Come Follow Me with Sam

 Welcome to Come follow me with Sam! Moroni finds he has a little more time and so he chooses first to reiterate and specifically explain and testify of the order that Christ set forth among the Nephites and Lamanites. I find it so fascinating that this was what was important to him for us to know. I think he wanted us to understand that the order under which we are is the same order under which Christ Himself established his church. This gives a certain understanding of the holiness of which we partake. You cannot escape from the darkness in your own heart The Lamanites were driven by anger, hate, and fear to war upon their enemies. They destroyed the Nephite civilization utterly. But they couldn't destroy the anger, hate, and fear and so they fell upon one another. Their wars became exceedingly fierce. But, as you guessed, the war isn't going to solve anything either. Until you work into yourself a heart of peace, there is nowhere to turn. The simple triple connection Moroni ...

 Welcome to Come Follow Me with Sam! Guess what! Not even a month ago we read about the complete collapse of the Nephite civilization! Now we hit the Jaredite one as well! These are the chapters we learn about Ether, his ministry, his warnings, and the final days of the Jaredites. We also get a fascinating in-the-moment play-by-play discourse on faith from Moroni, and likely what he thought would be his very last words in the record. Chapter 12 is difficult because it deserves more time than a blog post. It deserves its own book. I have highlighted certain parts of it, and I hope you use this as a stepping stone to read and learn more. If only Moroni could tell us Why was Ether so inspired among a generation on the brink of destruction? I don't know, but something strikes Moroni about the fact that someone in the Jaredite civilization was in tune and powerful in word and able to hear. If you listen closely you can feel a terrible agony with Moroni in this chapter (12). He is seeing...

 Welcome to come follow me with Sam! In six chapters, we are going to go through the good the bad and the ugly of the Jaredite civilization. Hold on to your hats. They did not cease to praise the Lord I mentioned this scene in the last blog post. When Lehi was lost in the darkness, when Nephi was bound and finally untied, when The Anti-Nephi-Lehies were deciding how to escape their enemies, when Moroni asks us in just a few chapters to ask if these things are true, the common denominator is that they all thank the Lord according to His mercies. This is the way. The Problem with kings The Nephites and Jaredites both struggle with kings. The Nephites develop a way to rule without kings. The success of this system was certainly superior when contrasted with what happened with King Noah, but also had its challenges, or rather, the people still ended up in wickedness despite the advantages of this system. It looks like the Jaredites ran into the same problem, but they couldn't come up w...

 Welcome to Come Follow Me with Sam! This week kicks off studying the Jaredites, which is a major picker-upper from the last chapters, although Moroni still starts out with the spoiler alert that they are destroyed. There is so much happening in Ether that I have chosen to be selective on these chapters. While I really couldn't say that Nephi's words, Alma's witness, Christ's teachings, or Mormon/Moroni's last testimonies were better than the the other, or better than Ether, I would rank Ether as a hidden gem too-often ignored. The book of Ether is interesting to me for 2 reasons. The first is that we have almost no historical record for a civilization that lasted much longer than the Nephites. We just don't have the details or information to get a good picture of the civilization. The second is that this sparse history is interspersed with commentary, many times I believe inspired to be given on the spot by the spirit rather than premeditated. An interesting hi...

 Welcome to Come Follow Me with Sam! We are about to read the first of three endings of the Book of Mormon. It seems to me that Moroni meant this to be his last word on the matter. The other two endings come as a surprise to him as much as anyone else. Mormon and Moroni, I feel, are precise in their speech and careful in their words for these last chapters. There is a lot of soul-searching in these chapters, but I am going to try to keep a light hand on the commentary. I hope this helps you understand the words themselves without too much detraction. The larger game Chapter 7 is Momon's last words and his end to his work. Mormon goes a little meta. He talks to the entire house of Israel where ever they may be. The Jews, the 10 tribes, the remnants of the Lamanites and Nephites... If the salt shall lose its savor, wherewith shall the earth be salted? Mormon speaks to those who would still savor. Mormon's last message is only 10 verses long, but I cannot think of a message more s...

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...