Promises From God Are Reliable, Even When They Seem Elusive

I awoke this morning with a scripture in my mind:

And now, my beloved brethren, I would that ye should come unto Christ, who is the Holy One of Israel, and partake of his salvation, and the power of his redemption. Yea, come unto him, and offer your whole souls as an offering unto him, and continue in fasting and praying, and endure to the end; and as the Lord liveth ye will be saved. (Omni 1:26, emphasis mine).

Out of that little book of only one chapter comes these powerful words of promise from Omni. It’s a timeless invitation to one and all, no exceptions.

I also reflected on the baptism of Simon Johns last Saturday, and thought of this chapter heading in Alma 5:

To gain salvation, men must repent and keep the commandments, be born again, cleanse their garments through the blood of Christ, be humble and strip themselves of pride and envy, and do the works of righteousness — The Good Shepherd calls His people — Those who do evil works are children of the devil — Alma testifies of the truth of his doctrine and commands men to repent — The names of the righteous will be written in the book of life. About 83 B.C.

By my count, Alma poses 42 questions to us in this chapter, as he reasons with us about our discipleship. He concludes with these verses that spoke again to my heart this morning:

For what shepherd is there among you having many sheep doth not watch over them, that the wolves enter not and devour his flock? And behold, if a wolf enter his flock doth he not drive him out? Yea, and at the last, if he can, he will destroy him.

And now I say unto you that the good shepherd doth call after you; and if you will hearken unto his voice he will bring you into his fold, and ye are his sheep; and he commandeth you that ye suffer no ravenous wolf to enter among you, that ye may not be destroyed.

And now I, Alma, do command you in the language of him who hath commanded me, that ye observe to do the words which I have spoken unto you.

I speak by way of command unto you that belong to the church; and unto those who do not belong to the church I speak by way of invitation, saying: Come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye also may be partakers of the fruit of the tree of life. (Alma 5:59-62, emphasis mine).

I have been feeling the pull of my Redeemer this weekend, as we seek the answers we need in all our various needs as a family. To be sure, we are being tested individually and collectively, and our love for one another strengthens us in those struggles. I feel to testify this morning that the ravenous wolves at our doorsteps will be ultimately be slain because of our collective faith in our Great Deliverer.

As I have studied the deliverance of our ancient cousins in the house of Israel from the wicked Pharaoh in Egypt, who first promised, then reneged on his promise to let them go after ten plagues Moses called down upon the Egyptians, I have concluded he could certainly be classified as a “ravenous wolf.” And yet he and all his hosts were drowned in the depths of the Red Sea while chasing after Moses and his faithful followers. But even that miraculous deliverance was not enough to convince them to trust in God. Instead, they wandered and their faith in God was tested for forty long years thereafter before they were permitted to enter the promised land of Israel. Even today’s headlines coming out of Israel, and their conquest of their wicked enemies in Iran, are resounding proof to me that God has never forgotten His children among the descendants of Judah.

Today, April 13, 2026, in the Jewish calendar celebrates something most of you have never heard about. It’s called Yom HaZikaron laShoah ve-laG’vurah (Hebrew: יום הזיכרון לשואה ולגבורה, literally  ‘Holocaust and Heroism Remembrance Day’), known colloquially in Israel and abroad as Yom HaShoah (Hebrew: יום השואה, Yiddish: יום השואה) and in English as Holocaust Remembrance Day, or Holocaust Day, is Israel’s day of commemoration for the approximately six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust by Nazi Germany and its allies, and for the Jewish resistance in that period. In Israel, it is a national Memorial Day, but several Jewish communities around the world observe the day as well. The first official commemorations took place in 1951, and the observance of the day was anchored in a law passed by the Knesset in 1959. It is held on the 27th of Nisan (which falls in April or May), unless the 27th would be adjacent to the Jewish Sabbath, in which case the date is shifted by a day.

Celebrating Yom HaShoah

If ever there were an example of long-lasting suffering and the faithful persistence to seek deliverance, it is surely to be seen in the example of Judaism today. They are still living in the land granted to them by Yeshua (Jehovah). Remarkably, Israel has never declared war on their neighbors to acquire more territory, but has fought defensive wars against all their aggressors.

I have thought about our most recent suffering as Goates Kids this morning as these memories have flooded my thinking. I must hasten to add that I am by no means inflating our current challenges by comparing them to the travails of the descendants of Judah. That is not my intent here. Rather, I want to remind us of the promises of God that never fail us. His promises for deliverance are reliable, even as elusive as they might seem right now. "Elusive" is one word to describe it, and another might be “improbable.” Our faith will be tested as part of our mortal experience. We can help one another as we bind together in our faith in the Lord's deliverance. That is true for our family, as it is for every other family on earth today. There truly is strength in our numbers if we remain faithful to Him.

Salt Lake Temple

Despite however elusive those promises might appear to be today, please be comforted by these verses, again from Alma:

But behold, the Spirit hath said this much unto me, saying: Cry unto this people, saying — Repent ye, and prepare the way of the Lord, and walk in his paths, which are straight; for behold, the kingdom of heaven is at hand, and the Son of God cometh upon the face of the earth.

And behold, he shall be born of Mary, at Jerusalem which is the land of our forefathers, she being a virgin, a precious and chosen vessel, who shall be overshadowed and conceive by the power of the Holy Ghost, and bring forth a son, yea, even the Son of God.

And he shall go forth, suffering pains and afflictions and temptations of every kind; and this that the word might be fulfilled which saith he will take upon him the pains and the sicknesses of his people.

And he will take upon him death, that he may loose the bands of death which bind his people; and he will take upon him their infirmities, that his bowels may be filled with mercy, according to the flesh, that he may know according to the flesh how to succor his people according to their infirmities.

Now the Spirit knoweth all things; nevertheless the Son of God suffereth according to the flesh that he might take upon him the sins of his people, that he might blot out their transgressions according to the power of his deliverance; and now behold, this is the testimony which is in me.

Now I say unto you that ye must repent, and be born again; for the Spirit saith if ye are not born again ye cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven; therefore come and be baptized unto repentance, that ye may be washed from your sins, that ye may have faith on the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world, who is mighty to save and to cleanse from all unrighteousness.

Yea, I say unto you come and fear not, and lay aside every sin, which easily doth beset you, which doth bind you down to destruction, yea, come and go forth, and show unto your God that ye are willing to repent of your sins and enter into a covenant with him to keep his commandments, and witness it unto him this day by going into the waters of baptism.

And whosoever doeth this, and keepeth the commandments of God from thenceforth, the same will remember that I say unto him, yea, he will remember that I have said unto him, he shall have eternal life, according to the testimony of the Holy Spirit, which testifieth in me.

And now my beloved brethren, do you believe these things? Behold, I say unto you, yea, I know that ye believe them; and the way that I know that ye believe them is by the manifestation of the Spirit which is in me. And now because your faith is strong concerning that, yea, concerning the things which I have spoken, great is my joy. (Alma 7:9-17, emphasis mine).

I testify of the truthfulness of these words, and also of your steadfast faith despite all the evidence of your sufferings right now. These are circumstances which none of you invited, certainly, knowing you as I do. However, imagine now if you can (though you don't remember) how we shouted for joy in the pre-existent realms of the spirit world as we watched our revered parents Adam and Eve partake of the forbidden fruit from the tree of the knowledge of all things good and evil. They opened the doors of mortality for each of us. We longed for this day of our mortal probation, and now it is upon us in all its varied shades of light and darkness. I hope you will accept my testimony and my sure knowledge that our present condition in mortality will someday also pass away. For me, it will probably come sooner than any of you as I stare down the barrel of my long-lived mortality in the natural course of uncertain future events that lie ahead.

There’s a threatening line in the endowment ceremony from Lucifer that has been ironic since it was first spoken: “I have a word to say concerning these people. If they do not walk up to every covenant they make at these altars in this temple this day, they will be in my power.” It only underscores his sworn oath to destroy all who will surrender to his evil enticements.

It’s ironic in my mind, because altering one word in the lips of Jehovah represents an eternal promise when you substitute Jehovah for Lucifer: “If they DO walk up to every covenant they make at these altars in this temple this day, they will be in my power.”

Knowing what I know about each of you, I am confident you will continue to walk in the light of Christ’s eternal promises for each of you. Those eternal promises are indeed reliable, no matter how elusive they might appear today.

They have been promised to us since the pre-existence. They will never fail us in our faithfulness in our covenants with our Father in Heaven and His Beloved Son Jesus Christ. The Holy Ghost bears that witness to our souls every day of our mortal probation as we walk in light and truth and forsake the ravenous wolves nipping at our heels.

Satan’s evil designs are like the two inches of snow that fell overnight that are rapidly disappearing in the warmth of the sun this morning.

P.S. The SON always wins.