He Did Deliver Me from Bondage is written in the format of 12 "Principles" which parallel the 12 Steps. The second step as voiced in the original A.A. language is "(We) Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity." The 12 Step support group Heart t' Heart could be considered a "special focus" group, looking at the twelve steps from the perspective of the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The second step, as expressed by Heart t' Heart, reads: "(We) Came to believe that God has all power and all wisdom and that in His strength we can do all things. (Mosiah 4:9; Alma 26:12)." This same thought, expressed as Principle Two in He Did Deliver Me from Bondage states: "All power of redemption and atonement is vested in the Lord Jesus Christ and can only be effective in my life as I am willing to have a personal relationship with Him."
FOREWORD
With due respect to all the books ever written about Christ (and some
of them deserve a lot of respect)--no small number of which I have personally read--a
"mighty change" did not happen in my love for God until I put them all down and
picked up the Book of Mormon.
A SPIRITUAL AWAKENING
I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in my Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell. (2 Nephi 33:6; emphasis added)
When I read this I held my breath as if someone had thrown cold water in my face or slapped me to bring me to my senses. I looked down at the words in front of me, reading them again and again. Could they possibly have said what I thought they had?
Shades of tent revivals and crowds shouting as "with one voice" (see Mosiah 5:2) went through my conservative Mormon mind. I read the words again. After all, maybe I had just read too much into them. "I glory in plainness; I glory in truth; I glory in MY Jesus, for he hath redeemed my soul from hell." No. Even reading it in as subdued a voice as I could, there was no way to avoid the possessive, intimate knowing of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, that the use of that single word "my" conveyed. I whispered it to myself as I remembered the apologetic, almost ashamed feeling I had felt recently when I had chosen to read a couple of current books that encourage a personal relationship with Christ. And now, here was Nephi demonstrating that very thing.
There I sat, holding the Book of Mormon itself, reading the words of Nephi, as if for the first time. "I glory in my Jesus ..." My Jesus. My... Mine! I could not get the words out of my mind. Tears welled up and spilled down my face. I burned through and through as with a fire, a passionate and yet childlike love. I felt as if someone had just given me permission not only to approach God, but to actually embrace Him, at least in spirit. I mounted up in my imagination as on eagle's wings (see D&C 124:99). I didn't know whether to hug Him first, or hug the brave, plain, humble, tender Nephi who had preserved the saving truth of Christ's availability in such personal and shameless terms.
...My emotions were almost more than I could keep calm or quiet about. I loved Jesus as intensely and totally as I finally realized he had always loved me!