Come Follow Me with Sam

 Section 10 Joseph Smith's Thanos moment? Remember when the Avengers were soundly defeated in Avengers: Infinity War? They were all trying to save each other instead of putting their sacrifice on the line, and Thanos walked all over them.  Remember how in Avengers: End Game, the theme of the trailer was 'whatever it takes'? They were willing to sacrifice everything this time around, and some of them did. Black Widow gave up her life to become a mother of the Universe, a uniquely beautiful image considering that in her past life, she was sterilized to be a more effective agent of chaos. And then of course there was Iron Man, the genius billionaire arrogant play boy who also arced his character beautifully into taking the infinity gauntlet and sacrificing his own life essence to end Thanos' evil forces. He couldn't have done that without seeing their world destroyed (well, half destroyed) by Thanos. Well, back to reality, I believe this was Joseph Smiths Thanos Moment...

 Welcome to Come Follow Me with Sam! I got pinched on time, but here are a few thoughts from each section below. Section 6 Section 6 contains some guidance and admonition to Oliver Cowdery. It seems that Oliver had some pretty significant fears in his life. This is evidenced by vs 22, 'cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart... did I not speak peace to your mind... and vs 34 'fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if ye are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail.' There are some admonitions. vs 6 - 'seek not for riches but for wisdom... he that hath eternal life is rich.' This personally is very difficult for me to do. There is some much on this earth that money can buy (I know) and it is so difficult to not be sucked up into this spiraling need to experience and have anything and everything. It isn't what we came to earth for and it isn't going to make you any happier or better if you aren...

 Hey everyone before jumping into D&C 3-5, I'd like to point out a fantastic assistant in understanding the Doctrine and Covenants. On every D&C lesson, you can view Doctrine and Covenants historical resources to help you understand the context of the revelation. Check it out for this lesson. This week we cover Martin Harris's unfortunate experience losing the 116 pages, a revelaetion to Josephs father, JS SR., and a fascinating groundwork for the future. Section 3 This is the revelation given after Martin Harris lost the 116 pages. Possibly the worst day ever for both of them. God reveals a larger picture about how the Works of God are accomplished. Paths are straight and his course is one eternal round God obviously deals in hyperbolic or Riemann geometry where we are still stuck in Euclidian ;) (joking, not joking). Martin Harris is a good lesson to all of us. He was living quite comfortably on a sizeable estate. While relatively more wealthy  than most people readi...

Welcome to Come follow Me with Sam! we get a chance at some deeper insight into Joseph Smiths first days with the gospel. We also get a flash of some of the things Moroni Directly told Joseph Smith that explains events in the last days. These are the first strings in the tapestry of the destiny of the modern world, seen through the eyes of heaven. Another tie to asking forgiveness During Joseph's first vision, he mentioned he was looking for forgiveness of his sins, and mentions specifically in his vision that his sins were forgiven him. When Moroni appeared to him, IT WAS FOR THE SAME REASON! He 'betook myself to prayer and supplication to Almighty God for forgiveness of all my sins and follies' and also for a manifestation that he might now what his standing was. This is similar to Lehi and Moroni in the Book of Mormon, Lehi, when he prayed to God before the tree of life vision, Moroni when he asked us to remember all the mercies that God has given us. Some more on Moroni...

 Welcome to Come Follow me with Sam! This week is really the study of how a man or woman might approach God to speak with Him. Joseph Smith is a fascinating figure who will never be fully understood until the end of time, but who can be studied to understand how we too might accomplish his unique link to the heavens.  Introduction to Joseph the prophet You don’t know me; you never knew my heart. No man knows my history. I cannot tell it: I shall never undertake it. I don’t blame any one for not believing my history. If I had not experienced what I have, I would not have believed it myself. I never did harm any man since I was born in the world. My voice is always for peace. Joseph Smith once famously said 'You never knew me, no man knows my history', (which prompted a later critic to write a slanderous book by that title, which then prompted Hugh Nibley to write a rebuttal by the title 'No Ma'am, that's not history', which is probably the best comeback title of ...