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“While the enemy assaileth”

“While the enemy assaileth”

Last updated on: September 8, 2025 at 11:10 am by Dan Peterson

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“While the enemy assaileth” 2025-09-08T11:10:44-06:00 Dan Peterson

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The Medford Oregon Temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Media Library). I think that Seaside must be in the Portland Oregon Temple district, but this is the other currently-functioning temple in Oregon. Another, the Willamette Valley Oregon Temple, is nearing completion in a suburb of Eugene, while yet another will soon be built in Vancouver, Washington (not Vancouver, British Columbia), just across the Columbia River from Portland. I’m delighted to see so many temples!

We attended church this morning here in Seaside. We weren’t really late, but we ended up sitting toward the back of the cultural hall. One of those who bore testimony was a former longtime member of the ward who had returned for a visit. She marveled at the numbers; apparently the chapel has been considerably expanded since she and her family moved away. Another person who testified was a young husband and father, a recent convert who had, with his wife, recently received his endowment at the temple and been sealed there to his family. It’s good to see such growth. We weren’t actually quite on the back row, by the way: We had to set up some chairs to sit on, but then another group arrived and set up a row of chairs behind us. They were an investigator family, a very friendly Hispanic couple with several children.

And here’s a wonderful story in a related spirit: “‘A sacred sight’: 120 begin their covenant path on same day in Sierra Leone: The baptismal service in remote West Africa reflected careful preparation and the sustaining influence of the Spirit in helping individuals come unto Christ”

One of the hymns that we sang today was this famous one by Evan Stephens:

Shall the youth of Zion falter
In defending truth and right?
While the enemy assaileth,
Shall we shrink or shun the fight? No!

[Chorus:]
True to the faith that our parents have cherished,
True to the truth for which martyrs have perished,
To God’s command,
Soul, heart, and hand,
Faithful and true we will ever stand.

While we know the pow’rs of darkness
Seek to thwart the work of God,
Shall the children of the promise
Cease to grasp the iron rod? No! [Chorus]

We will work out our salvation;
We will cleave unto the truth;
We will watch and pray and labor
With the fervent zeal of youth. Yes! [Chorus]

We will strive to be found worthy
Of the kingdom of our Lord,
With the faithful ones redeemed
Who have loved and kept his word. Yes! [Chorus]

There are reasons for optimism concerning the youth of the Church. May they have the spirit of these lyrics!

An arttst’s rendering of the Willamette Valley Oregon Temple, near Eugene.(LDS Media Library, fair use [I hope]). Construction on it is, I understand, essentially complete. Work continues on the interior, including the hanging of artwork.

Some of you are, no doubt, aware that the Wall Street Journal, a newspaper for which I have great admiration, recently published an article seeming in a sense to celebrate, and certainly to grant prominence to, online influencers who are former members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and who are waging a kind of war against their former faith. I was disappointed to see it, and I was very disappointed (both in the Journal and in her) that it included a photograph of a youngish ex-member woman standing out of doors, dressed in temple clothing.

Some have wanted me to respond, and a few may still be waiting for me to say something. I apologize; I’ve been away from my computer quite a bit during this trip and have had neither the reading time nor the writing time that I would like to have had. I may still get to it, but I’m not sure that I have anything particularly profound to say about the matter. So I’ll content myself, for the moment at least, with sharing responses to the Journal article that I’ve seen from others — and with saying that, while I know little about her and, although I’ve been aware of her for one or two years now, haven’t really paid much attention to her prolific online posts, the young woman in the temple dress has always seemed to me (at a glance) to be a distinctly unhappy-looking person, rather grim if not actually angry. Take that for whatever very little it may be worth. Perhaps she’s actually the cheerful life of the party and a person of deep kindness and charity. I wouldn’t know. Here, though, are some links:

Sarah Jane Weaver, in the Deseret News: “The Wall Street Journal reported a Latter-day Saint ‘21st-century reckoning.’ That’s not what I see: While the Church of Jesus Christ — like all faith traditions — is grappling to engage rising generations, there are many reasons to be encouraged”

Eva Terry, in the Deseret News: “Mike Lee criticizes Wall Street Journal article on Latter-day Saints:’#NotCoolWSJ,’ Senator Lee concluded his X post”

C. D. Cunningham, in Public Square Magazine: “Consent not Curiosity: WSJ’s Double Standard on the Sacred: Did WSJ cross ethical lines on sacred rites? Yes, consent prevails, context was missing, and naming rules were ignored.”

I agree with a comment that Jaxon Washburn posted on his Facebook page, in which he referred to President Russell M. Nelson’s recently published piece in Time Magazine (“Russell M. Nelson: We All Deserve Dignity and Respect”): “Phenomenal contrast here to the recent/disappointing WSJ piece, which would have benefited from greater religious literacy/sensitivity in certain areas.”

A couple minutes’ walk from where I’m writing. (Wikimedia Commons public domain photo). This is said to be the formal conclusion of the Lewis and Clark Trail.

This article, written by Carol Rice for Public Square Magazine, might be of interest to you. It certainly concerns an important subject: “The Family in Scripture: A Four-Year Study, One Central Truth: What truth about family transcends time? The doctrine of the family is centered in Christ and consistent in scripture.”

Posted from Seaside, Oregon

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