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Gerald N. Lund

Gerald N. Lund received his B.A. and M.S. degrees in sociology from Brigham Young University. He served for thirty-five years in the Church Educational System, and he served as a member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy from 2002 to 2008. He is a prolific and bestselling author of both fiction and nonfiction and is best known for his historical novels, including The Work and the Glory series, Fire of the Covenant, The Kingdom and the Crown series, and The Undaunted. He and his late wife, Lynn, are the parents of seven children.

May 24, 2023 01:37 PM MDT
Over and over the Lord has indicated that the day of His coming is soon—and yet we are still waiting for their fulfillment.
11 Min Read
January 28, 2023 07:00 AM MST
“The parables of Jesus are brief but brilliant and profound literary gems. Though they were given more than two thousand years ago, the lessons taught and the language used still ring in our minds and hearts.”
3 Min Read
January 19, 2023 09:46 AM MST
“Parables show us how to better get on and then stay on the covenant path that leads to salvation and exaltation.”
4 Min Read
December 09, 2021 06:00 PM MST
There were not enough parcels to give one to every man. So the commandant had come up with another solution—they would hold a raffle.
8 Min Read
November 01, 2021 01:17 PM MDT
We may think we know the parable of the good Samaritan, but what prompted the Savior to give it and how is He asking us to live it?
8 Min Read
March 03, 2021 01:00 PM MST
“Every blessing of the gospel won’t do the people of the world one bit of good until they are gathered to the Church where they can become the Lord’s true covenant people.”
6 Min Read
October 07, 2020 12:00 PM MDT
While serving as a General Authority Seventy, I had one of those unexpected teaching moments that life presents to us. This was when the financial crash was in full swing and our country was experiencing the most drastic drop in the economy since the Great Depression. Every day there were new announcements. The stock market crash. The collapse of the housing market. Major banks, mortgage companies, retirement funds, and investment houses were failing. There was talk of massive government bailouts. Unemployment was skyrocketing. A dark cloud had settled over the country and was spreading to other nations.
9 Min Read
March 23, 2020 03:28 PM MDT
Editor's note: We’ve all heard it said, “Coincidence is God’s way of remaining anonymous.” But in his 2010 release, Divine Signatures, Elder Gerald N. Lund wrote that “sometimes, the Lord sends His blessings in such a highly unusual, dramatic, or precisely timed manner, that it might be likened to a 'divine signature.'”
4 Min Read
April 20, 2019 01:39 PM MDT
The following modern stories from the lives of real people show how intimately the Lord knows us and watches over His children, even those who do not hold high position in the Church. Some of these examples are really quite remarkable. Others show that the Lord intervenes even in things some might not consider worthy of an earthly parent’s attention, let alone a Divine One’s. Yet, they truly show “that the tender mercies of the Lord are over all those whom he hath chosen” (1 Nephi 1:20).
2 Min Read
April 13, 2019 03:02 PM MDT
Elder Wallace D. Montague reported that he and two other missionaries were walking down a street in Dresden when they were arrested by the police. They were taken to a nearby precinct and questioned for two hours. When they asked for permission to tell other missionaries where they were, one officer sneered and said, “You are political prisoners. You are going no place.”
2 Min Read
November 24, 2018 12:13 PM MST
While carrying out a mission as a B-17 bomber pilot during WWII, Lieutenant Wendell Bradford Terry (Mike to his friends) and his crew flew through thick flak and antiaircraft fire while passing over the French coastline. The left wing of Terry's plane was hit by an antiaircraft shell, causing a large portion of the wing to break off and both of the left engines to stop functioning, sending the plane in a downward spiral. In addition, the wing caught fire and the flames moved toward the aviation fuel tank, which would cause a deadly explosion. It was then Terry rang the alarm bell and screamed into the intercom: “Bail out! Bail out! Bail out!”
7 Min Read
October 30, 2018 09:18 AM MDT
Warren Smith and his wife, Amanda Barnes Smith, were among the first to hear and accept the gospel after The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized. They were baptized in 1831 and moved to Kirtland, Ohio, the following year. There they were privileged to participate in many of the early events of Church history, including the building of the Kirtland Temple and the marvelous events surrounding its dedication.
7 Min Read
September 22, 2018 03:37 PM MDT
Statements about teaching by the Spirit have been made by various people. These illustrate that there are a number of misconceptions or misunderstandings about how the Spirit actually functions in teaching and learning settings. Some of these statements have elements of truth in them. Some can even be completely true at times, but if they are viewed as fixed rules or principles, they can be misleading.
7 Min Read
August 31, 2018 09:17 AM MDT
There are three aspects of the process of revelation. We might call these the three R’s of revelation. First, we must receive revelation. Second, we must recognize revelation for what it is when it does come. Third, we must respond to that revelation if we expect to receive more.
7 Min Read
August 03, 2018 11:00 AM MDT
In some cases, warnings may come as thoughts to our mind. In other cases, they will come as feelings. Many times both thoughts and feelings are involved.
4 Min Read
July 14, 2018 12:00 PM MDT
One of the most challenging (and intimidating) things that General Authorities and Area Seventies are asked to do is to choose a new stake presidency during the creation of a stake or the reorganization of an existing stake presidency. It involves visiting a stake where typically the authority doesn't know any of the leadership personally. Even more challenging, the General Authority is often assigned to go to a country where he does not speak the language and has to do everything through translators. Yet in a period that lasts no more than about twelve hours, a decision must be made that is in harmony with the Lord's will.
8 Min Read
June 16, 2018 01:56 PM MDT
After Gerald N. Lund and his wife drove to Edinburg, England, to release President Stephen C. Kerr from his full-time service as a stake president, they had dinner with President Kerr and his wife, Yvonne. They discovered Yvonne was a convert to the Church and asked her to share her conversion story with them. This is her story:
12 Min Read
April 21, 2018 03:30 PM MDT
Let me share one example of a divine signature that has special significance for me personally. This was a tender mercy in the fullest sense of the word tender. My father, typical of many other men from his generation, did not express emotion openly very often. In all my growing-up years, I can never remember him telling me or any of my brothers and sisters that he loved us. We knew that he did, because he was a good father. He read stories to us almost every night. He taught us to work and how to be responsible.
4 Min Read
April 14, 2018 02:00 PM MDT
In a new convert meeting, I noticed an older man who came into the room accompanied by two missionaries. He caught my attention because he didn’t look like someone you would normally expect to see in a Church meeting. He was a short man in his mid-60s with a leathery face and tattoos up and down both arms. He wore casual clothes, gym shoes without stockings, and his hair was tied in a long ponytail that reached halfway down his back.
3 Min Read
April 09, 2018 03:00 PM MDT
My wife and I were in France for a stake conference. During a new convert meeting, I noticed two young men in their mid-twenties sitting together. One of them stood and introduced himself. He said that he was a refugee from Russia. He had come to France to escape oppression and there had found the Mormon missionaries and joined the Church. When he sat down, the other young man got to his feet. Speaking in halting French, he told his story. The mission president, who was sitting beside me, translated for us. Here, as best as I can remember it, is what he said:
5 Min Read
February 16, 2018 07:09 PM MST
The following is an excerpt from Gerald N. Lund's book Divine Signatures: The Confirming Hand of God.
10 Min Read
November 19, 2016 01:50 PM MST
Anyone could use a good dose of hope, and children are our perfect example. In his book Look Up, My Soul, Gerald N. Lund shares a story he heard in sacrament meeting of how God bolstered a child's faith and hope over something as "trivial" as popcorn.
2 Min Read
December 10, 2014 03:46 PM MST
"One of the things I most enjoy in writing fiction, particularly historical fiction, the creation of characters who become like actual people to me," writes beloved author Gerald Lund in the preface of his new book, "Only the Brave". "...I have come to learn that the characters should--perhaps even must--take on lives of their own if they are to be worth caring about."
26 Min Read