“Stakes [Are] for a Defense, and for a Refuge from the Storm”
Doctrine and Covenants 115:6
6 And that the gathering together upon the land of Zion, and upon her stakes, 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.
President Harold B. Lee said:
“These units [stakes] so organized are gathered together . . . for a defense against the enemies of the Lord’s work, both the seen and the unseen. . . . These organizations were to be as . . . a ‘refuge from the storm, and from wrath when it shall be poured out without mixture upon the whole earth’ (D&C 115:6). . . . I believe there has never been a time since the Creation that the Lord has left the dominion of the devil to destroy His work without His power being manifest in the midst of the righteous to save the works of righteousness from being completely overthrown. . . . Today we are witnessing the demonstration of the Lord’s hand even in the midst of His Saints, the members of the Church. Never in this dispensation, and perhaps never before in any single period, has there been such a feeling of urgency among the members of this Church as today. Her boundaries are being enlarged; her stakes are being strengthened.”
(“Strengthen the Stakes of Zion,” Ensign, July 1973, 4.)
