Hi, I'm Jeffrey Denning

I'm the founder of a non-profit organization, a former Federal Air Marshal and Iraqi War Vet, and I'm a MORMON.

About Me

I'm the founder of Warrior SOS, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping societies' protectors and their families. I enjoy writing, storytelling, and spending time with my wife (chasing our six young children included). I have a forthcoming war and faith book series, including a book titled "The Work of Death: For God, Family & Country." The work of death is a phrase mentioned five times in the Book of Mormon, as well as in the U.S. Declaration of Independence. My background is in law enforcement (SWAT), military and private security operations. While I worked undercover as an air marshal, I finished my masters degree. I've also lived in Jerusalem and worked diplomatic security for the U.S.-led "Roadmap to Mideast Peace."

Why I am a Mormon

I have known for many years that the Bible is the word of God. We are God's spirit children. He is our Heavenly Father. Just as God called prophets and sent them among the people to call them to repentance and lead them to "the fountain of all righteousness" in the past, the pattern remains the same today. God is the same yesterday, today and forever. I believe Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God. The Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ is true. There are living prophets today. By their fruits ye shall know them. I know Jesus is the Living Christ of the Living God. I know it. That's why I'm a Mormon.

Personal Stories

Please explain the part prayer plays in your life?

President Thomas S. Monson has said that prayer is the passport to peace. One of the Father's of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, said, "I have been driven many times upon my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go." In times of severe anguish and pain, most every mortal turns heavenward, searching desperately for comfort and peace. Even the soldier axiom goes, "There's no such thing as atheists in foxholes."

In my own desperate circumstances, with a lovely wife and four tiny children (at the time) home in America, separated from them by war and conflict, I leaned to my Heavenly Father, the One sure refuge for peace in a troubled world.

During one particularly troubling day after nearly a year spent in Iraq, living in the torment and pain associated with war and conflict, I was walking on the dusty roads silently pleading for help, comfort and peace. My prayers had, at that time, become much more fervent. Being in an agony, I was compelled to pray more earnestly (compare to Luke 22:44).

As I pleaded with our Heavenly Father, I felt an overwhelming feeling burning deep into my heart and mind. I knew and comprehended that He was listening to me—that He could walk beside me and hold my hand, as a little child needing his Father's loving guidance. As I watched my swaying hand, I learned more about our divine heritage than I ever had previously. We were created in His image! (See Genesis 1:26-27)

The romantic-era poet, Lord Byron described, “Yet in my lineaments they trace / Some features of my father’s face.” (Lord Byron's couplet, Parisina.) His hand was in likeness of mine, and mine like His. I comprehended and knew in my heart that God, our Father, has a body of flesh and bone as tangible as man's, though perfect and immortal. I realized more deeply then than ever that I could speak with Him as a man speaks with another man, face to face.

God is our Father—our Father in Heaven. I believe that when we reunite after this life is over it will surprise us just how familiar His face is to us.

We are indeed God's children. As such, we are brothers and sisters with a divine heritage and a celestial destiny. Though we look different and come from different parts of the world, we are all created of the same spiritual DNA. If for that reason alone—knowing we are children of a loving Heavenly Father—we should never give up and always have hope.

Our Father in Heaven loves us more than we can comprehend. He is anxious to hear from us, both in times of prosperity and peace, as well as in times of darkness, trouble and conflict. I know He lives. I know He hears our prayers. Our prayers are never ignored.

How I live my faith

Part of my volunteer responsibility in the church involves helping others with their needs and visiting the homes of the members, encouraging them to pray and to live the commandments. I've also been asked to speak in several local congregations once each month.

There is no greater joy than to be in the service of the Lord.

Why is family so important to Mormons?

Jeffrey Denning answered...

While I was away in Iraq, my wife and I had an opportunity to speak on the phone on occasion. One day, she said she had a surprise for me. She got our youngest daughter - at the time - on the phone, and together they sang the song "Families Can Be Together Forever." It nearly melted my heart.

Through the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, through the holy ordinances made available only in temples, families can be together forever through Heavenly Father's plan. A couple can be sealed together for "all time and eternity," not just "until death do you part." Children and parents don't have to be separated for eternity. That is part of the beauty of the great plan of happiness.

Family is an essential part of developing good people and good societies. After winning independence in the American Revolution, the Continental Congress established the Articles of Confederation. The Fourth U.S. President under the Articles of Confederation was Elias Boudinot. He is known to have said, "Good government generally begins in the family, and if the moral character of a people once degenerate, their political character must soon follow." I believe that wholeheartedly.

In The Family: A Proclamation to the World, living prophets and apostles declare "that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God and that the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children." Families are so important in the plan of salvation, that God has ordained us, His spirit children, to be born into a family. In a Christ-centered home, a bit of heaven can be made available and the subsequent blessings of peace and posterity can be enjoyed by all.
Kevin answered...

We believe that our families are the basic unit of any society, and that failure in the home means that we've failed as a nation and a people. We've heard that it takes a village to raise a child, and that's true enough. But our leaders have told us that the most important work we can do in life, even more than any professional pursuits, is to raise our children in righteousness.

Think about it. If each father and mother were just a little more engaged in their family's lives i'm not talking about controlling their family, helping their sons and daughters with the challenges they constantly face, the crises we find ourselves in as a nation would become much less. We'd more good in the world as a result. You may think that naive or unrealistic, but I know how much good one family can cause, and how much pain another can cause. We want to change the world, and to do that we need to change ourselves and help our families become better too.

Why did your church previously practice plural marriage (polygamy)?

David C answered...

Mormons practiced polygamy because the Lord commanded some of them to do so, for purposes known to the Lord. At the time, there were no national laws prohibiting polygamy. When the Supreme Court ruled that later anti-polygamy laws were constitutional, the Lord directed Pres. Woodruff to issue the Manifesto, and the practice ended in the Church.