we have the power to changethose stories.
We get to decide whether weallow our trials and
tribulations to control, degrade, demoralize.
Trials and tribulations tocontrol, degrade, demoralize and
defeat us, or whether we willallow them to refine, empower,
enlighten and strengthen us.
We ultimately choose whether tolive in the dark and be a

(03:19:14):
victim of our circumstances orto rise from the depths and
allow our darkest moments totruly define the light in our
lives and refine our faith,truly to find the light in our
lives and refine our faith.
There's another thing that canhelp us when we're experiencing
difficult trials and afflictions, and that is a change in our

(03:19:39):
perspective.
If you've ever climbed amountain, you know that the
limited view from the bottomlooking up is very different
from the expansive, breathtakingvista once you reach the top.
But to obtain that perspective,you must first climb the
mountain.
Faith is very similar.
It's not something you'reentitled to or something that
just happens because you want itto.
As strange as it sounds, youhave to work for it by putting

(03:19:59):
in time and effort.
In Ether 12, moroni tells usthat Ye receive no witness until
after the trial of your faith.
He goes on to say For if therebe no faith among the children
of men, god can do no miracleamong them, wherefore he showed
not himself until after theirfaith, and neither at any time

(03:20:20):
hath any wrought miracles untilafter their faith, wherefore
they first believed in the Sonof God.
What Moroni is telling us hereis that as we put in the effort
and exercise our faith in Christ, incredible things can happen,
even miracles.
But, as he also says, we mustfirst believe.
This belief often requires us tochange our perspective from a

(03:20:43):
cynical, worldly view of I'llbelieve it when I see it to a
humble, faith-filled view ofI'll believe it even though I
can't see it.
Or to take it even one stepfurther, I'll believe, even
though it doesn't seem likethere's any reason or hope to
believe.
There are times in everyone'slives when doubt, darkness and

(03:21:05):
misery seem to be our closestcompanions.
Often it's in these most tryingmoments, when exercising our
last bit of hope, that God helpsus to rediscover the light.
These are the moments whenwe're able to see a glimpse of
our trials from God'sperspective.
When Joseph Smith, his brotherHiram and four other members of
the church were held in thelower dungeon of Liberty Jail

(03:21:27):
during the unforgiving, bitterlycold winter of 1839, they found
themselves in one of these darktimes.
In fact, it was likely thedarkest and loneliest experience
of their lives.
This was a very difficult,uncertain time for the church as
a whole.
Outside of Liberty Jail, theirfamilies, friends and fellow
church members were beingcontinually oppressed and

(03:21:49):
actively threatened by mobs andbeing forced out of their homes
into the cold by the threat ofGovernor Boggs' infamous
extermination order given justweeks earlier.
Three days after that order,mobs murdered 17 men and
children at Hans Mill.
During these times, homes werebeing ransacked and burned,

(03:22:09):
goods and property were beingstolen or taken by force, and
women were being sexuallyassaulted and even raped.
Unfortunately, the saints foundthemselves with very few state
or federal allies and no rights.
No one was going to come totheir aid to help them.
They had to either leaveMissouri or die.

(03:22:29):
Inside the jail, conditions werejust as dire, in Joseph's own
words.
We have been compelled to sleepon the floor with straw and not
blankets sufficient to keep uswarm, and when we have a fire we

(03:22:50):
are obliged to have almost aconstant smoke.
Lyman White, one of the otherprisoners with Joseph, recalls
that the mercies of the jailerwere intolerable feeding us with
a scanty allowance on the dregsof coffee and tea from his own
table and fetching theprovisions in a basket on which
the chickens had roosted thenight before without being
cleaned Five days.
He fed the prisoners on humanflesh and from extreme hunger I

(03:23:15):
was compelled to eat it.
They were held prisoner fromDecember to April, the coldest
stretch of the year In Missouri.
That means lows in the 20s andhighs barely reaching the 40s.
Imagine enduring that kind ofcold with no heat, no insulation
and barely enough clothing tostay warm.
In addition, there was noprivacy, no running water and no

(03:23:37):
sanitation other than a bucket.
There was also very littlelight other than what managed to
eke in from two small openingsset in the four-foot-thick walls
, an occasional candle and therare meager smoke-inducing fire.
The long, torturous months spentin Liberty Jail, compounded by
the constant uncertainty andfear of what was happening to

(03:23:58):
their families and loved ones onthe outside, would likely be as
close to the darkest physical,emotional and spiritual living
hell one could possibly imagine.
It was in these seeminglyhopeless circumstances that
Joseph Smith eventually pleadedwith God in desperation, as we
read in D&C 121.

(03:24:19):
Thou, and where is the pavilionthat covereth thy hiding place?
How long shall thy hand bestayed in thine eye, yea?
Thy pure eye behold from theeternal heavens the wrongs of
thy people and of thy servants,and thine ear be penetrated with
their cries.
Yea, o Lord, how long shallthey suffer these wrongs and

(03:24:40):
unlawful oppressions beforethine heart shall be softened
toward them and thy bowels bemoved with compassion toward
them?
These were the words of a manwho had been forced to his
breaking point, a man who hadsuffered to the very depths of
his soul.
It was in these moments thatJoseph had to decide whether to
be bitter, give up and curse God, or somehow find the courage to

(03:25:03):
take one more step of faithinto the darkest abyss.
Against all odds of hope, hechose to take the step.
Look at how he humbles himselfin the next few verses and puts
his faith and trust in God.
Almighty, maker of heaven,earth and seas and of all things

(03:25:24):
that in them are.
Stretch forth thy hand, letthine eye pierce, let thy
pavilion be taken up.
Let thy hiding place no longerbe covered.
Let thine ear be inclined, letthine heart be softened and thy
bowels moved with compassiontoward us.
Let thine anger be kindledagainst our enemies and, in the

(03:25:45):
fury of thine heart, with thysword, avenge us of our wrongs.
Remember thy suffering saints,o our God and thy servants will
rejoice in thy name forever.
This act of faith, in whatsurely was one of the most
difficult trials of faith Josephhad ever faced, created an

(03:26:06):
opening in which the Saviorcould intervene and restore hope
.
Christ spoke once again to theprophet, consoling him with the
following words my son, peace beunto thy soul.
Thine adversity and thineafflictions shall be but a small
moment, and then, if thouendure it well, god shall exalt
thee on high.
Thou shalt triumph over all thy.

(03:26:29):
From this experience, josephwas able to gain a new, better
perspective about life and God'splan for him and the saints.
He knew that all of his painand suffering and the pain and
suffering of those he loved wereonly temporary.

(03:26:51):
He also knew that God waswatching over them, even when it
seemed like all was lost.
In the following section ofDoctrine and Covenants, also
penned in Liberty Jail, theSavior continues to provide
valuable insight into pain andsuffering, why we have to go
through it and the importance ofhaving an eternal perspective.
Although he is talking toJoseph, the lesson personally

(03:27:12):
applies to each of us.
He says and the sentence ofdeath passed upon thee If thou
shalt be cast into the deep, ifthe billowing surge conspire
against thee, if fierce windsbecome thine enemy, if the

(03:27:36):
heavens gather blackness and allelements combine to hedge up
the way, and, above all, if thevery jaws of hell shall gape
open the mouth wide after thee,know thou, my son, that all
these things shall give theeexperience and shall be for thy
good.
You may feel like you'vealready been in the jaws of hell
one more times in your life.
You may even feel that wayright now, but there's an
incredibly valuable lesson to belearned here.

(03:27:57):
God has a plan for each of usand he knows that.
Even though some of the trialswe go through in life are
incredibly difficult and evenunbearable at times, they are a
necessary part of our own uniquelife experience.
Remember that he will provide awitness and even perform
miracles after the trials of ourfaith.

(03:28:17):
We don't know when, where orhow these witnesses and miracles
will happen, but they willhappen if we remain faithful.
Elder Richard G Scott said weare like infants in our
understanding of eternal mattersand their impact on us here in
mortality.
Yet at times we act as if weknew it all.
He goes on to say If allmatters were immediately

(03:28:38):
resolved at your first petition,you could not grow.
Your Father in Heaven and HisBelo beloved Son love you
perfectly.
They would not require you toexperience a moment more of
difficulty than is absolutelyneeded for your personal benefit
or for that of those you love.
Hopefully that knowledge bringssome level of comfort and peace

(03:28:59):
to your heart.
The Fourth Watch.
In New Testament times, thenight was divided into four
watches.
The first watch was from 6 pmto 9 pm.
The second watch was from 9 pmuntil midnight.
The third watch was frommidnight until 3 am and the

(03:29:19):
fourth watch was from 3 am until6 am or about sunrise, after
Christ had fed the 5,000, hetold the apostles to get into a
boat and to go to Bethsaidawithout him while he sent the
people away.
As the apostles tried to maketheir way across the Sea of
Galilee, they were caught up inthe great storm that lasted all
night.
They were tossed by the wavesand continually blown away from

(03:29:42):
their destination.
I would imagine they wereexhausted and scared after
rowing in a violent storm forhours on end in darkness.
We know they toiled the entirenight because in Mark, chapter 6
, it says and when he had sentthem away, he departed into a
mountain to pray.
And when even was come, theship was in the midst of the sea

(03:30:03):
and he alone on the land.
And he saw them toiling androwing, for the wind was
contrary unto them and about thefourth watch of the night he
cometh unto them walking uponthe sea as the sun was setting.
Christ could see themstruggling from the hillside
where he was, but he didn't cometo help them until the fourth

(03:30:23):
watch or the early morning.
As you can imagine, theapostles were frightened when
they first saw him.
They were in the middle of thesea, in the dark, in a raging
storm, and they saw what theythought was a spirit or ghost
coming toward them.
But Christ tells them Be ofgood cheer.
It is, I be not afraid.
And he went up unto them in theship and the wind ceased and

(03:30:45):
they were sore, amazed inthemselves beyond measure, and
wondered.
In his book when your PrayersSeem Unanswered, author S
Michael Wilcox calls himself afirst watch type of person.
Then he asks the questionaren't we all?
He goes on to say sometimes Ipray Lord, I know you're a
fourth watch God and that I'm afirst watch person.

(03:31:06):
Couldn't we compromise and haveyou come at the end of the
second watch or at the beginningof the third watch?
Wouldn't that be fair?
But the compromise rarely comesand in my better moments I know
it's good that it doesn't.
He's a fourth watch God.
The reality is that God oftenshows up in the fourth watch
moments of our lives, when we'reat the point where we don't

(03:31:28):
know if we can keep going.
There are numerous scripturalexamples of this.
Here are a few.
When Isaac is commanded tosacrifice Jacob, god stops him
at the very last second.
God then blesses Abraham forhis unwavering faith and
promises him that his seed willbe as numerous as the stars of
the heaven.
The prophet Elijah meets awidow collecting sticks to make

(03:31:51):
the last meal for her and herson before they die of
starvation.
Elijah blesses her that theywould never go hungry again.
David, a teenage boy, shows upto fight against the giant
Goliath.
David, a teenage boy, shows upto fight against the giant
Goliath.
God blesses his slingshot tohit its mark, causing the tide
of the battle to change betweenthe Israelites and the
Philistines.
Moses and the Israelites reachthe Red Sea in their exodus from

(03:32:14):
the Egyptians and have nowhereto go.
Moses places his staff in thewater and God parts the sea so
they can escape.
Even Joseph Smith, when he wentto pray to God for the first
time, was initially overcome bya dark force that threatened to
destroy him.
He wrote At the very momentwhen I was ready to sink into
despair and abandon myself todestruction.

(03:32:36):
Just at this moment of greatalarm, I saw a pillar of light
exactly over my head.
It was in this moment thatHeavenly Father and Christ
appeared, not before.
Further on in his book, brotherWilcox sums up the concept of
the fourth watch perfectly.
He writes.
When we advance into the secondwatch and he doesn't come, a

(03:32:58):
certain cold fear often beginsto spread through us.
As the wind's velocity does notdiminish as we move into the
third watch, we may be temptedto make some assumptions that
are very dangerous and foolishto make.
God is not listening to me, hedoesn't care, or, more dangerous
yet, he is not there.
At times the universe can seemso very empty, all that dark

(03:33:20):
space filled with cold stars orvery common to Latter-day Saints
we assume I'm not worthy, he'snot listening, he doesn't care,
no one is there to respond,because if he were there and if
he were listening or if I wereworthy, he would certainly come.
When you feel somewhatdesperate, when it seems like

(03:33:41):
your prayers aren't answered andthe winds still blow, take
comfort in the knowledge that heis on the hillside watching the
two wolves.
Right before I went on mymission, I worked for an
irrigation company.

(03:34:02):
The job required the crew I wason to travel to remote
locations.
I usually drove with anotheremployee, but on one particular
day, for whatever reason, I wasassigned a work truck and told
to drive to the job site on myown.
I drove out to the site and didsome prep work on the canal
that we were doing improvementson.
At lunchtime I went back to thetruck.

(03:34:22):
As I was eating, I noticed somemagazines on the seat.
I picked up the top one and sawan adult magazine underneath it
.
At that moment I was presentedwith a choice Do I look at the
magazine or do I leave it alone?
There was no one around.
I could have easily looked atthat magazine and nobody would
have ever known.
But I would have known and Godwould have known.

(03:34:45):
It was then that I made apivotal decision.
I chose not to look at themagazine.
I put the other magazine backon top of it and finished my
lunch.
That one decision changed mylife, because I realized in that
moment that I had the innerstrength to make the right
decision when no one else waswatching.
I also realized that I had thestrength to avoid that

(03:35:07):
temptation, which gave me evenmore strength to say no the next
time.
Because of this and many otherexperiences throughout the years
in other facets of my life,I've concluded that there's real
power in every good decision wemake, and the more good
decisions we make, the easier itbecomes, and the more power we
have to make even more gooddecisions.

(03:35:27):
When I was serving as a bishop,there were several occasions
when members of my ward came into talk to me about struggles
they were having that wereaffecting their faith.
At some point during my callingI happened to come across the
parable of the two wolves.
It's an old Cherokee Indianallegory that goes like this One
evening an elderly Cherokeebrave told his grandson about a

(03:35:48):
battle that goes on insidepeople.
He said, my son, the battle isbetween two wolves inside all of
us.
One is evil jealousy, sorrow,regret, greed, arrogance,
self-pity, guilt, resentment,inferiority, lies, false pride,

(03:36:12):
superiority and ego.
The other wolf is good.
It is joy, peaceenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy
, generosity, truth, compassionand faith.
The grandson thought about itfor a minute and then asked his

(03:36:34):
grandfather which wolf wins?
The old Cherokee simply repliedthe one that you feed.
The moment I read this, Irealized it was a true principle
that applies to each of usevery single day of our lives.
In some ways it relates to theidea of the story we tell
ourselves, because the more weentertain certain ideas or

(03:36:54):
stories, the more they becomeinternalized and a part of who
we are and what we believe,regardless of whether they are
true.
So when faced with two opposingrealities or choices, we often
follow the path on which wefocus most of our time and
attention.
In other words, if you want tochange your life, change what
you focus on and consistentlymake better decisions based on

(03:37:16):
your desired outcome.
Let's put this principle in thecontext of the wolf example.
If we choose to feed theself-control wolf over the
addiction wolf, the self-controlwolf eventually.
Example.
If we choose to feed theself-control wolf over the
addiction wolf, the self-controlwolf eventually wins.
If we choose to feed the faithwolf over the doubt wolf, the
faith wolf eventually wins.
If we choose to feed theforgiveness wolf over the hate

(03:37:37):
and resentment wolf, theforgiveness wolf eventually wins
.
You get the point.
The bottom line here is thatwhenever we experience personal
struggles or issues in our lifethat go against what we know is
right, it may help to lookinternally and try to see what
wolf we are actively feeding.
In other words, it may help toask ourselves what we're

(03:37:58):
focusing the majority of ourthoughts and time on.
Are we feeding the wrong wolveswithout even realizing it?
And if we are feeding the wrongwolves, what would have to
happen to start feeding theright ones?
What would that look like?
As we shift our focus onfeeding the good wolves in our
lives, amazing things can happen.
The stories we tell ourselvescan change in profound ways and,

(03:38:19):
surprisingly, we will oftenfind ourselves where we truly
wanted to be all along.
Unsurprisingly, we will oftenfind ourselves where we truly
wanted to be all along.
Chapter 8.
Repentance and Forgiveness Bothsides of the table.
I remember a time in my youthwhen I made some bad choices and
experienced the weight of guiltand regret separating me from

(03:38:40):
God.
I tried to pray and ask forforgiveness on my own, but I
knew in my heart that it wasn'tenough.
I needed to go talk to thebishop.
It was the last thing in theworld that I wanted to do.
I absolutely dreaded it, andyet I knew I couldn't be truly
free until I did, and so Imustered up every shred of
courage I had and went in andsat across the desk from my

(03:39:03):
bishop.
As incredibly difficult as itwas to do, that meeting had a
significant effect on my life.
It helped me to complete therepentance process, lift my
burdens, restore light and peaceto my soul and provide me with
a renewed appreciation for theatonement.
Fast forward several years intothe future.

(03:39:23):
When I was a bishop, there weremany occasions when a young man
or woman would walk into myoffice to confess a
transgression.
It was the last thing in theworld they ever wanted to do.
They absolutely dreaded it, andyet they knew they couldn't
truly be free until they did.
What a humbling experience itwas for me to sit behind the

(03:39:45):
bishop's desk, especially inthose moments when I realized
that I was sitting there becauseI had found the courage earlier
in my life to sit on the otherside.
It was a powerful testament tome that sincere repentance can
truly redeem each and every oneof us, regardless who we are or
which side of the table we siton A Toss of the Coin.

(03:40:09):
When you stop to considerrepentance and forgiveness, they
really are two sides of thesame coin.
Today, the coin might land onthe repentance side because of
something we did to hurt oroffend someone we know or love.
Tomorrow, that same coin mightland on the forgiveness side
because of something someone weknow or love did to hurt or

(03:40:29):
offend us.
We never know which side of thecoin we're going to have to
deal with, because we're allimperfect beings who make
mistakes every single day.
But the one thing we do know isthat it takes humility, love,
empathy and compassion to bothforgive and to be forgiven.
We also know that the moment westop either repenting or

(03:40:50):
forgiving is the moment ourspirituality becomes imbalanced
and our faith begins to falter.
This imbalance can have seriousconsequences.
Let's take a look at an example.
On the repentance side, someonewho sins but tries to keep it a
secret may be able to hide ittemporarily, but over time it
eats at them from the insidelike a cancer.

(03:41:11):
Finally, they either can'tstand it anymore and confess, or
they become spiritually numband pass feeling.
On the forgiveness side,someone who experiences a
serious tragedy, gets takenadvantage of or is seriously
hurt or offended by someone elsemay grow to despise or hate
that person.
They may even blame God forletting it happen.

(03:41:32):
Over time, these feelings canrob them of trust, kindness,
happiness and joy, leaving thembitter, empty and calloused.
Ultimately, if left unresolved,either a lack of repentance or
a lack of forgiveness eventuallyleads to the same result
spiritual darkness.
Ask yourself can someone trulyforgive others without repenting

(03:41:55):
themselves?
Can someone truly repentwithout forgiving others?
Ultimately, by doing only oneand not both others.
Ultimately, by doing only oneand not both, at least from a
spiritual perspective.
We're effectively saying thatChrist's atonement is sufficient
for others but not for us, or,on the other hand, we're saying

(03:42:16):
that Christ's atonement issufficient for us but not for
others.
In order to really appreciateand understand what Christ's
atonement truly means and totake full advantage of its
incredible blessings in yourlife, we have to continually
strive to do both repent andforgive.
A Catalyst for Change.

(03:42:36):
Ultimately, repentance is theprimary catalyst for changing
direction in our life wheneverwe go down a path that takes us
away from God.
In order to repent, we have tofundamentally believe that God
exists and that Christ atonedfor our sins.
Otherwise, what would be thepoint?
Repentance, therefore, is anact of faith where we personally

(03:42:57):
acknowledge Jesus Christ as ourSavior and Redeemer.
By doing so, we fully andcompletely rely on the eternal
sacrifices he made for us in theGarden of Gethsemane and on the
cross for our salvation.
Through His grace and mercy, weare redeemed, cleansed from sin
and able to return to live withHim, heavenly Father, and our

(03:43:19):
family and loved ones in thenext life.
It is also through the grace ofChrist that we will one day be
judged worthy to be exalted andeventually become like God.
This additional restoredknowledge makes the benefits of
repentance and living aChrist-like life that much more
rich, meaningful and rewarding.
We don't repent because we wantto just live a good life.

(03:43:41):
We repent because we want tolive a Christ-like life, which
is very different.
Anyone can live a good life.
We repent because we want tolive a Christ-like life, which
is very different.
Anyone can live a good lifeeven without repentance.
However, as members of thechurch, we fundamentally know
that living a life where wecontinually strive to emulate
the Savior is where lastinghappiness, fulfillment, peace,
joy and salvation are found, andrepentance is the key to making

(03:44:05):
that happen.
Why we Need to Forgive.
In the Doctrine and Covenants,christ shares with us a very
important teaching aboutforgiveness, wherefore I say
unto you that ye ought toforgive one another, for he that
forgiveth not his brother, histrespasses standeth condemned
before the Lord, for thereremaineth in him the greater sin

(03:44:27):
.
This idea of the person beingsinned against committing the
greater sin if they don'tforgive the sinner seems
completely unfair on the surface.
That is until we consider whyit's being said.
Christ is trying to teach usthat the sins that are committed
against us and our forgivenessof those sins are mutually

(03:44:48):
exclusive events as far aseither person's salvation is
concerned.
The transgressor's salvationlies 100% in their ability to
feel genuine remorse for whatthey've done and sincerely
asking for forgiveness from theperson they've sinned against
and from God and sincerelyasking for forgiveness from the
person they've sinned againstand from God.
The victim's salvation lies100% in their ability to truly

(03:45:10):
forgive the transgressor,regardless of what the
transgressor did and whether thetransgressor ever repents.
This is where a lot of peopleget stuck, because they feel
like, if they forgive someonewho they don't feel is fully
repented or doesn't deserve it,that somehow that person is
better off like they got awaywith it.
But that is not the case withGod.

(03:45:31):
Throughout the scriptures itvery clearly states that
unrepentant sinners will pay fortheir sins.
Here are just a few examples InProverbs 28, 13, it says he
that covereth his sins shall notprosper.
In Romans 6, 23, it says thewages of sin is death.
In 2 Nephi 9, 38, it says Woeunto all those who die in their

(03:45:55):
sins.
In D&C 121, 37, it says when weundertake to cover our sins,
the heavens withdraw themselves.

(03:46:16):
Sometimes it's difficult for usto consider that certain people
who transgress against us, itsays.
Some cases it might beincredibly difficult for us to
forgive someone, even when theydo fully and sincerely repent.
But regardless of whether theytruly repent or even show an
ounce of regret or remorse forwhat they've done, we must still
forgive them, not for theirsalvation but for our own.

(03:46:37):
It's probably important to notethat this goes both ways.
If you choose not to forgivesomeone for whatever reason, but
they go through all the stepsof sincere repentance, they will
still be forgiven by God.
If that offends you, thenyou're only focusing on one side
of the coin Mercy and Justice.

(03:46:59):
One of the stories that hasalways stood out to me in the
scriptures is the parable of theungrateful servant in chapter
18 of Matthew.
In this parable, a servant owesthe king of the land 10,000
talents, which is estimated toequal 60 million pence.
In those days, one day of wagesfor a common laborer equaled
one pence, which means it wouldtake the average laborer nearly

(03:47:21):
200,000 years to make that muchmoney.
Obviously, there was nopossible way that the servant
could repay that amount, so heand his entire family were going
to be sold into servitude.
But the servant begged formercy from the king and he had
compassion on him and completelyforgave the massive debt.
This servant, now forgiven,shortly thereafter found one of

(03:47:44):
his fellow servants who owed himone hundred pence, which was
one hundred days' worth of wages, or one six hundred thousandth
of his forgiven debt.
The fellow servant asked himfor mercy, but the servant would
not forgive the debt and casthim into prison.
When the king found out, hebrought the servant back and
said O thou wicked servant, Iforgave thee all that debt

(03:48:07):
because thou desirest me.
Shouldst thou not also have hadcompassion on thy fellow
servant, even as I had pity onthee, and his lord was wroth and
delivered him to the tormentorstill he should pay all that was
due unto him?
So likewise shall my heavenlyFather do also unto you if ye,
from your hearts, forgive noteveryone, his brother, their

(03:48:28):
trespasses.
Why is this parable relevant tothe topic of repentance and
forgiveness?
Because we are the servant whoowes the ten thousand talents.
Each one of us owes animmeasurable debt to God that we
can never possibly repay.
But rather than casting usaside as a bad investment or a

(03:48:48):
wasted opportunity, god insteadshows us incredible mercy and
compassion and provides us witha way for our debts to be
forgiven.
All he asks is that we do thesame for others, to treat them
the way we want to be treated.
So what will we do when facedwith a situation where someone
owes us a debt that they can'trepay or has committed a

(03:49:10):
grievous sin against us thatthey can never make right?
Will we be like the unwiseservant and demand justice at
all costs?
Or will we be like the king andshow mercy and forgiveness to
those who really don't deserveit?
And show mercy and forgivenessto those who really don't
deserve it?
The Ultimate Gift.
As I conclude this chapter, Ican't help but feel a deep sense

(03:49:32):
of humility and gratitude forthe incredible gifts of
repentance and forgiveness.
How wonderful it is to knowthat they are a fundamental part
of His plan for us, his plan tosave us.
We were born to this earth aschildren of God, god the creator
of the universe, the galaxy,the solar system, the earth, all

(03:49:55):
life, and we are his mostprecious creation.
We are literally surrounded byan infinite number of wonders
and miracles every single day,all created for us because he
loves us.
This is the ultimate gift togive the best of what we have to
those that we truly love.

(03:50:15):
Every father and mother want togive their children the best
life possible and leave a legacythat will enrich and improve
their lives for the better.
That's what Heavenly Fatherwants for us.
God gave His only begotten Son,jesus Christ, knowing full well
the pain, suffering and crueldeath you'd have to endure,

(03:50:36):
because God knew that we neededa Savior in order to fulfill His
plan and ultimately receive allthat he has.
That's also what Christ wantsfor us.
Christ gave us everything hehad as a mortal, even His very
life, so that he could give useverything he has as a God the
gifts of immortality andexaltation.

(03:50:58):
These are the most wonderfulgifts we could ever hope to
receive, and they are free gifts.
The gift of immortality isalready ours, regardless of what
we do in mortality, and thegift of exaltation is made
available to us as we strive tolive a Christ-like life by
keeping the commandments andliving up to our priesthood and
temple covenants.

(03:51:19):
By striving to live aChrist-like life, we are ever
attempting to see the world fromhis perspective and trying to
do what he would do if he werein our shoes.
We are choosing to look pastworldly views, politics,
scientific theories and thelatest socially accepted norms
and trends in an effort to seeall of the people in the world

(03:51:40):
as equals, our true brothers andsisters.
We are choosing to look pastpeople's flaws, facades,
opinions, false ideas and biasesso that we can see each
person's true potential.
We are trying to see who peopleare meant to be, regardless of
who they are now.
We are choosing to look insideour own souls, take an honest

(03:52:03):
inventory of our spiritualstanding and commitment to God
and then make necessary steps tochange the parts that we know
need to be changed, even if wecan only take baby steps today.
As we strive to live aChrist-like life, we naturally
develop Christ-like attributes.
Those attributes include, butare not limited to, but are not
limited to, love, compassion,kindness, selflessness, charity,

(03:52:27):
long-suffering, goodness grace,hope and, of course,
forgiveness.
All of these attributes combineto bring us closer to God and
Christ, which ultimatelystrengthens our faith.
If there is someone out therewho has hurt you, I plead with
you to find it in your heart toforgive that person

(03:52:48):
unconditionally, especially ifthey don't deserve it.
And if you have hurt someone,please try to find a way to seek
forgiveness and mercy and torepent and make amends if
possible.
There is no greater feeling offreedom and joy in this world
than having heavy burdens liftedfrom your soul.
If you need help removing thoseburdens, remember that parents

(03:53:09):
and close friends are alwaysgood to lean on and can give you
great advice.
Bishops are also incredibleresources.
During my service as a bishop,I saw so many people's lives
dramatically and fundamentallychange for the better throughout
repentance and forgiveness.
I know that your life canchange too.
Remember that God loves you, nomatter what.
Remember, too, that Christ isthere to bridge the gap, no

(03:53:31):
matter how wide or deep thechasm may seem.
There is no divide.
He cannot and will not cross tosave you.
Chapter 9.
Your Future With and Withoutthe Gospel 7 Big Picture
Principles of Life.
In this chapter I will share 7principles, ideas and concepts

(03:53:53):
that will hopefully help youtake a step back and see the big
picture of how your life mightlook in the future, both with
and without the gospel.
This is a good exercise inperspective that can help you
appreciate the gospel more fullyin your life.
I had some fun with the titles.
See if you can make theconnection.
1.
The Legacy my wife Darla and Iwere at a movie when she got the

(03:54:15):
phone call from her mom.
I don't think your dad's goingto make it to the end of the
week.
Beverly, or Bev for short, hadsuccessfully battled prostate
cancer for several years, but ithad finally caught up to him.
Now.
It looked like he had taken aturn for the worst.
We headed to Alberta, canada,the next morning, hoping that
we'd make it in time to say ourgoodbyes.

(03:54:36):
Fortunately, bev was stillalive when we arrived and we
were able to visit with himoccasionally as he moved in and
out of consciousness.
He held on for several moredays, but eventually his
struggle came to an end.
Bev was one of the best people Ihave ever known.
He was a teacher and a highschool principal by trade, but
his real passion was buildingthings.

(03:54:57):
I can't think of a time in the20 years I knew him when he
wasn't helping someone buildsomething, whether it was a
kitchen or a bathroom renovation, a shed, a deck or even an
entire house all for little orno pay.
He just loved helping people,and building things was his way
of serving others.
He was kind, funny and lovedmeeting and befriending new

(03:55:20):
people.
He was truly loved by all whoknew him.
On the day of his funeral, thechapel was filled to capacity
with people whose lives he trulyloved, by all who knew him.
On the day of his funeral, thechapel was filled to capacity
with people whose lives he hadtouched all coming together to
remember his countless acts ofservice and to thank God in
their own way that they had theopportunity to know him.
It was incredible to see somuch love and support for such

(03:55:40):
an amazing man.
As I reflect on that day, Irealize now that Bev didn't just
build sheds, decks and houses.
He built people.
He made everyone's life that hetouched better Without even
realizing it.
He brought them all closer toGod because God was with him
everywhere he went.
He loved Heavenly Father andthe Savior with all his heart,

(03:56:02):
and it showed there was a lightin his countenance that not only
made you want to be around him,but to be better and do better
in your own life.
And while it was incredibly sadthat he had passed on, there
was an overwhelming feeling ofpeace and joy that day that was
indescribable.
At the time of his passing, allseven of his children were

(03:56:22):
active in the church and had mettogether in the Carsten Alberta
Temple just a few years earlier.
I remember watching as they allembraced in a big circle in the
celestial room, hugging andloving one another a true
eternal family.
Thank you, bev, for showing meand so many others what living a
Christlike life truly lookslike.
Thank you for demonstrating theincredible, lasting impact that

(03:56:45):
a Christ-like life can have forgood in this world.
As a bishop, I personallyconducted, spoke at or attended
dozens of funerals, whichprovided me with a unique
opportunity to experiencefirsthand how all kinds of
different people chose to livetheir lives.
It really got me thinking aboutwhat really matters in the end
and how the choices we makealong the way can have a

(03:57:07):
profound impact on our familyand the legacy we leave behind.
I've concluded that, at the endof our lives, there are only
two things that really matter.
The first is whether we live aChristlike life.
By continually striving to livea Christlike life, we align our
will to God's will, effectivelyturning our lives into beacons

(03:57:27):
of truth and light.
As we do, those we love candepend on us to help guide them
away from the worldly paths andtowards what is good and right.
This is a great and noble causethat all Christians hopefully
try to emulate.
The second is whether we endureto the end as active members of
the church.
The second is whether we endureto the end as active members of
the church.
This criterion directly impactsour family and our legacy more

(03:57:49):
than anything else we can everdo.
This is a much higher standardthan just living a Christ-like
life.
It involves actively living therestored gospel on top of
living a Christ-like life, whichincludes things like attending
church, paying a full tithing,fulfilling our callings, sharing

(03:58:10):
the gospel, honoring thepriesthood, attending the temple
regularly and keeping ourtemple covenants.
The reason that enduring to theend is so important is because
by holding ourselves to thishigher standard throughout our
life, not only do we truly liveour life to its best and highest
purpose, but we also maximizethe opportunity and ability for
those we love to do the same.
In doing so, we lay thefoundation of a great legacy of

(03:58:30):
righteousness for generations tocome.
2.
The World.
I don't know about you, but tome it seems that the more that
time goes on, the faster theworld is becoming more chaotic
and unpredictable.
During my lifetime, I feel likeI have seen the prophecy in
Isaiah 5.20 literally come truebefore my eyes.
Woe unto them that call evilgood and good evil and that put

(03:58:53):
darkness for light and light fordarkness.
That put bitter for sweet andsweet for bitter, and right in
lockstep with Isaiah, is Nephi'sprophecy in 2 Nephi 28 that
reads Yea, there shall be manywhich shall say Eat, drink and
be merry, for tomorrow we dieand it shall be well with us.
And there shall also be manywhich shall say Eat, drink and
be merry.

(03:59:13):
Nevertheless, fear God.
He will justify in committing alittle sin.
Yea, lie a little.
Take the advantage of onebecause of his words dig a pit
for thy neighbor, there is noharm in this.
And do all these things fortomorrow.
Something that really standsout to me about this scripture

(03:59:37):
is the phrase take advantage ofone because of his words.
Dig a pit for thy neighbor,there is no harm in this.
I have read that verse dozensof times throughout my life and
I always thought of it as anabstract concept.
But as I read it now, I can'thelp but think of how well it
describes the social mediashaming, bullying and cancel
culture movement that has becomea plague on our society.

(03:59:58):
Never before have people goneto such great lengths to take
advantage of, harm or evendestroy a person's reputation
over things they Nevi, continueson by saying well, and thus the
devil cheated their souls andleadeth them away carefully down
to hell.

(04:00:46):
Christianity is in a steadydecline, while atheism is
experiencing record growth.
During this same time, themodern world has experienced
decades of unprecedentedprosperity, and evolution has
become mainstream classroomdoctrine, pushing God and
religion to the side andtreating them like bedtime
stories, instead of recognizingthat they are the very reason we

(04:01:07):
all exist.
Because of all these things andmore, our faith as God-fearing
people is in jeopardy like neverbefore.
It's so easy to forget God whenthings are good, and it's so
easy to get caught up in thelatest ideas and social
influences of the day when weliterally have the world in our
pocket.
Ultimately, more and morepeople are relying on the arm of

(04:01:29):
flesh and less and less on God.
If left unchecked, it will leadto our eventual downfall.
In 2 Nephi 4, nephi writes OLord, I have trusted in thee and
I will trust in thee forever,and I will not put my trust in

(04:01:52):
the arm of flesh, for I knowthat cursed is he.
That putt goes on.
It becomes increasingly moredifficult to resist the
temptations of the world.
That doesn't mean that I'm onthe brink of abandoning my faith
or morals by any means?
It just means that I feel theconstant pull of the world all
around me.
I don't know about you, but itfeels like the world is
continually pulling at mypersonal faith and spirituality,

(04:02:14):
pulling at my family, my kidsand their spirituality, pulling
at my dedication to be an activemember of the church, pull out
my testimony, pulling out myresolve to avoid watching
certain TV shows, urging me tobe ever slightly more tolerant
to the growing number of swearwords or inappropriate scenes
that are easily justified due totheir constant presence and

(04:02:37):
perceived acceptable rating.
Pulling out my view of societybecause of the news that I watch
or read.
Pulling out my time, making itdifficult to prioritize what I
should be spending it on.
Pulling out my perception ofwhat is socially right and wrong
and weighing that against whatis spiritually right and wrong.
For some reason, these worldlyinfluences felt so much smaller

(04:03:00):
in the past than they do now,and they just keep intensifying.
It almost feels like I'm in aconstant tug-of-war between the
ever-increasing pull of theworld and my faith in God, and
I'm pretty sure that I'm not theonly one that feels this way.
I would venture that mostChristians also feel this
continual battle against Satanwith the influences of the world
becoming more and moredifficult to fight.

(04:03:22):
The reason all of this mattersto me, to you or to anyone who
believes in God, is because themore powerful the influence of
the world becomes in our lives,the more important our faith in
God and our testimony of thegospel have to become.
They are the only tools we haveto effectively counteract the
world's pervasive effects.

(04:03:43):
In a recent talk, elder RussellM Nelson said I am optimistic
about the future.
It will be filled withopportunities for each of us to
progress, contribute and takethe gospel to every corner of
the earth.
But I am also not naive aboutthe days ahead.
We live in a world that iscomplex and increasingly
contentious.
The constant availability ofsocial media and a 24-hour news

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cycle bombards us withrelentless messages.
If we are to have any hope ofsifting through the myriad of
voices and the philosophies ofmen that attack truth, we must
learn to receive revelation.
Our Savior and Redeemer, jesusChrist, will perform some of His
mightiest works between now andwhen he comes again.
We will see miraculousindications that God, the Father

(04:04:27):
, and his Son, jesus Christ,preside over this church in
majesty and glory.
But in coming days it will notbe possible to survive
spiritually without the guiding,directing, comforting and
constant influence of the HolyGhost?
Ultimately, this guiding,directing, comforting and
constant influence of the HolyGhost Ultimately, this guiding,
directing, comforting andconstant influence of the Holy

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Ghost requires faith in both Godand His Son, jesus Christ, in
addition to having living aChrist-like life.
However, as we begin toexercise our faith and feel the
guiding influence of the HolyGhost more abundantly in our
lives, we open ourselves toreceive the personal revelation
necessary to help us throughthese difficult and trying times

(04:05:07):
.
3.
The Wager.
As you know, while I was abishop, two active couples in my
ward left the church.
Both times I met with them anddid everything I could to
encourage them to stay.
Both times I was unsuccessful.
Both times their children alsobecame inactive.

(04:05:28):
In my attempt to try to getthese couples to stay, I
unknowingly presented them withwhat I later discovered to be a
concept called Pascal's Wager.
According to EncyclopediaBritannica, pascal's Wager was
created by 17th century Frenchmathematician and philosopher,
blaise Pascal.
As part of his writings on thesubject, he devised a simple

(04:05:49):
decision tree.
Pascal argued that people canchoose to believe in God or they
can choose not to believe inGod.
Then, at some point in thefuture, the truth about whether
God exists will be revealed,depending on where you fall in
the decision tree.
There are four potentialoutcomes.
If God exists and you believein God, you will attain eternal

(04:06:09):
salvation.
If God exists and you don'tbelieve in God, you will receive
eternal damnation.
If God doesn't exist and youbelieve in God, nothing happens.
And if God doesn't exist andyou don't believe in God,
nothing happens.
Based on these outcomes, it'sto your significant advantage to
believe in God.
Or, as Pascal wrote, let usweigh the gain and the loss in

(04:06:32):
wagering that God is.
Let us estimate these twochances.
If you gain, you gain all.
If you lose, you lose nothing.
Wager, then, without hesitationthat he is.
In my personal discussions withthese couples, I unknowingly
used Pascal's wager, presentingit from the perspective of a
member of the Church of JesusChrist of Latter-day Saints.

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My version was slightlydifferent because I used living
and not living, the gospelinstead of believing or not
believing in God.
That's because, as members ofthe church, we believe that what
we do, our works, are just asimportant as what we believe.
That's not necessarily becausewe think that our works are
going to be tallied up in thenext life, but because they show
our true intent, desire andwillingness to follow the

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example of Christ.
I actually like this versionbetter, because being actively
engaged in living the gospelprovides us with additional
physical, emotional, mental andspiritual benefits that come
with living our lives to thehighest standards.
It also allows us to live muchlonger, healthier, more
productive lives on average,regardless of the eventual

(04:07:35):
outcome.
In fact, one study showed thatmen in the church live 9.8 years
longer on average and womenlive 5.6 years longer.
With that in mind, let's look atthe decision tree now through
the lens of the gospel.
If God exists and you live thegospel, you obtain eternal
salvation.
If God exists and you don'tlive the gospel, you obtain
eternal salvation.

(04:07:55):
If God exists and you don'tlive the gospel, you limit your
eternal progression.
If God doesn't exist and youlive the gospel, you still live
your best possible life andstatistically, live a longer and
healthier life.
And if God doesn't exist andyou don't live the gospel,
nothing happens.
The ultimate conclusion is, toyour significant benefit, to

(04:08:17):
live the gospel, because if Godexists, you receive the best
possible eternal outcome.
Even if it somehow ends up thatGod doesn't exist, then you
still lived the best life youpossibly could have without
regrets, regrets and risk onlyenter the equation when you stop
living the gospel, because thetwo remaining outcomes both lead

(04:08:37):
to falling short of your truepotential in this life, with one
leading to potentially limitingyour eternal progression and
potential in the next.
4.
The Choice One of my favoritequotes of all time is from
William Shakespeare.
In a moment of inner struggle,a man is about to make a highly

(04:08:58):
regrettable decision that heknows will have very serious
consequences.
However, before he gives in, hepauses to weigh the true cost
of his actions and asks himselfwhat win I if I gain the thing I
seek?
A dream, a breath, a froth offleeting joy?
Who buys a minute's mirth towail a week, or sells eternity

(04:09:21):
to get a toy For one sweet grape?
Who will the vine destroy?
Or what fond beggar?
But to touch the crown would,with the scepter straight, be
strucken down.
It's incredible to think that,even though this was written
more than 400 years ago, it'sstill just as relevant today as
it was back then.
I especially loved the firstline.

(04:09:43):
What win I if I gain the thingI seek?
In my opinion, this is one ofthe most important questions we
can ask ourselves when we'refacing a decision that goes
against what we know is right.
I also find it significant thatthe second line ends with a
period instead of a questionmark, showing he already knew
the truth.
He wasn't confused or uncertain.
He knew full well that what hewas about to do was wrong and

(04:10:07):
that whatever fleeting pleasurehe might gain would be
short-lived.
This matters because the sameis true for us.
We all have the light of Christto help us recognize right from
wrong, but even when we knowit's right, even when the Spirit
prompts us, we still sometimeschoose the wrong path.
My hope is that anyoneseriously considering leaving

(04:10:28):
the church would take a momentto weigh the true cost and ask
themselves the same kinds ofsoul-searching questions what do
I really win or gain if I leave?
What possible joy can the worldoffer me that isn't fleeting or
temporary?
Am I truly willing to selleternity, something of infinite

(04:10:50):
worth, for a toy, somethingcheap and meaningless in
comparison?
The bottom line here is that,when weighed against the
blessings of the gospel, theworld, while often enticing and
attractive on the surface, hasno redeeming value beneath its
deceptively shallow skin.
My purpose in sharing this poemwith you is to help you to

(04:11:11):
visualize the stark differencebetween the two paths and how
vastly different the outcomesare.
5.
The Gift.
I started off this chapter withthe story of my father-in-law,
his funeral and my wife's familycoming together in the temple
just a few short years beforehis death.
But there's more to the story.

(04:11:32):
When Darla's sister Cammy, wasa young adult, she fell away
from the church and ended upbeing completely inactive for
more than 30 years.
But God had a plan for her.
After three decades ofinactivity, she softened her
heart and she came back.
That day in the temple with herfamily was the day she received
her endowment.
It was a miraculous andwonderful day.

(04:11:52):
It was a miraculous andwonderful day.
Unfortunately, that joy was tobe short-lived because not long
after my wife's oldest brother,delisle, was diagnosed with
stage 4 lung cancer, he died afew months later, leaving behind
his wife and their threechildren.
It wasn't fair, but inhindsight the timing is curious
A long-time inactive daughter, ason with a short time to live

(04:12:14):
and a small window ofopportunity that only God knew
existed.
Was it just a coincidence, ordid God give my wife's family a
precious gift that day?
My point is this Life is nevergoing to be perfect.
The reality is that there aregoing to be a few amazing highs
and a lot of unexpected lows inlife.
There will be times when wefeel on top of the world like

(04:12:35):
nothing could shake our faith,and then there will be moments
when we feel utterly alone andforsaken.
However, we can take comfortknowing that God knows us and
loves us individually.
He will never leave us and hegives us or, even better, gifts
us many tender mercies along theway.
Most of the time, we don'tthink to look for God's tender

(04:12:55):
mercies, but it's been myexperience that when we do, we
start to find them in abundance.
6.
The Movie.
Sometimes, in order to changeour future, it's important to
look into our past.
For example, one of the mostspiritual moments of my life
occurred several years ago on afamily trip.

(04:13:16):
My family and I decided todrive to Alberta, canada, to
visit friends and family.
We were about four hours fromthe Canadian border when the
transmission in our van went out.
We were just outside ButteMontana, an old mining town in
the middle of nowhere.
The van broke down late on aThursday afternoon, but we were
able to find a local shop thatwas still open and willing to

(04:13:36):
help us.
The good news was that theywere able to track down a
transmission in a town only acouple hours away.
The bad news was that it wasgoing to take them four days to
replace it.
So my wife's sister came andpicked up my family and I was
left alone to wander the streetsof Butte.
At the time, we had young kids,my business was struggling and

(04:13:57):
we didn't really have anysavings to speak of.
We were basically just coveringour bills.
Fortunately, we had just enoughon our credit card to cover the
cost of the new transmission,but it was a big financial hit
that we weren't expecting.
To try to save money, I stayedin an older motel.
My room was a throwback to the70s, but it had been
well-maintained.

(04:14:17):
Ironically, even though I hadnothing to do and didn't know
anyone, I never turned on the TV.
Instead, I found myself walkingaround the town, visiting
historic locations and oldbookstores and occasionally
catching a few minutes of theannual Riverdance festival that
happened to be going on.
For the first time in years, Ihad nothing to do but ponder my

(04:14:37):
life.
On Sunday morning, I walked tochurch and back Once back in my
room, I decided to kneel down bythe side of my bed and pray.
Then something completelyunexpected happened.
During my prayer I started toreflect on my entire life as if
I were watching a movie.
It started with some of myearliest memories and continued
to unfold from there as themovie played.

(04:15:00):
I could see and feel God invirtually every aspect of my
life, even in the darkest times.
I could feel him there when Icouldn't always before.
I could see his love throughthe lives and actions of those
who had known me, and I couldfeel his love through all those
who had supported me.
And as the memories came to anend, I knew that God truly loved
me and had been watching overme my entire life, and I broke

(04:15:23):
down in tears of gratitude.
That single experience in thatold motel room in Butte Montana
fundamentally changed me as aperson.
As I knelt on the floor, Isincerely thanked God for every
experience, good and bad, thatmade me who I was, and I made a
commitment to Him right then andthere that I would show up for
Him for the rest of my life, nomatter what.

(04:15:46):
I've tried my best to keep thatpromise ever since.
Now here's the rest of thestory.
Prior to that experience, Iwasn't headed in a good
direction spiritually.
I went to church and paid mytithing, but I felt like I was
just going through the motions.
I didn't feel very spiritual,almost disengaged, and for some
strange reason I had developedan irrational fear of home

(04:16:09):
teaching, now called ministering.
So I almost never went.
But because of that experiencein Butte and the personal
commitment I made to show up forGod, I had a change of heart
and instead of just putting inthe least amount of effort, I
started to become more activelyinvolved.
One of the first things Istarted doing was visiting my
home teaching families everymonth.

(04:16:29):
This was a bit overwhelming atfirst, but instead of letting my
fears stop me from going, Iwould try to think about Christ
and how much he loved each ofthese individuals and families.
When I started, all four of myfamilies were completely
inactive.
But through consistent visitsand by showing sincere
Christ-like love, two of thefamilies eventually found their

(04:16:50):
way back to the church.
The other two families neverreturned to full activity, but
they were always kind andwelcoming when I came to visit.
One of these individuals was anelderly single woman named
Lucille.
Even in her late 70s she hadbright red hair and an electric
personality to match.
At first she would only talk tome on the phone, but eventually

(04:17:10):
she agreed to a visit.
As we became friends, I startedbringing my family with me.
My wife and kids immediatelytook a liking to her and over
time adopted her as an honorarygrandma.
Over the next few years, we allbecame quite close.
Eventually, lucille's healthtook a turn for the worst, but
before she passed away she askedif I would speak at her funeral

(04:17:30):
, or what she called her shindig.
I told her that I would, and itwas an honor and a privilege to
be able to do that for her.
A change of heart.
Within a year of returning homefrom Butte, to my surprise, I
was called to be the Elder'sQuorum president.
Because of the incredibleexperiences I had been having
with my own home teaching, Imade it a goal for our quorum to

(04:17:52):
also strive for 100% hometeaching, which we were able to
do several times.
While it was a lot of work, Ibelieve that this helped to
bring the quorum and the wardcloser together.
After three years as theElder's Quorum President, I was
called to be the Bishop of ourward.
I served in that calling formore than five years.
It was during that time that Iwas inspired to write this book.

(04:18:14):
When I look back now, it'salmost unbelievable how much has
changed.
Had you asked the man sittingalone in that Butte motel room
if he wanted any of this thechallenges, the responsibilities
, the spiritual stretching Iprobably would have said no.
But looking back, seeing theincredible experiences I've had,
the people I've been blessed toknow, the lives I've been able

(04:18:35):
to impact, and the difference ithas made in my own family, I
wouldn't trade it for anythingand, even though it was a
difficult trial at the time, I'mtruly grateful that our van
broke down all those years agoas a result of that experience
that I had in Butte.
I've come to the realizationthat, just like me, every single
person has their very ownhighlight reel of all the times

(04:18:57):
in their life when God has beenthere with them, and if you take
the time to watch yours, you'lldiscover numerous experiences
when God's been there with you.
Consider all the times you felthis presence through family and
friends who have shown kindness, service and love, or personal
experiences where you felt thelight and truth of the gospel
and have tasted for yourself thegoodness of the fruit, perhaps

(04:19:20):
at your baptism a baby blessing,a patriarchal blessing, an
answer to a sincere andheartfelt prayer, a powerful
scripture attending the temple?
A miracle or a talk insacrament meeting or general
conference?
A miracle or a talk insacrament meeting or general
conference.
If you feel inspired andthere's no one around, I
encourage you to press pause andtake a moment to close your

(04:19:41):
eyes in prayer and ask God toremind you of some of these
precious moments in your life.
Then sit back and watch themovie unfold 7.
The Crossroads.
There's a great poem called Atthe Crossroads that really sums
up this chapter, and I'd like toconclude with its inspired

(04:20:01):
words.
He stood at the crossroads allalone, the sunlight in his face.
He had no fear for the pathunknown.
He was set for a manly race,but the road stretched east and
the road stretched west.
There was no one to tell himwhich road was best.
So he took the wrong road andit let him down Till he lost the

(04:20:22):
race and the victor's crown.
He fell at last in an uglysnare because no one stood at
the crossroads there.
Another boy, on another day, atthe self-same crossroads, stood
.
He paused a moment to choosethe way that would lead to the
greater good, and the roadstretched east and the road
stretched west, and one wasthere to show him the best.

(04:20:44):
So he turned right and went onand on and he won the race and
the victor's crown.
He walks today the highway fairbecause one stood at the
crossroads there.
God's plan is so simple, but atthe end of the day we must
choose the path we take.
Down one path lies the worldwith all its fleeting pleasures,

(04:21:05):
subtle distractions and emptypromises.
Down the other lies the pathback to God, true happiness and
eternal life.
When we take time to reallystep back and look at our life
from a 10,000-foot view, it'seasy to see which path we are
currently on and where it'sbound to lead if left unchanged.
The great thing about God'splan is that he gives us the

(04:21:26):
ability to change our path tohis at any point in time.
Which path do you truly want totake in life?
In your heart of hearts, onlyyou can decide.
Chapter 10, keeping the FaithChoosing to Stay.
I recently attended a sacramentmeeting where one of the

(04:21:50):
speakers shared a story of herfriend, Carter Ellis, who at the
time was serving a mission inChile.
While he was there, he posted amessage on social media that
ended up going viral.
Here's what he said.
I've seen a lot of posts latelyfrom people talking about their
individual decisions to leavethe church.
I guess I feel like this is asgood a time as any to share my

(04:22:10):
decision to stay.
I'm a member of the Church ofJesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.
It's not a club, it's not afraternity.
It's not just some organizationwith crazy rules meant to
restrict my freedom.
It's not a buffet from which topick and choose which
principles you want to believeand which ones you want to throw
into the trash.
This is a gospel.

(04:22:30):
This is a plan.
This is happiness.
This is the truth.
It's all or nothing.
I want to share a little bitabout my perspective on the word
freedom.
It seems like the moment peopleleave the church, one of the
first things everyone says issomething like I've never felt
more free.
Interestingly, I can't think ofa time in my life where I've

(04:22:52):
felt more free than right now,serving as a missionary for the
church, ironically with morerules placed on me than I have
ever had.
But I think I feel free forsome different reasons Free from
sin through the atonement ofChrist.
Free from guilt because therules I have for myself to help
me stay clean Free from sorrow,because I'm going to see those

(04:23:15):
who have passed away againsomeday.
Free from confusion because ofa living prophet who gives us
direction on where we need to go.
This gospel is a gift.
Our ancestors walked thousandsof miles through icy rivers and
snowy plains, leaving footprintsof blood and many giving their
lives along the way.
Why?
Because they knew this gospelis true.

(04:23:37):
They wouldn't have given upwhat they did if it wasn't.
I also know that it's true thatJoseph Smith really saw what he
saw, that the Book of Mormon istrue, that God lives, that he
loves each and every one of us,that this path is true.
It's the only way.
It's for everyone.
Stay.

(04:23:57):
What an incredible message ofhope and faith this young man
has to share with the world.
It's so inspiring.
Don't stay for family andfriends.
Don't stay out of obligation.
Stay because it's true.
There is nothing like the Churchof Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints.
Anywhere else in the entireworld.

(04:24:18):
No other church fullyunderstands the divine, eternal
nature of God and the Savior.
No other church has beenrestored to the earth with the
fullness of the gospel and aknowledge of his incredible plan
that he has for our salvationand exaltation.
No other church has a secondbook of scripture written by
prophets to help establish thetruth of God and his teachings.

(04:24:40):
No other church has modern-dayprophets and apostles who have
the priesthood of God and whoreceive direct revelation to
lead and guide the inhabitantsof the earth in the last days.
No other church allows foreveryone that has ever lived or
will live on earth theopportunity to be taught the
gospel and be saved in thekingdom of God, and no other

(04:25:01):
church has temples that coverthe earth and provide the
ability to seal families andgenerations together for
eternity.
We stand alone in so many ways,and yet we stand alone in all
the right ways.
In so many ways, and yet westand alone in all the right
ways.
As the world continues tospiral out of control into
darkness and confusion, thelight of the gospel will
continue to shine brighter,bringing peace, comfort and hope

(04:25:24):
to all those who put theirfaith and trust in God.
If you're struggling withsomething that's currently
affecting your faith, pleasedon't wait any longer to resolve
it.
Share your burden with God andallow Christ to carry it for you
.
If you struggle with doctrinalissues and secondary questions,
pray to God that he might helpyou to either resolve them or

(04:25:45):
let them go.
Then focus your time and efforton the primary questions and
all the delicious fruits of thegospel that come with the
knowledge of a loving HeavenlyFather, the Savior, the
Restoration, the Church and theBook of Mormon.
If you struggle with personalsin, turn to God, your bishop or
your parents or spouse forstrength and guidance.
Let them help you unshacklethose chains of bondage so you

(04:26:08):
can be free.
If you've been hurt or unableto forgive, pray to God that he
might heal your broken heart.
Ask for a priesthood blessing.
Talk to your bishop and ask forcounseling if necessary.
Do whatever it takes to liftthat heavy burden from your soul
.
If there is anything that iscausing you to struggle, you
don't have to live even one moreday in darkness, sadness,

(04:26:32):
misery or doubt.
Simply exercise your faithEnduring to the end.
Whether we like it or not, ourfaith was always meant to be

(04:27:03):
tested and this life was alwaysmeant to be a test to see if we
would be faithful to God whenpresented with our own personal
obstacles, challenges,temptations and trials.
So, as you come to the end ofthis book, the final question
I'll leave with you is this whatare you going to do now?
At the end of the day, one ofthe most precious gifts the

(04:27:24):
gospel gives us is an eternalperspective.
When we look at life from aneternal point of view, knowing
that we're all eternal beingshaving a brief mortal experience
, then whatever crisis we may beexperiencing today simply
becomes another test along thejourney.
It makes trials more bearable.
It takes away the bitter stingfrom death, loss and hate.

(04:27:47):
It allows us to be more patient, loving and forgiving.
It helps us to truly appreciateour blessings and the good
things that life has to offer us.
It adds more depth and meaningto our relationships and it
provides us with incredible hopefor the future, both in this
life and the next, as we striveto do what's right and keep a

(04:28:08):
proper perspective.
When future tests and trials offaith come along, we will
ultimately endure to the end andreceive our eternal reward.
And someday, at the end offaith come along, we will
ultimately endure to the end andreceive our eternal reward.
And someday, at the end of ourmortal lives, we will be able to
say, just like Paul I havefought a good fight, I have
finished my course, I have keptthe faith.
May God truly bless you on therest of your life's journey, and

(04:28:31):
may you find the courage andstrength to stay true and
faithful to the end.
I hope you've enjoyed reading mybook.
As a token of my sincereappreciation, I have a couple of
free gifts I'd like to give you.
My first gift is a free digitalprint of the cover image of the

(04:28:51):
book titled Take my Hand.
Since I first started writingthis book, the title and cover
design have gone through manydifferent iterations.
However, about a year ago, Ihad a very distinct image come
to my mind of Christ emergingfrom a violent storm with his
hand stretched out in a sincereand urgent effort to rescue the
reader or listener from darkness.

(04:29:12):
I had no idea how I was goingto make my vision a reality at
the time.
I had never seen anything likeit before, but it was very clear
in my mind.
It was about this time that AIstarted to really take off, and
so one day, I tried my hand atit.
And lo and behold, the softwareI was using created a very low
resolution cartoon-like versionof the image that's included on

(04:29:33):
the cover, although unusable formy purposes.
I was surprised at how well itcaptured the essence of what I
had imagined.
Then, about six months later, anew state-of-the-art AI tool
came out that could turndrawings and low-resolution
images into high-resolutionlifelike images.
So I uploaded the original fileand, to my surprise, it created

(04:29:53):
an image much closer to what Ihad envisioned, but, as with
most AI-generated art, it hadsome glaring issues that needed
a master's touch.
I then recruited an artist tohelp me refine the image.
Working together, we spentupwards of 40 hours editing and
fine-tuning both his hand andface to create what you now see
as the completed art print.

(04:30:14):
This has truly been a labor oflove and, through the gift of AI
technology, photoshop andcreativity, skill and attention
to detail, my initial vision hasbecome a reality For me.
This image stirs my soul andgives me peace in knowing that
Christ is always there to helpme through the difficulties,
challenges and storms of life.
I hope that it can provideadditional comfort and peace to

(04:30:36):
you as well, which is why I'mgiving you access to a variety
of high-resolution printablefiles for your own personal use.
I've included four differentpopular print sizes 16 by 20,
which is great for a largeliving room print, or small
poster.
11 by 14, which makes a nice,slightly smaller living room
print 8 by 10, which is perfectfor bedrooms or bathrooms, and 5

(04:31:00):
by 7, which is great for desksor nightstands.
Simply choose the size or sizesthat best suit your needs.
Fyi, walmartcom has thecheapest and easiest print
options that I've found, withprices ranging from $1 to $12,
depending on the print size.
You're also more than welcometo print copies of Take my Hand

(04:31:20):
to give to your friends andfamily as gifts and reminders of
the Savior's incredible lovefor them.
To access all of the prints, goto faithtostaycom.
Slash gifts.
My second gift to you is theability to give away free,
unlimited digital and audiocopies of this book.
From the moment I first startedwriting it, my only intention

(04:31:42):
was to help people who arestruggling with their faith, not
to make money.
And while printing and shippingphysical books cost money,
digital and audio books are free.
So if you feel inspired by thisbook and you want to share with
others, books are free.
So if you feel inspired by thisbook and you want to share with
others, you have my blessingand permission to share both the
digital book and the streamingaudio book with whomever you'd

(04:32:03):
like, as many times as you like.
I only ask that you do not editthe book, resell it or change
it in any way.
To access the digital book, theaudio book and the prints go to
faithtostaycom slash gifts.
One last thing If this book hastouched your heart or helped
you to rekindle your faith, Ihave a small favor to ask Would

(04:32:24):
you please help me share thatlight with others who might need
it too?
Here are two simple ways you canmake a real difference.
One write a quick post onsocial media.
Even a few heartfelt sentencescan inspire someone else to pick
it up and read it or listen toit.
Or two leave a review on Amazon.
You do not have to buy a copyon Amazon to leave a review

(04:32:47):
there.
Reviews help the book show upmore often, so it can reach the
people who need it most.
To leave a review on Amazon,search for Faith to Stay book.
Then go to the review sectionof the page and click on the
Write a Customer Review button.
If this book brought you hope,healing or inspiration, please
consider doing one or both ofthese things.

(04:33:07):
Not only would it mean a lot tome, but it could potentially
help someone who may be lost andis searching for light.
Thanks again, by the way.
If you're looking for otherways to rekindle your faith, I
highly recommend checking outLatter-day Lights, a popular
weekly podcast that I host withAlicia Coakley, where we invite
members of the church to sharetheir stories of hope and

(04:33:28):
inspiration with others.
You can watch or listen to over150 episodes at
latterdaylightscom, on YouTube,on Apple Podcasts and all other
podcast platforms.
We'd love for you to join us.
About the Author Scott Brantleywas born and raised in southern

(04:33:49):
Alberta, canada, and later movedto Ogden, utah after serving a
mission in Cape Town, southAfrica, and later moved to Ogden
Utah after serving a mission inCape Town, south Africa.
After settling in Utah, scottstarted a successful online
business with his dad sellingLDS products, which they ran for
several years.
After selling that business,they launched TrustGuard, a
website security company, andShopper Approved, a rating and

(04:34:10):
review company, where Scott hasspent the last 20 years
protecting e-commerce websitesfrom hackers while helping them
to boost their online reputation, traffic and sales.
Professionally, scott hasco-authored multiple business
books and received severalprestigious awards and accolades
, including the Inc 500 Awardtwice, the Utah 100 Award three
times and the Utah Fast 50 Award.

(04:34:32):
In 2014, scott was called toserve as a bishop in Ogden, utah
, where he faithfully served forover five years.
In 2016, he felt inspired tobegin writing Faith to Stay, a
project that spanned the nextnine years and was published in
2025.
In 2022, scott and his co-host,alicia Coakley, launched
Latter-day Lights, a popularweekly podcast where everyday

(04:34:54):
members of the church sharetheir personal stories of
overcoming trials andstrengthening their faith.
Scott has been married to hiswife, darla, for over 25 years
and is the proud father of fourchildren.
He enjoys spending his freetime golfing with his uncles and
hanging out with his family.