Come Follow Me with Sam

 Welcome Welcome! Section 94 No comments for this section Section 95 Whom I Love and Chasten Chastening is a difficult thing for us to receive properly and to give properly. This came up during Helaman 15 when Samuel the prophet spoke about it. Without going too far into depth, here are some salient points we can learning about chastening - God chastens that our sins may be forgiven - "with chastisement I prepare a way for their deliverance" - everyone needs chastening at some point Temple work God speaks directly about not building a temple as the reason for the chastening. This was a good reminder to me after covid to make a renewed effort to go to the temple. Now that we have to reserve a session, it feels more complicated and like I need to plan it out (yes, I'm a spoiled Utahn with temples anywhere I look :D) but if Joseph the Prophet was chastened for not building a temple, with all the sacrifice there, how much more should we be willing to go to the temple? I'...

 Welcome to Section 93! This is such a strange and a unique section, one of the more esoteric expounding of doctrine in the Doctrine and Covenants. Walking into this, there are a couple things to keep in mind. 1. It is really going to help understand this section by reading other sections about light, truth, and intelligence. 2. It is better to look at our current definitions of these concepts as approximations of what god means. For example, when God says 'the Word', it is not the same as what we think of as 'the Word',  God's truth is different from our truth, intelligence, light, etc. 3. extending point 3, in vs 19-20, God specifically says He is giving these teachings to you 'that you may understand and know how to worship, and know what you worship'. The promise for learning this is that you can be glorified in Christ as Christ is in the Father. Section 93 Intro The first two verses are a simple introduction to the section guiding the reader to the purp...

 Welcome! we have the word of wisdom today! and other wonderful and wonderful things Section 89 Section 89 can be broken down into 3+1 parts - the intro (+1) then the forbiddens, the recommendeds, and the promises By way of commandment? I saw a recent facebook poll asking if the WoW was considered as a commandment or not by the users. Shockingly, for me, the majority of those answering the poll did not see it as a strict commandment. To their credit, we only seem to be interested in the forbiddens as commandment, and disregard more or less the rest of the revelation. On the other hand, this was accepted as commandment by the church in the 1800's and is a temple worthiness question. God says this is given for a principle with promise adapted to the capacity of the weak and the weakest of all saints who are or can be called saints. I think the above question is somewhat moot, because we should be striving to follow this whether commandment or not. We should be working to be better th...

Welcome! This week is section 88, one that is very long and very well known. I personally don’t believe the church is ready to understand Section 88 but that it is a continuation and fulfillment of that which was contained in Section 84. Maybe we need to lift that curse before we are ready for this Section. This is known as the Olive Leaf based on Joseph Smith calling that in a letter, “I send you, the ‘Olive Leaf’ which we have plucked from the tree of Paradise, the Lord’s message of peace to us.” Section 88   A foundation for understanding the rest of the text, but possibly not understandable without the rest of the text. Vs 5-13 is somewhat of a foundation of understanding for the rest of the text. Unfortunately (fortunately?) it talks of things in a way that is a little foreign to our common understanding. Here is a little trace through. Vs 5. Section 88 has already mentioned the celestial kingdom multiple times. It appears to me that the specific end goal of this ent...

 Welcome! It looks like, based on my notes, this is just going to be about Section 87, the war chapter Section 85 No comment at this time Section 86 No comment at this time Section 87 Section 87 is remarkable in the accuracy of its prediction of the events of the civil war, especially since in 1832, many thought the crisis was blown over. S&S comment that Orson Pratt kept a copy of the revelation with him and shortly after Abraham Lincoln was elected, he procured it to citizens in Omaha Nebraska. "It created a great sensation... A great many persons came forward and examined the book from which the revelation was read to see the date, to satisfy themselves that it was not a thing of recent manufacture." Here are some other comments by S&S "The American Civil War was only the beginning of a series of conflicts, each leading up to the world-war of 1914. This is all the more remarkable, because since the middle of the 19th century, the peace movement in the world as...

Its another D&C mega chapter! This one is best known for its emphasis on the priesthood. There are a lot of treasures in here. There is also a building pattern. God teaches a short history of the priesthood, and uses it to show the meaning of the priesthood, and the blessings of the priesthood, then to how we fall short of those blessings, then what we can do to receive those blessings, then to how he will strengthen us to be able to accomplish this task. There is more after this, but I didn't get that far this time around. The last treasures in D&C 84 are up to you to find ;) until I can come back and add more.  Also, the treasures are always up to you to find anyway :D. I am just acting in my best capacity as a guide but the gospel isn't something that is transmitted through teaching, it is something that is manifested by the spirit, and only God can give that. Section 84 Short History of the Priesthood Check out this history of the priesthood in vs 6-17. We can learn...

Welcome! In one sense, this week is some reruns of last week with new color. 81 is very similar to 79, 82 is similar to 78. Enjoy :) Section 81 This section was very much like section 79 to me. It was short but filled with such power because it contains the core of the gospel in plainness in a real experience. It is unfortunately hard for me to articulate the meaning of these sections; it is better just to read them after praying with all your heart to feel the love of God and the vision he has for you in His kingdom...  but if I was to take a stab at this one, I would say that God is telling Federick G Williams that he is in exactly the right spot at exactly the right time, and all he needs to do is be the best that he can be, and do follow God's commandments exactly, and that if he makes every situation as 'good' (as in righteous, filled with light, well-doing towards others), he gets the gold and all is accepted before Him, the God of the universe Section 82 Section 82 b...

 Welcome! This week is a really exciting amalgam of sections! Okay, so there's nothing that exciting ,but I feel that this week, each section has a little gem to take with you. Section 77 Section 77 is a Q&A of the meaning of certain parts of revelations. I plan on diving deeper into the actual content when the new testament rolls around. For now, I felt like S&S had some really important insights. listen to these passages "The prophetic part of it is mostly regarded [by the world] as an unsolvable riddle.... the reason for this confusion is that modern interpreters have lost the key to the book... That book was written to show that the Church would conquer paganism, but that it would itself be driven into exile and remain in absolute obscurity for 1260 'days' - prophetic years... "But this Revelation (Section 77) is not a complete interpretation of the book. It is a key.  A key is a very small part of the house. It unlocks the door through which an entran...

 Welcome! This is probably the most well-known section in all of D&C! We get fixated on the three kingdoms and how its different from the normal Christian ideas of heaven and hell, but I would encourage you to focus on what this means. Here are a few beginnings you could think about: 1. We can see that our actions on earth are much more closely tied with our state in heaven. 2. We can see that God will help us go as far as we are willing, and bless us as much as He can within those parameters. 3. We can see that there is much we do not yet know, but that it has its order and plan and we can learn faith through this understanding Section 76 My favorite part of the section 7  And to them will I  a reveal  all  b mysteries , yea, all the hidden mysteries of my kingdom from days of old, and for ages to come, will I make known unto them the good pleasure of my will concerning all things pertaining to my kingdom. 8  Yea, even the wonders of  a eternity ...

  Section 71 Some Wisdom I found these verses to be worth pondering. I'm sure there's many times where we Latter-day saints of the church of Jesus Christ have been clobbered in arguments, and other times where we have been overly contentious. So we know this isn't a guarantee that anyone who decides to defend the church or Jesus Christ will automatically win. But its clear that these promises are to those who 'understand and receive also' 5  Now, behold this is wisdom; whoso readeth, let him  a understand  and  b receive  also; 6  For unto him that receiveth it  shall be given more  a abundantly , even power. 7  Wherefore,  a confound  your  b enemies ; call upon them to  c meet  you both in public and in private; and inasmuch as ye are faithful their  d shame  shall be made manifest. 8  Wherefore, let them bring forth their  a strong reasons  against the Lord. 9  Verily, thus saith ...