Meridian Magazine--Come Follow Me Latter-day Saint Podcast

September 21-27 If you were to do a survey to determine the most influential talk or sermon in history, surely the results would point to the Lord’s Sermon on the Mount.  Here are contained the eternal “beatitudes;” here is contained the Lord’s Prayer spoken each week by untold millions of Christ’s followers throughout the world; here we have “the golden rule.”  The Sermon on the Mount i...

September 14-20 How can you not be just thrilled with this week’s readings?  The entire Book of Mormon has been centered on one Person—Jesus Christ, the Savior and Redeemer—and His coming to the earth and the promised visit to this righteous branch of the tribe of Joseph in the Americas.  Lehi testified He would come. Nephi saw Him in vision that He would come. Jacob gave bold witness of...

September 7-13 I was just pondering very early this morning as I looked out the window: “What if at 4:00 in the morning on a fall day I looked out the window and it was as bright as day?  Would my heart take a leap and would I think: What is going on?!”  It was pitch dark when I peered out my window and yet, we have record of an event in this week’s reading, where untold thousands of peo...

August 31-September 6 In the Book of Mormon, the Nephites always think of themselves as the good guys. In a movie, they’d ride in wearing the white hat or the gold star, signifying their goodness. Yet, the Book of Mormon demonstrates that often the Nephites are relentlessly blind to their own wickedness and it is the Lamanites who are the most faithful and true. Enter the scene into the wicked Nep...

August 24-30 As Helaman chapter 7 opens, we see a prophet pleading with God for his people in great agony and heaviness of Spirit. The Gadianton robbers had usurped legitimate authority and taken over much of the government, the people have become corrupted and Nephi is deeply grieved for the wickedness which abounds. In a video for General Conference a little girl asked President Russell M. Nelso...

August 17-23 In Helaman chapters 1-6, the Lamanites become the righteous and the Nephites the wicked. How does this switch come about? And the new enemy are the Gadianton robbers, who capture the allegiance of many of the Nephites. Things happen fast in the Book of Mormon, a roller coaster of righteousness and wickedness. I used to think it was hard to imagine such reversals and drama in such a sh...

August 10-16 The ten chapters that we look at today are about both the low and high points of the Nephite nation. This is a time of continual war, brought on in large part by the “contentions, and dissensions, and all manner of iniquity of the people of Nephi” (Alma 62:40) At the same time, just as the light shines more clearly in a darkened world, we see the power of goodness in Helaman’s 2060 st...

August 3-9 You may get to the so-called war chapters in the Book of Mormon and wonder why Mormon bothered to include so many of them. Yet, he was a prophet who’d seen our day and if ever there were chapters as fresh and relevant as today’s news headlines, here they are. They are filled with the best heroes, like Moroni, who hoist the title of liberty, the darkest villains, like Amalickiah who pros...

July 27-August 2 With only 239 chapters in the Book of Mormon and only 531 pages, would you take four of those chapters and 8 pages just to talk about one wayward missionary’s story who committed a grievous sexual sin?  Why would the Prophet Mormon think it was so important to include this story for our day?  Let’s explore this together.

July 20-26 We see many conversations in the Book of Mormon where fathers teach their sons and their impact changes not only their son’s life, but the generations that follow. The lessons are profound. The impact overwhelming. If there was ever scripture that calls out for fathers to step into their parenting role with power, the Book of Mormon is it.

July 13-19 Alma has a hidden message in this week’s readings.  You all are familiar with the concept he teaches of having a particle of faith and planting a seed and nurturing it that it may grow.  But what is that seed to grow into?  What is the metaphor he wants us to understand?  As we read and study this week’s material you might think Alma the Younger is one of Lehi’s stud...

July 6-12 It is surprising  that an idea can at once be so popular, attracting people to give it passionate devotion, and at the same time be completely false. Why are people so often crazy enough to jump on a trend that is destructive or just plain foolish against their own best interests? Again and again, the Book of Mormon presents us smooth talking, powerful, intellectuals whose words cor...

June 29-July 5 It’s intriguing to me to ponder about why the great abridger of the ancient records, the Prophet Mormon, included some stories and not others in the text.  No one in ancient times had the Book of Mormon.  This book was written for us—for our day—for our time.  So, why did Mormon include the story of the Anti-Nephi-Lehis?  What possible application does this have...

June 22-28 Can you imagine if today you opened a mission call and it was for a 14-year mission to a violent people whose aim was to destroy you? You might think twice about that kind of call. Yet, the sons of Mosiah, Nephite princes who could have had a very different life, chose to go to preach to the Lamanites, a people described as “wild and a hardened and a ferocious people; a people who delig...

June 15-21 Have you ever thought about Alma and Amulek watching the believers in Ammonihah burn? It is not just the pain that these are their tender converts. Could it be that Amulek’s own family was among that group because he is in particular anguish after the event?

June 8-14 Here’s an irony. In our day, when someone wants to change everything that is wrong with the world, they run for president.  In the Book of Mormon, Alma hoping to pull down the pride and craftiness and contentions among his people, saw no way to reclaim them except to give up his office.

June 1-7 I’ve always loved Alma chapter 5.  It could be taken as the most introspective chapter in all of holy writ.  Alma asks more than 40 questions of his listeners and really wants them to probe their spirituality in a deep way.  But Alma wasn’t just talking to the people in Zarahemla—he is talking to us!  So, to put it in our language and context today:  If you have r...

May 25-31 Hugh Nibley calls Mosiah 29 one of the most important treatises on political power ever written. In fact, the Book of Mormon has plenty to say about good and bad political leaders. Why does a spiritual book have so much to say about politics? We’ll find out in this episode.

May 18-24 When I was growing up and first learning about the story of Alma the Younger’s conversion in the Book of Mormon, I always pictured him as a rebellious teenager who hung out with the four sons of Mosiah and together, the five of them wreaked havoc on the Church.  If you look closely at the record and put the facts together, you come to know something altogether different.

May 11-17 I have often wondered what was on Abinadi’s mind as the fire that would engulf and kill him burned hotter and hotter.  Did he wonder if he’d been a good missionary, because after all, there wasn’t a rush of converts from King Noah’s court.

May 4-10 There are many times in our lives when we just have to stand up for the truth and, sometimes we stand alone. Has that ever happened in your life?  Has it happened in the lives of your ancestors or the lives of your children?  President Nelson said recently: “Why do we need such resilient faith? Because difficult days are ahead. Rarely in the future will it be easy or popular to...

April 27-May 3 Elder Richard G. Scott said, “Help from the Lord always follows eternal law. The better you understand that law, the easier it is to receive His help.” The chapters that we are studying in this podcast demonstrate just that.

April 20-26 Over our years of studies of the first 6 chapters of Mosiah we have all come to love King Benjamin and his marvelous teachings.  We have the whole thing in our minds, don’t we?  The aged King Benjamin; the anointing of his son Mosiah to be the new king; the innumerable hosts of tents surrounding the temple and families in breathless attention to their servant King.  We h...

April 13-19 Elder Neal A. Maxwell called the chapters we are studying in this episode the “Manual of Discipleship”. Since Mormon could include only the hundredth part of the records he had available to him, this may be the reason he zeroed right in on King Benjamin’s address and gave us so much of it. He knew we in the latter days would want to learn discipleship too.

This has been an unprecedented time in the history of our nation, our world and the Church.  With news of the Corona Virus dominating the headlines and our mind space, we wanted to take a few minutes just to just relax with you, our amazing and loving listeners, and talk about faith, peace, calm and listening to the promptings and whisperings of the Spirit.  You might be listen...