What Can We Actually Do to Build Zion?
Building Zion seems like a massive undertaking, but there are many ways we can contribute in our own wards and branches. Have you ever not known where to start with a work as lofty as building Zion? Recent Church publications have focused on this theme of building Zion, but it...
Trials: Mercies in Disguise
What if we stopped seeing our trials as burdens and started seeing them as blessings? How often do we go through trials and ask, “Why me?” While this is natural, it is not the way Heavenly Father wants us to react. In a devotional given at BYU-Idaho, Brother Larry Richman...
7 Tips for Making Righteous Judgments
We are sometimes required to pass judgment on other people and on important decisions in our lives. These seven principles outline how we can make righteous judgments. In Matthew 7:1, Christ commands us not to judge. Through the Joseph Smith Translation, however, we see that not all judgment is bad....
“O God, Where Art Thou?”: The Trials of Liberty Jail
When everything seems to go wrong, has God left us to face our trials alone? On December 1, 1838, six men, including the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, were wrongfully imprisoned in the dungeon of Liberty Jail in Clay County, Missouri. One of the other innocent captives charged with...
How Worthy Music Can Bring Us Joy
If we seek out good, uplifting music, we will likewise see ourselves become good, uplifting people. Could you live in a world without music? I know I couldn’t. In fact, when someone asks me what my favorite kind of music is, I am at a loss for words because I...
War, Politics, and Power of the Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon includes details and principles of war that would have been impossible for young Joseph Smith to make up. Although the Book of Mormon was published by Joseph Smith, a young man with little education and no war experience, it is remarkably accurate in its portrayal of...

