Come Follow Me with Sam

Welcome to the sections where the show hits the road and the church is formally established!  Section 20 A brief primer on the history of the name of the church. Because of the added emphasis on the name of the church and some past confusions with many parties, I'd like to explain the history of the name of the church. You can also get it from A Comprehensive history of the Church or this wikipedia article .  In 1830, here in section 20, the Church was called 'The Church of Christ' and that was used up to 1834. Since there was some confusion when referring to just the Church of Christ, some members and non members would refer to it with other names, such as the Mormon Church, the Church of the Latter-day Saints, etc. In 1838 (in Section 115) Joseph received revelation for the name of the church as we have it today, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In times past, we as members have gotten lax with the name of Christ, and I even struggle with it today. in 2018...

 I feel like the Doctrine and Covenants subtly changes and enriches as Joseph and his companions enrich in understanding. D&C 18 is one of those turning points. It is the longest section up to this point and covers a myriad of loosely woven ideas. Section 18 Quick fire thoughts Vs 2 'Behold, I have manifested unto you, by Spirit in many instances...wherefore you know that they are true.' We discussed last time that certain of Joseph's companions, even after they fell away from the church, never doubted their testimony of things that happened 'because the evidence was overwhelming'. Here is a reminder in  revelation of this to Oliver Cowdery. Vs. 5 'If you build up my church... the gates of hell shall not prevail against you'. What does it mean by 'the gates of hell'? This is reflective of Nephi's sentiment in 2 Nephi 4:32. In the Egyptian endowment, the gates to heaven and the gates of Hell were the same gates, but they led to different place...

Welcome to Come Follow Me with Sam! These Sections were each given to witnesses of the Book of Mormon and led up to the actual event of them seeing and handling the plates, whether from an angel as it was with the three witnesses, or from Joseph as it was from the Eight Witnesses. the commentary I'm reading from Hyrum & Janne (H&J) has added some relevant stories that I have included here. Section 14: teaching the great things to someone entirely new to the experience. A lesson goal-setting? Section 14 is an interesting case study in teaching the greater things with simplicity. The first six verses, as noted in my previous post, are an invocation common among multiple sections. Then God commands David Whitmer 'to bring forth and establish my Zion' and 'keep my commandments in all things.' I'm sure that David has no idea what 'my Zion' will turn out to be, yet, he is pointed in this direction from the beginning. The second part, 'keep my comma...

 Welcome to Come Follow Me with Sam!! This week's readings are super short and so my encouragement to you is to read them in the first day (Monday) and then use the rest of the week's study time to ponder, pray, meditate, and write about its meaning. I believe that this is the first place where keys were given so the organization of the church, or at least part of the organization really comes back to this moment, and later the formal establishment of a church body. Section 12:  q ualities of the work the first six verses of section 12 are repeated in sections 6, 11, and 14. I see them as an introduction and repetition to understanding missionary work. Here are some highlights 4. Yea, whosoever will thrust in his sickle and reap, the same is called of God.     God knows to shape the tool for his work and He knows the end from the beginning. He is looking for those who are really willing, and whomever is prepared is that person which is called. The ramifications of th...

 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...