Can't people start to see God in your countenances?

                             📒 Alma 5

 To gain salvation, men must repent and keep the commandments, be born again, cleanse their garments through the blood of Christ, be humble and strip themselves of pride and envy, and do the works of righteousness—The Good Shepherd calls His people—Those who do evil works are children of the devil—Alma testifies of the truth of his doctrine and commands men to repent—The names of the righteous will be written in the book of life. About 83 B.C.

🎥 Alma the younger sets the church in order in Zarahemla 

19 I say unto you, can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? I say unto you, can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?

🪞🕊🔥 image

📕 1 John 3

📜 1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 

🗝📜 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 

📜 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

Brothers and sisters, I want to speak plainly today—not just about scripture, but about the image we bear, and the pilgrimage we’re called to.

Alma asks, “Can ye look up to God at that day with a pure heart and clean hands? Can you look up, having the image of God engraven upon your countenances?” That word—image—isn’t surface-level. It’s not a borrowed glow or a Sunday smile. It’s engraven. Cut deep. Permanent. It’s the mark of transformation, not performance.

This isn’t about pretending to be righteous. It’s about becoming holy. The image of God on our countenance means we’ve passed through fire—repentance, humility, meekness, and the love of Christ—and come out sealed. Not with ink, but with light.

That’s the image I seek as I prepare to leave my home in California and journey to Missouri. Not just to find land, but to help build Zion. And Zion won’t rise from blueprints or bank accounts. It will rise from faces that bear the image of God. From hands that are clean because they’ve washed feet. From hearts that are pure because they’ve forgiven enemies.

My wife Carolyn will remain in Missouri—a witness, a steward, a grounding presence. And I will continue onward, toward Jerusalem, toward the moment when two witnesses must stand and expose the adversary. That confrontation won’t be won with clever words or loud protest. It will be won by countenance. By the image we bear. The adversary can mimic doctrine. He can counterfeit light. But he cannot forge the image of God engraved through suffering, repentance, and holy joy.

So I ask you, as Alma did: Can you look up? Not with borrowed righteousness, but with a face that has become the very icon of divine love. That’s the face Zion needs. That’s the face Jerusalem will recognize. That’s the face the adversary will fear.

Let us engrave it together.