A Defense and a Refuge

, Photo taken on top of Masada in Israel on May 14, 2010

"And that the gathering together upon the land of Zion may be for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth."

D&C 115: 6

......................................

Masada is situated on top of an enormous, isolated rock. It was on top of this mesa that the Jews fled and built a city to escape the Roman invasion and their enslavement. Yet the religious Jews, encamped in the fortress, could never feel secure; every morning, they awoke to see the Romans hard at work, constructing battering rams and other weapons to conquer and take captive these religious and devout group of men, women and children. Even a physical place that would appear a perfect defense and a refuge was not enough to keep these people safe. However, the Romans did not give up, and after many months of building a rampart to invade the city, they finally breached the wall of the fortress only to find the religious group's mass suicide, people who preferred death to surrender/enslavement.

My friend was asked to give a talk in church on how the CHURCH is a defense and a refuge from the storm. While the church can offer some protection.. the only true defense and refuge is our Savior Jesus Christ. If our testimonies and lives are built on Him. He is the sure foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall. So WHEN (not if) the devil sends forth his mighty winds, he will have NO power to drag us down to the gulf of misery and endless wo. (Helaman 5:12)