THE PRE-EXISTENCE: “… before the creation of the world, Heavenly Father had sired and Heavenly Mother had borne millions of their spirit children. After the world was created, these spirits eagerly awaited to come to earth to receive physical bodies. Only the righteous spirits who had followed Jesus (not Satan [Jesus’s brother]) in the pre-existence war in heaven were allowed … to come to earth. They longed to be born into a “righteous” family (Mormon), in which they could learn the “true gospel of Jesus Christ” (Mormonism).” (p. 45)

When the dark suited, well-groomed young men arrived at their door in the Wilders’ early married life, they began to present their flip charts of the time sharing what the Mormons wanted them to know about the Church.

Lynn says, “My analytical brain never slept peacefully back then. …I was so ignorant about Christianity, I didn’t even know intelligent questions to ask… The questions I conjured up came from what they presented to us.” (p. 39)

Unveiling Grace, by former Brigham Young University professor, Dr. Lynn K. Wilder, is an intimate look into not only her life and that of her family’s, but also of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, better known as the Mormon Church.

Lynn and her husband, Michael, joined the Mormon Church as young adults, newly married. Both had been raised in Christian homes, but Lynn, unschooled in the Bible, drifted in college when introduced to Freud, Darwin and Skinner among others. Michael, who believed in Jesus growing up, just couldn’t find a church that suited after leaving home.