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

August 12-18 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 pr...

August 5-11 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 29-August 4 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 22-28 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 students—he takes a chap...

July 15-21 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 corrupt...

July 8-14 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 for our time?  What are w...

July 1-7 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 delight...

June 24-30 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 17-23 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 10-16 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 received a witness of th...

June 3-9 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 today.

May 27-June 2 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 20-26 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 13-19 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 be a fait...

May 6-12 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 episode demonstrate just that.

April 29-May 5 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 have the setti...

April 22-28 Elder Neal A. Maxwell called the chapters we are studying today 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.

April 15-21 I remember, following Enos’s example, of going to the woods to pray in my life, in fact, more than once. Then, I recently was talking about Enos with a friend, and he said he, too, had gone to the woods to pray. I know Scot took Enos’s example, but went to a mountain. I don’t think the location matters because it can be right in our own bedroom, but there is something magnificent to le...

April 8-14 One of my favorite olive trees in the entire world is inside the walls of the BYU Jerusalem Center for Near Eastern Studies in Jerusalem.  I remember Truman Madsen telling us all about how it was long-lined from a helicopter all the way from the Galilee to the center.  They were concerned about the shock of its journey, but they promptly planted it.  And then it died…at least they thoug...

April 1-7 When Jacob speaks at the temple in the book named after him, it is with both anxiety and boldness, setting an example for all us who have to teach the people we love in this difficult world. It is not a time to shy away from the truth.

March 25-31 I love the season of spring.  I love the newness of life.  I love the crocus, the daffodils and tulips just popping through the winter-hardened earth.  I love the buds that magically appear on all the trees.  I especially love the redbuds and the dogwoods that were the first to show in my home-state of Missouri on our forested farm.  Most of all, though, I love the fact that “all thing...

We wanted to take a few minutes just to relax with you, our amazing and loving listeners, and talk about faith, peace, calm and listening to the promptings and whisperings of the Spirit. 

March 18-24 Any returned missionary will recognize the chapters we are studying this week.  We used. many of these verses when it came time to challenge a serious investigator to make the commitment to be baptized.  In all our readings and studies of 2 Nephi chapters 31-33, have we possibly missed some critical teachings for our own spiritual progress?  Let’s study together and see what we can fin...

March 11-17 Nephi, of course is heartbroken because he has seen in revelation the destruction of his people. He says, “O the pain, and the anguish of my soul for the loss of the slain of my people” (2 Nephi 26:7). He says it consumes him. But he is given a promise of comfort. What is it? We’ll talk about it in this episode.

March 4-10 I love that language of Nephi as he adds so much of Isaiah into his small plates. He says that he delights in the covenants of the Lord. (pause) That’s certainly a theme throughout the Book of Mormon. He delights in the Lord’s grace, justice, power and mercy. This is all code language for rejoicing in the atonement of Jesus Christ. And Nephi delights in the great and eternal plan of del...