8/27/2023
One of my favorite songs lately has been a mashup of hymns put together by Blake Gillette. The song is titled “Zion” and it includes lyrics from one of my favorite hymns in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, hymn 259 “Hope of Israel.”
The lyrics in particular that I love are part of the chorus and are:
“Hope of Israel, rise in might
With the sword of truth and right;
Sound the war-cry, “Watch and pray!”
Vanquish ev’ry foe today.”
As I was listening to this song this morning before going to church, the phrase “sound the war-cry” really stood out to me. On the surface, it can seem violent and aggressive, but when understood in context, it isn’t either. At least, not in the physical sense.
After the gospel was restored in 1820 through Joseph Smith following the appearance of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ, to him, God began building up His kingdom on the earth again following the Great Apostasy from truth. Naturally, Satan began to establish his kingdom more fully in opposition to the Lord. So although the “war-cry” reference in the hymn is not in reference to a physical war, the war is very real. The war is over the souls of all of God’s children, which is a more vital and important war than any war over temporal life could be.
Those that are faithful to God and enter into and keep covenants prescribed by Him are indeed the “Hope of Israel” and it is our job to “rise in might”. We are not asked to grab a physical sword, but a “sword of truth and right”. “The premortal war was fought with words, ideas, debate, and persuasion” (Larry R. Lawrence, “The War Goes On, Ensign April 2017).
Just as the war in heaven during our premortal existence was a war of words and ideas, the war over the salvation of the human race is a war of words and ideas. Satan has done a masterful job of spreading lies throughout the world, but in particular this country, in the name of “social justice”. In 1995, “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” was presented to the world through God’s living prophets and apostles. This prophetic revelation reaffirmed the truth and eternal nature of the family, marriage, gender, and God’s plan to bring us home. Furthermore, this document warned of what would happen if we allowed those eternal principles to be attacked and destroyed. Since then, attacks on the family; marriage as ordained of God; the eternal, binary nature of gender; and religion in general have been increasing and intensifying. What has happened in society since the coming forth of that proclamation gives credence to the reality of living prophets, seers, and revelators.
Unfortunately, I see too many individuals, both religious and not, sit idly by as bystanders in this war over souls and in some instances advocate for the other side. It may not seem as though this movement in the name of social justice is a war on the salvation of individuals, but when one understands that this movement attacks some of the core tenets and doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ, it should become clear that one cannot support both sides. Either God is real and His gospel has been restored or religion is an evil philosophical teaching of man. One cannot support both the gospel of Jesus Christ and transgenderism or same-sex marriage. To support the latter two ideas is to attack God and His gospel. In a talk given at BYU by Jeffrey R. Holland in 2021 titled “The Second Half of the Second Century of Brigham Young University”, he said the following:
“Three years later, in 2017, Elder Dallin H. Oaks, not then but soon to be in the First Presidency, where he would sit only one chair—one heartbeat—away from the same position President Nelson now has, quoted our colleague Elder Neal A. Maxwell, who had said:
‘In a way [Church of Jesus Christ] scholars at BYU and elsewhere are a little bit like the builders of the temple in Nauvoo, who worked with a trowel in one hand and a musket in the other. Today scholars building the temple of learning must also pause on occasion to defend the kingdom. I personally think this is one of the reasons the Lord established and maintains this university. The dual role of builder and defender is unique and ongoing. I am grateful we have scholars today who can handle, as it were, both trowels and muskets.‘
“To this, Elder Oaks then challengingly responded, ‘I would like to hear a little more musket fire from this temple of learning.’ He said this in a way that could have applied to a host of topics in various departments, but the one he specifically mentioned was the doctrine of the family and defending marriage as the union of a man and a woman” (emphasis added).
This idea of “musket fire” obviously garnered a lot of attention, but much of that attention was aimed at a quote taken out of context and construed to be that violent and aggressive “war-cry” that I mentioned. That call for “musket fire” was a call to defend the fundamentals of the gospel and the salvation of God’s children.
In both instances, “Hope of Israel” and Elder Holland’s talk, symbols of war in the form of swords and muskets were used. I believe that is to draw our attention to the urgency involved in this war. To lose in this war over our souls is to consign one to forever being out of God’s presence, also known as hell.
To know that an army is coming to destroy you, while those around you don’t, and not provide those around you with what they need to be prepared and defend themselves is negligent and complicit in their demise. Similarly, in a spiritual war, to fail to “Vanquish ev’ry foe today” or to warn those around you of the spiritually destructive ideas, or to fail to at least try, is to be complicit to some extent, in the spiritual demise of those around you.
The call to Zion’s army isn’t to passively watch as God’s plan is attacked. Nor is it a call to be violent and aggressive. Rather, the call to Zion’s army is to put on the armor of God (Ephesians 6:11) and defend the truth against satan and his merciless attempts to destroy God’s children. Just as Captain Moroni exemplified and taught, we must be willing to stand for liberty, truth and defend God and His children. Our defense of the truth must be complete. It cannot be partial or half-hearted. We must be willing to completely vanquish any idea that stands between God’s children and salvation.
The only “offensive” actions The Church is engaged are missionary work and publications to teach, address, or correct issues. These publications come in the forms of General Conference, magazines, news releases, and various other means. We have been and continue to be admonished to participate in the above listed items. There has been an emphasis over the last several years to utilize social media to bear testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel.
We are in a war and it is the greatest war we will every participate in with the greatest consequences: salvation or damnation. May we rise to the call, “sound the war-cry”, and do our part.
“Hope of Israel, rise in might
With the sword of truth and right;
Sound the war-cry, “Watch and pray!”
Vanquish ev’ry foe today.”
