Chapter 1

September 14, 2026 – NEW Edition

The Kingdom of God is real. It operates by law and by principles that are definite, eternal, and knowable. I know this because I have sought it out and because God has been gracious enough to teach me. I testify that it is possible to learn and understand these laws, to live by them, and to receive the blessings promised to those who do.

This book is my witness to what I have come to know and understand about Jesus Christ—His teachings and the principles and laws by which He operates.

If a hungry man asks for bread, he needs bread, not rocks; and if he asks for fish, he wants fish and not a rattlesnake. (Luke 11:11) What I offer in these pages is bread I have tasted myself, not secondhand rumor of a meal I once heard about. I did not write this book from speculation. I wrote it from what God has taught me directly, through years of asking, seeking, and receiving answers I did not have the wisdom to invent on my own.

Those who are of the Kingdom of God, who have truly partaken of the bread of life and drunk of the waters of life, know it. They know and love God, not as an idea but as a Being with whom they converse. They abide with Him. They feel His peace because they live in certainty of His love and abundance each day, as evidenced by the fruit they partake of by keeping His commandments. And because they know Him, they can teach others to know Him too. I say this not as theory but as something I live and experience each day.

One man who walked this path far better than I was the Prophet Joseph Smith.

At a young age, the boy Joseph went to a grove of trees near his home to ask God which church he should join. God the Father and God the Son appeared to him in a pillar of light and spoke with him, imparting truth the world sorely needed. That experience set Joseph on the path of a prophet, called to restore the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. In the two centuries since, his name evokes both reverence and scorn. Those who love the truth he revealed deeply appreciate his contributions, while those who feel threatened and angered by it despise and hate him. I testify that what he restored is true and of infinite worth, and that the fruits of his ministry stand as evidence of that truth to anyone willing to examine them honestly.

Joseph Smith was sent to prepare the way for the coming of God’s Kingdom to the earth. He restored, by the gift and power of God, light and knowledge that had been lost from the earth for centuries. He lived it, taught it, was rejected for it, and sealed his testimony with his blood.

That was two hundred years ago. Since then, God’s kingdom and God’s judgment have continued to draw nearer, and I believe the time appointed for the ultimate fulfillment of the end-times prophecies is now very near. Either we will be prepared for the Lord’s coming and be sanctified by it, or we will be unprepared and consumed by it. That choice belongs to each of us.

We are living in the day the prophets long foretold, a day of judgment and tribulation upon the nations, when many will be shaken, and many will suffer greatly because of the wickedness in the world. But out of that refining fire will rise the Kingdom of God on earth: Zion, the New Jerusalem, a city of light and holiness where Jesus Christ Himself will dwell among those who have become His people. Those who dwell there will be the sanctified and elect of God, chosen because they have chosen Him and become like Him.

I am here to assert that if we intend to survive what is coming, if we intend to help build Zion, and if we intend to dwell with Jesus Christ in His holy city, we must know and obey the laws that govern the fulfillment of those blessings. It is not enough to call yourself a Christian. It is not enough to say you are born again. It is not enough to attend church or the temple. The fire is coming, and the only way to pass through it and to be hallowed by it is to become one with it beforehand. The essence of that fire is Jesus Christ.

We must believe in Jesus Christ, have faith in Him, repent of our sins, be baptized, and receive the Gift of the Holy Ghost, even the baptism of fire, and then live as saints: holy, obedient, and filled with His light. This is not a fanatic’s demand. It is reasonable. It is rational. It is what the law requires. And I know it is obtainable, because I have obtained a measure of it myself and am still reaching for more.

We cannot rightly prepare for the days ahead without understanding the principles, laws, and doctrines of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I have given my life to learning these things so that I could set them down clearly, and so that others who are hungry for the same understanding would not have to search as long or as hard as I did to find them.

“For there are many yet on the earth among all sects, parties, and denominations, who are blinded by the subtle craftiness of men, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, and who are only kept from the truth because they know not where to find it. Therefore, that we should waste and wear out our lives in bringing to light all the hidden things of [light and] darkness, wherein we know them; and they are truly manifest from heaven. These should then be attended to with great earnestness. Let no man count them as small things; for there is much which lieth in futurity, pertaining to the saints, which depends upon these things.” (Doctrine and Covenants 123:12–15)

This is my calling: to keep all the commandments of God and to stand as a witness of Christ, to make straight the way of the Lord, to prepare His way, and to help others do the same.

“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.” (Book of Mormon | Alma 7:9)

I did not come to this understanding easily, and I do not offer it to you lightly. What follows is the fruit of years spent setting my own house in order, correcting my own misunderstandings, and receiving light I had not earned but was freely given. I am profoundly grateful to those who helped me along that path, and I intend now to do the same for you.

I will tell you plainly: this is not an easy book. It is technical. It is philosophical. It is dense, and it will take real effort to read and to apply. I know this because it took real effort to write. But the things of greatest worth have never come cheaply, and I would not trade the difficulty of this work for an easier, shallower one.

This book is divided into short chapters. Each one states its subject plainly and directly, in concise, Cliff’s Notes style statements — definitive statements of truth, worded as simply as I know how. It is meant to open your eyes, not to serve as an exhaustive scriptural treatise on every subject it touches; that would take thousands of pages I do not intend to write.

What I have set down here, I have set down because I believe it to be true, and because God has shown it to me. I do not offer it as speculation. But I will not ask you to take it on my word alone. Take what I have written, carry it to God in prayer, and let Him confirm it to you by His own light and reasoning, exactly as He has confirmed it to me.

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