Showing results by author "Gerald N. Lund" in All Categories

Pillar of Light—the first volume in the series The Work and the Glory—begins the epic story of the Benjamin Steed family. In the 1820s they move from Vermont to Palmyra Township in upstate New York in search of better farmland. There they meet a young man named Joseph Smith and are thrown into the maelstrom of conflict and controversy that swirls around him. Did he really see the Father and the Son in a pillar of light? Has he truly been visited by angelic messengers? What is all this talk about gold plates and new scripture? In short, is he a prophet and seer or a monumental fraud?

In the second volume of bestselling author Gerald N. Lund's explosive new series, the Eckhardt family finds that the turmoil in their lives will only increase as they try to move forward in a nation divided. Sergeant Hans Eckhardt has been discharged from his military service and wants nothing more than to start a new life with a career and a family, but the unrest swallowing his homeland seems determined to stop him.

In an ancient land in a time foretold by prophets, a babe was born beneath a shining star. Thirty years later, Jesus of Nazareth began teaching a message of hope, peace, and love. He claimed to be the Son of God, and his words - and his life - would change the world. Though David ben Joseph is quick to accept Jesus as the Messiah, the rest of his family is more cautious.

Swept up in the great drama as the infant Church expands and spreads westward into Ohio and Missouri, the Steeds become eyewitnesses of miracles as well as of the horrors of mob mayhem. Nathan and Lydia begin their married life, meeting new challenges and facing crises that test both their faith and their love; Mary Ann struggles with her feelings over her husband Benjamin's continued lack of spiritual response to the Restoration message; Jessica Steed, distraught by her apparent inability to have children, watches helpless.

Jesus of Nazareth's announcement that he is the Messiah has blazed through Jerusalem and the surrounding countryside like wildfire. As he travels through Galilee, the crowds follow him, witnessing miracles and healings. Jesus teaches the parable of the lost sheep and the return of the prodigal son. He walks on the water. But discipleship to Jesus the Messiah has come at a high price for both Simeon and Miriam.

It is early 1846, and many Saints, including most of the Steeds, begin the difficult journey across Iowa as they move toward a new and distant home in the Rocky Mountains. Among them is the volatile Joshua Steed, who, intent on accompanying his now widowed mother, has temporarily left his wife and children behind in Nauvoo. With trouble brewing in that dying city, will they be in danger? And what is the secret that Joshua feels compelled to keep hidden from the other Steeds?

Jesus of Nazareth has been preaching in Judea for three years and has gathered many followers with his teachings and miracles. But he has also made enemies who fear his power and his influence and who have conspired to put an end to him by whatever means possible. The family of David ben Joseph continues to follow Jesus, though the Savior's teachings now carry an undercurrent of sorrow and unsettling prophecy.

The Mormon faithful begin the long trek west in 1846 searching for their promised land. The trek proves more miraculous, challenging and costly than ever imagined. The trail is littered with human sweat, tears and graves. It is necessary for the Steeds to split up and hope for a sweet reunion at the trail's end.

Several momentous events take place during this period in Church history: Nauvoo becomes a well-established city; the Relief Society is founded; the endowment is administered for the first time in this dispensation; Joseph Smith becomes a candidate for president of the United States; he delivers his monumental King Follett Discourse. Meanwhile, however, dark forces outside as well as inside the Church are at work to destroy Joseph and the Restoration cause.

Picking up where Volume 3 left off in the summer of 1838, this book finds the Steeds, (all but daughter Melissa and her family) happily reunited in Far West, Missouri, only to be thrown into a maelstrom of intense and tragic events: the electionday battle at Gallatin; the siege of DeWitt; the Battle of Crooked River; the issuing of Governor Bogg's extermination order; the Haun's Mill massacre; the fall of Far West; the incarceration of the Prophet Joseph Smith; and the expulsion from Missouri. Characters whom audiences have come to know and love from previous volumes return here.

It is a season of rejuvenation as, after the horrors of the Missouri persecutions, the Saints find refuge across the Mississippi in Illinois, where they found the city of Nauvoo. Their community grows rapidly, miracles occur (including Joseph's raising of many from their sickbeds), the work of the Restoration rolls forward and the Steeds are there for it all. Matthew and Derek accompany members of the Twelve on the Quorum's mission to England, and there they witness a dramatic harvest of souls, including Wilford Woodruff's remarkable success.

Truth Will Prevail—the eagerly awaited third volume in the popular series The Work and the Glory—continues the gripping story of the fictional Steed family, a family acquainted with Joseph Smith and caught up in the grand events associated with the restoration of the Church of Jesus Christ to the earth. Covering the years 1836 to 1838, this volume finds the Steed involved in both remarkable and turbulent events in Church history. Nathan accompanies Parley P. Pratt on a challenging mission to Upper Canada. Jessica, Joshua's ex-wife, feels compelled to return to Missouri.

The journey was impossible. But they had no other choice. At the call of their prophet, they left well-established farms and businesses to strike out yet again into the untamed wilderness. A small band of men, women, and children formed the 1879 pioneer company. Their mission: stand as a buffer between lawlessness and civilization. Their road: only what they created themselves, blasting out a perilous trail over slick rock and through desolate cliffs. Their hearts: UNDAUNTED

From master storyteller Gerald N. Lund comes the next blockbuster historical fiction series, Fire and Steel, Volume One: A Generation Rising, blending the powerful stories of two families on different continents the Eckhardts in southern Germany and the Westlands in southern Utah. While their circumstances are as divergent as their geography, each family must cope with trials that test their courage and fortitude.

As this volume opens, it is a time of great sadness and of uncertainty. Having lost their beloved prophet, the Saints witness a series of power plays by those who would use the opportunity to further their own interests. It is not long, however, before the Lord's purposes are made apparent and the Twelve take their rightful position as leaders of the Church, with Brigham Young at their head. For a time, an uneasy peace seems to prevail in Illinois, but then the Nauvoo Charter is revoked, anti-Mormon hatred is again inflamed by those involved in the Prophet's death.

Into the Flames, the sixth and final installment of Gerald N. Lund's Fire and Steel series, brings new experiences, new challenges, new opportunities, and not a few tragedies into the lives of the Eckhardt and Westland families. In America, Mitch and Edie continue their struggle to hang on to the ranch that has been their family's home for nearly fifty years, while Benji's quest to find work turns catastrophic and sets him on a new path that will take him to exotic climes and an unexpected reunion.

Do we recognize the signs of the Savior’s Second Coming that are happening today? Originally published in 1971, The Coming of the Lord, by Gerald N. Lund, became an instant bestseller and has remained continuously in print for nearly fifty years. Now this trusted resource has been fully updated and rewritten to reflect the latest prophetic teachings and a grow­ing sense of urgency as the Lord hastens His work.

In the third volume of master storyteller Gerald N. Lund's dynamic new series, the Eckhardt family finds itself clinging to hope in a nation on the brink of collapse. Work is scarce, food has become an extravagance, and money is practically worthless. War-torn Germany has been battered down and humiliated on an international scale, and the people have lost the pride and conviction that once carried them.

In volume five of the Fire and Steel saga, the Eckhardt and the Westland families are staring straight into history's darkest days. Facing tectonic shifts like few generations have ever seen, they are caught up in a whirlwind that will permanently and profoundly alter their lives.

When Carruthers ''Danni'' McAllister receives an antique pouch as a birthday gift from her grandfather, her first reaction is disappointment. ''Don't assume that something is empty just because there's nothing there,'' her grandfather warns. Danni learns that for nearly two hundred years, the mysterious pouch with its astonishing hidden secrets has been handed down from generation to generation, and each new owner has had to discover how to access the power it holds, or suffer the penalty of using the pouch unwisely.