Come Follow Me with Sam

Welcome to Come Follow Me with Sam! This is the first week with Mormon and Moroni! I'm not going to lie to you... most of you already know it is going to get pretty bad. You can tell Mormon is incredibly sorrowful that his people ended the way they did, But something I find interesting about both Mormon and Moroni is the transcendent beauty that surrounds them in the midst of pretty awful carnage. I encourage you to look for those signs over the last chapters of the Book of Mormon. Post script: I came across this blog post as I was preparing to write this week's come follow me. It writes about hope in darkness and inspiration of the stars, especially in The Lord of the Rings. I highly recommend you read it before walking through the end chapters of the Book of Mormon Ten years of age! Mormon is so young when Ammoron entrusts him with the place of records! 10 years. There are a few reasons it may have come so young. Mormon was a sober kid and Ammoron picked up on it. It states...

 At this point, the Book of Mormon is starting to wrap up. You'll notice that Mormon is rather brief on the 400 years that pass. Most of the message has been conveyed. The civilization went through its calamity. The Savior came and taught. We are now entering the most wonderful and prosperous phase of the civilization. The impact that the Savior had on the people lasted for hundreds of years, and I believe the majority of evidences that we have so far discovered from the Nephite civilization come from this time. How be it my church save it be called in my name? President Nelson has done more to reemphasize the name of the church than anyone since it's re-establishment. Jesus explains this doctrine in chapter 27 for the majority of the chapter. The church is meant to lead all people to Him, so that they can repent and be baptized in His name, and share in the gospel. The church should point to this work of salvation, and if it leads people toward Christ, it should not be called ...

Welcome to Come Follow Me with Sam! In the following chapters, Jesus teaches a higher law than He did in the old world. He also expounds prophecies of the future. Usually, the greatest value we can get from prophecies is not to know the future, but to understand better the workings of God. This may sound strange, but it's true. Check it out below. A note on General Conference I hope you all grabbed the chance to listen to General Conference last week. If not you can find it here.  I could tell that this year opened me up to listening better to the messages than I possibly ever have. I was surprised how many of the messages focused on reassurance. We may have some challenges ahead. If you listen closely to the brethren, you can feel an undercurrent that there is a divine current still rolling forward beneath the chaos of the surface waves. Isaiah (again) and the last days Isaiah comes up over and over again. It is mentioned by Nephi, Abinadai, and Mormon/Moroni. Jesus also speaks di...

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...