Come Follow Me with Sam

Welcome to Come Follow Me with Sam! Some absolutely amazing moments happen in these chapters, some that are unspeakable. In case you hadn't noticed, I don't talk too much about the miraculous events that take place and focus on the teachings for this blog. I think that what I have to say on the miracles would detract too much from these personal events, both in terms with the person who was healed and of you as the reader personally seeking understanding to the meaning of it it. I encourage you to read about the miracles throughout Christ's ministry to the Nephites and ask the Spirit to help you understand what they mean. This is where greater meaning really begins to flow. It is like the last teachings were a foundation and now the house is being built. I have selected a number of themes and commented on them below. Time to think (nerd alert) We are not just machines. We are children of God. That means that we don't just process information a computer. Teachings are me...

 Welcome to Come Follow Me with Sam! We are going full swing into the teachings of Jesus on the continent. The exquisite simplicity of Christ's words makes us sometimes discount them as platitudes or simple moral teachings. And while in a way they are the simplest and easiest to understand, they are also the richest and deepest message to the world that any of us could possibly hope for. Remember that Christ knew he had come down to earth to redeem all mankind; there is no being who has walked with earth with a greater burden or a higher knowledge of Godliness. My comments here are mostly my own but I hope they lend insight to your own study of someone can can truly and gratefully say is The Master. A little more on our relationship to Christ's teachings. post-script to the introduction here. In zen Buddhism, there is the concept that you cannot gain enlightenment from any other person. Mumon ends his zen Buddhist text with the words 'The words and the actions left by Buddh...

Congratulations! We made it! These are the chapters of the Savior's Coming! Thomas Jefferson said he found the Savior's teachings 't he  most   sublime  and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man'. I like his emphasis on sublime, I think that is a perfect word to describe it. Jesus' teachings are like His voice in these chapters; they are soft and unassuming, yet powerful enough to fill the entire land. Because of this, sometimes commentary simply detracts from the message. I will do my best to avoid this. Here's a quick outline of the 4 chapters. I would like to focus on the fourth, chapter 11 the most. Chapter 8: the destruction of many cities, people, and the reshaping of the land Chapter 9: Voice of God comes and mourns the destruction of the cities and people Chapter 10: Voice of God pleads with the survivors to come to Him Chapter 11: Christ Himself comes down in resurrected form to begin His earthly ministry among the Nephites and La...

Welcome! Things are really heating up for the Nephites at this point. It is time for the very last moves, good and evil, before the savior comes. It is a really exciting time and things happen quite rapidly. This is a time of great upheaval in the Nephite government. I am going to make my best analysis based on the situation. If you disagree with me, I would encourage you to not fall back on ideological truisms, but to think about the how and why and what of the Book of Mormon before passing judgement. We're in the the end game now As I mentioned before, things begin happening rapidly in the next few chapters before Christ's coming. The first thing is that people can no longer deny the signs of the times coming together. The day and night and day HAPPENS and no one deny's it. This puts the next events in a different frame than anything that happened before. There is a similar situation when the Nephites meet the Mulekites and receive a witness that what Lehi spoke about Jer...