Post archive: page 5

Remember who the real enemy is

Last week in Come Follow Me, we read the first part of Alma's mission to the apostates in Ammonihah. It's there that we got to meet the wicked lawyer, Zeezrom. The crafty Zeezrom tries every trick in the book to misrepresent Gospel teachings and trip up Alma's junior companion, Amulek. He even tried to bribe Amulek with (according to my math) about a month and a half's worth of a...

Hello, my name is Gideon

This past week in Come Follow Me, covering Mosiah 29 through Alma 4, we read about the death of one of my favorite Book of Mormon heroes. No, not Alma the Elder. No, not King Mosiah. No, definitely not Nehor. I'm talking about the penitent patriot, Gideon. He doesn't get quite the same name recognition as other heroes, but I still think he's really cool.

The easy way and the hard way

This may come as a surprise to many of you, but sometimes my children don't listen.

Take bedtime, for instance. At the end of the day, my 4-year-old son and I both know how things are going to end. If my son cooperates when it's "that time," his bedtime will be preceded by playtime, two bedtime stories, and a lullaby. If he throws a tantrum, he will simply be placed...

Nourish, dig, and prune

Jacob 5, if you are not familiar, is a long allegory about the house of Israel. Zenos, the author, compares the house of Israel to an old, decaying olive tree and describes all the efforts of the master gardener to save the tree and its fruit. It's one of those chapters that tend to get only touched on lightly. There just doesn't seem to be much there. Israel is like...

You are unqualified for your calling (and that's OK)

When I was little, I thought missionaries were basically superheroes. I pictured stalwart, obedient, faithful young men and women going all over the world, guided by the Spirit and teaching the truth in majesty and power, saving souls like a spiritual Superman. But then I went on a mission and learned that you can take a teenager to the temple, endow him with power from on high, set him apart...

What REALLY gets the prophets in trouble?

It's no secret that the world rejects the prophets. I mean, after all, a prophet's job is to share the uncomfortable truth about what we're doing wrong and call us to repent, right? Not exactly a comfortable message. But looking in the Book of Mormon, time and time again, you see that the threats and the condemnation and the calls to repentance are usually not the main reason people get...

10 blockers to scripture study

In a previous post, I talked about our responsibility to learn to truly "treasure" the word of God like the Nephites did– specifically, that we need to do better at prioritizing our study of the Book of Mormon. We need to "level up" our study so that we're not just reading the words on the page like a novel, but truly study and dig deep.

This is all...

Putting a price on the priceless

Those who know me know I really like economics. It's a fascinating subject, and even humorous at times. There's a classic economics joke that goes something like this:

Two economists walked past a Porsche showroom. One of them pointed at a shiny car in the window and said, "I want that."

"Obviously not," the other replied.

OK, OK, so while economists may be smart, comedians they are not....

Unwearyingness

Christ gave His chosen Twelve Disciples in both continents a rare opportunity. One by one, he asked them "What is it that ye desire of me, after that I am gone to the Father?" Eleven of the Jewish Disciples and nine of the Nephite Disciples asked for the same thing:

We desire that after we have lived unto the age of man, that our ministry, wherein thou hast called...

Hello, my name is Moroni

This all started a few weeks ago when our primary president came to me with an interesting request. She wanted the kids to meet a very special visitor: the great Nephite prophet, Moroni. So I found myself this morning standing in front of a bunch of kids, wearing a white nightgown, holding a homemade aluminum foil leaf of the Gold Plates, and telling them "my story."

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