Sacrifice: The Key to Salvation

By Kent Larsen

Uncover the true meaning of sacrifice and find out its relevance in your journey toward salvation in author Kent Larsens spirit-nourishing book, Sacrifice. Through this book that depicts the great sacrifices and the amount of endurance of the people in the LDS church, you will find enlightenment and inspiration to strengthen your faith in God. The stories of the saints and the accounts of the peoples sacrifices that began even before the church was officially organized will lead you to uncover the reasons why sacrifices should be made and how it connected to their ultimate goals and their journey to the Promised Land.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 15, 2010
• ISBN: 9781456818319

Kent Larsen

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Book preview

Copyright © 2010 by Kent Larsen.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2010917257

ISBN: Hardcover    978-1-4568-1830-2

ISBN: Softcover      978-1-4568-1829-6

ISBN: Ebook           978-1-4568-1831-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

This book was printed in the United States of America.

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Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

FORWARD

SACRIFICE—THE TWIN VIRTUES OF LIFE

THE BEGINNING

THE SAINTS MOVE WEST TO OHIO & MISSOURI

THE SAINTS SEEK REDRESS FROM WASHINGTON

THE SAINTS TESTIMONIES OF TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS

NAUVOO—THE NEW BEGINNING

THE EXODUS TO THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS

THE SAINTS SETTLE IN ALL OF THE VALLEYS OF THE GREAT BASIN

THE PERSECUTION CONTINUES IN THE GREAT BASIN

COULD TODAY’S SAINTS ENDURE WHAT THEIR ANCESTORS DID?

EPILOG

CONCLUSION

This Book Is Dedicated To:

My wife Helen, who has sacrificed, endured, suffered, and overcome numerous difficulties during her lifetime.

Sacrifice and Endurance

Introduction

Sacrifices became the very essence of the early members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints and have followed those early members as they ventured through life. What was it that helped these early Saints to endure these privations without falling by the wayside? The one thing that I have been able to glean from the stories of privation and hardship was faith! The words of one of the refrains of a popular Mormon Hymn are: Faith of our fathers, holy faith, we will be true to thee till death. The faith of our fathers, what a wonderful thing, it brings to mind valiant pioneers who abandoned the comfort of their homes and traveled by wagon and on foot until then reached the valley of the Great Salt Lake. The faith and courage of those early settlers says a great deal about those people who were persecuted beyond belief and established a legacy that could be handed down to their offspring.

Gold seldom comes from the earth in a pure state. It must be refined to remove the impurities and come forth as pure Gold. Therefore these early pioneers and ancestors from the past were compelled to go through the Refiners fire in order to come forth in a pure state and inherit the earth that had been created for them. It therefore became necessary for them to go through the tests and ruggedness of life, or the ‘Refiners Fire’ in order to be found worthy enough to inherit the rich blessings that eventually came to them and their offspring. Yes, these gallant Saints who were filled with impurities needed to come forth in the Pure state of existence and be worthy to inherit the Kingdom of God!

For this reason, they must first sacrifice and show that they were willing to enter the Refiners Fire to be purified and then reap the rewards promised them because they had endured to the very end. This is why the Saints needed to make those sacrifices and reap the rewards for their long periods of sacrifices, and finally show that they could endure and have those blessings showered down upon them.

Forward

"And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the tops of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it . . . . For out of Zion shall go forth law,"

[Isaiah 2:3-4]

And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from afar, and will hiss unto them From the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly.

[Isaiah 5:26]

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathos, and from Cush, and from Elain, and from Shiva, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the world

[Isaiah 11: 11-12]

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth Up an ensign on the mountains; when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.

[Isaiah 18:3]

Sacrifice and Endurance

The Twin Virtues of Life

During the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the theme has been the tale of Sacrifice and Endurance. From its early days during and after the foundation of the church, and into the present days the members of this church have been subjected to untold amounts of personal and group sacrifice. The members have also shown an extraordinary amount of endurance.

The pages of this churches history are full of these great sacrifices and the amount of endurance subjected on its members but are really the underlying reasons for its success. While this is the case and the stories are plentiful, the surprising thing is that its members are still stalwart and strong in their beliefs. This can be contributed to the strong faith and willingness to carry on in the face of almost death defying circumstances and come out of the experiences with a stronger determination to not turn their backs on defeat and trudge forward and gain their reward.

The stories of these sacrifices began even before the church was officially organized, but multiplied as the members flocked to join this new religious concept as revealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith. Few even realized the tragedies that were to accompany their zeal for listening to the truth.

In this fascinating chronology of events the readers will be treated to some of the most world shaking examples of the things these people were asked to do in seeing that this church was well established and rooted in traditions that could not in any way be taken from them. These people In the face of these hardships simply put their shoulders to the wheel and endured until success was achieved. You will be treated to examples that were earth shaking and very sobering, as well as miraculous. These examples only fortifies the great sacrifices they made, but an unequal amount of endurance that they suffered as well, in order to achieve their goals.

Many suffered to the extent that they never lived to see the promised land and reap the reward that they were promised. The plains, valleys, settlements and wagon routes they settled and traveled became their final resting places on earth. Yet their survivors simply picked up their burdens and trekked on to their destination in the west.

Those descendants became the recipients of their great sacrifices and endurance to reach the promised land. It is those who live on as a result of their great sacrifices that are now reaping the rewards promised to these great and gallant souls who pressed on and made the desert blossom as a rose.

The story begins with the events leading up to, and including the establishments of the church in Palmyra, New York.

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

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The Beginning

This story begins with Joseph Smith, a young boy of 14, while reading in the Holy Bible came across this passage of scripture: "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giventh to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." (James 1:5). As a result of this reading, he entered a small grove of trees near his home in New York State. It was here that he was determined to ask his Father in Heaven a serious question that was on his mind. He simply wanted to know which of the churches on the earth were true. In order for him to know which one to join. His answer came as a great surprise in a visitation by his Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ. In an answer to his prayer, he was told that none of the churches on the earth at this time were true. He likewise, was told to join none of them. The heavenly beings also informed him that he would be visited at a later date by an ancient Prophet who had lived on the American Continent before the coming of the white Europeans. He was also instructed that this ancient Prophet would give him the needed information that would help him solve the dilemma that he was now facing.

He left the woods and returned to his home and reported what he had experienced to his father and mother. He also confided in a minister in the area as to what he had experienced. It was from this moment forward that he began to be ridiculed by others in his neighborhood. These neighbors called him a visionary, and a fraud, and a great deal of fury and condemnation began to hail down on him. Beginning at this time, and throughout the remaining years of his life, he was never free from the continuous torments and outside forces that were hurled down upon him. He was obligated to make a great many sacrifices for the beliefs he espoused. These sacrifices were actually the things in his life that helped him endure to the end.

Let’s return to the story. The boy Joseph was indeed visited by an ancient Prophet as he had been promised. This visitation took place in the young boy’s bedroom, where the Prophet Moroni, the last survivor of the ancient civilization of the Nephites, who had inhabited the land in Central America. Joseph was informed that there was a sacred record of the Prophet’s ancestors hidden in a hill not far from Joseph’s home. This record contained the history of the people who had come to the American Continent many years prior to the time of Christ.

The Prophet Moroni promised that he would return and give him further instructions and responsibilities. The days and years that followed this visitation were marked with other visits from the ancient Prophet. During these visits Joseph was schooled in the many things necessary for him to know prior to his receiving the sacred records that were buried in the hillside.

Joseph Smith’s activities between the ages of 17 and 21, when he was allowed to remove the Gold Plates from the Hill Cumorah are