Freedom In 300 Words Or Less: For Faithful Latter-day Saints
I think that it is impossible that ye should be ignorant of the things which have been spoken concerning the coming of Christ…yea, I know that these things were taught unto you bountifully before your dissension from among us…prepare your minds…the word is in Christ unto salvation. – Amulek to the poor and outcast in Antionum, Alma 34.
Introduction
I wrote this series beginning in 1978, the year I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and every day thereafter. From the opening prayer of the Fall General Conference in 1978 to today, more than 40 years later, the words of the living prophets echo in my mind and press upon my heart. While tone and style ebb and flow according to the circumstances of the day and the needs of the Church, doctrine never changes.
The same can be said about the unchanging nature of true freedom – the two, the Gospel and true freedom, share the same Author. In fact, the fullness of the Gospel is true freedom.
This series is for faithful Latter-day Saints – for those who are and those who sincerely seek to be. Of course, faithful doesn’t mean perfect. It means seeking to face the right way – God’s way. Equally obvious is that faithful Latter-day Saints must persevere notwithstanding weakness. This book is for all who seek to persevere in a once nearly unimaginable world full of ever-present evil. It is a series of plainness for truth seekers written imperfectly by an imperfect, but experienced, Latter-day Saint. It is a series about true freedom – what it is – with a sincere hope we can maintain it against dissension and our own moral fatigue.
Every chapter in this series is 300 words or less and, when combined, present a complete and faithful understanding of freedom.
To thank everyone who has helped to shape the thoughts expressed in these words would be to thank everyone who has ever crossed my path, for good or for ill. I give special mention to my dear, late friend Calvin Olson, who mentored my gospel understanding, as well as to the wonderful people of the Annandale Virginia Ward, circa 1978, who loved me enough to welcome me into God’s Kingdom. It has been my blessing to meet and receive counsel from several of the Lord’s servants – who I know only from professional settings. And I thank my wife, Sally, and our wonderful children who have allowed me to live these words – to find and defend true freedom.
Paul Mero, 2019.
