Come Follow Me with Sam

  Jacob's trials Jacob's experiences are much like Isaac's experiences in many ways. He has many challenges to overcome despite being a seeker after the Lord's Righteousness. These chapters are a good demonstration of how God doesn't want to shield us from trials, but instead to make us mighty to overcome all trials. Jacob first has a vision of a ladder going to heaven. As a child I thought of this as a simple dream where someone climbs to heaven. Now I understand it better as God showing Jacob the necessary levels of change one must go through to become like God. Hugh Nibley, in One Eternal Round, has a part dedicated to the Ascension Dramas that have pervaded all time and culture. His point is that these aren't randomized stories; they are a consistent pattern of God showing man the path to get back to heaven, leading them to things higher than they could have realized. God strengthens Jacob again with his wrestle with the Angel before meeting Esau. This was s...

What it means to live as a covenant family  The readings for this week talk of Isaac's story. They are filled with all manner of lessons - of intrigue, of revelation, of spirit, of faith, of dedication, of simple things, and of great things. The main lesson I get from these chapters are understanding the struggles that a family can go through when following God in a foreign land. Isaac was the son of Abraham, the father of all nations, and yet his life was not easy. He couldn't find a wife to begin with, and then he had to hide her from his neighbors, had to dig his wells over again, had to work between his sons making hard choices, and then dealing with a very complicated birthright situation. Isaac was not the perfect guy. But he was still a patriarch under God. He didn't have a lot of really big problems "magicked" away. But he continually sought God and God provided. God even saved Isaac from himself, as in the example of the birthright.  Rebeckah, for her par...

 Genesis 18-23 has a lot. It gets into some pretty crazy stuff. I was really tempted to talk about Sodom and Gomorrah, as many of us live in the world and there is a lot to learn from these chapters, but one single verse caught my attention more than all the other happenings in the reading this week. God will provide himself a lamb In the sacrifice of Abraham and Isaac, Isaac asks, 'where is the lamb for a burnt offering'. Abraham responds in  Genesis 22:8 8  And Abraham said, My son, God will provide himself a  a lamb  for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together. Abraham is saying that God will provide, but read it again and see if there is a double entendre. 8  And Abraham said, My son (Isaac), God will provide himself  a  a lamb   (His Son, Christ)  for a burnt offering: so they went both of them together.   Is this what Abraham meant when he said it? I obviously couldn't say, this is just what struck me while I was ...

 Abraham is a complicated guy from a complicated time. There are many stories and legends about his life outside of the scriptures as well as what is recorded in Genesis and the Pearl of Great Price. The way he lived his life had a significant impact not only on the nations of his day, but also stretch all the way to our day and to the Second Coming of the Savior.  One way to understand the Abrahamic Covenant This week's Come Follow Me Reading included Abraham chapters 1 and 2. Notably, look at what Abraham says after the covenant in Chapter 2 12  Now, after the Lord had withdrawn from speaking to me, and withdrawn his face from me, I said in my heart: Thy servant has  a sought  thee earnestly; now I have found thee; 13  Thou didst send thine angel to  a deliver  me from the gods of Elkenah, and I will do well to hearken unto thy voice, therefore let thy servant rise up and depart in peace. 14  So I, Abraham, departed as the Lord had said unt...

Did the Flood really happen? The Flood narrative took a beating by academia over the 1800s and 1900s. Virtually all groups subscribed to the gradual theory of earthly evolution, where cataclysmic events had no place. Even at Brigham Young University, there are professors who have said that we will never find evidence of the flood. Noobs. They couldn't be more wrong There was a scientist in the 1900s that basically had his career ruined for his consistent claims from evidence he discovered that a catastrophic flood event happened in the world some few thousand years ago. I can't remember his name but if someone is interested in the comments, I can go find it. by the end of the century, the same organizations that had destroyed his career slowly came around, acknowledged that his evidence was compelling, and even slowly recognizing him for his work. In my opinion, they should have done a lot more than they, they should have recognized that their own organizations were incredibly ...