by Mike Parker

(Mike Parker is a long-time FAIR member who has graciously allowed us to use materials he originally prepared for the Hurricane Utah Adult Religion Class. The scripture passages covered in his lessons don’t conform exactly to the Come, Follow Me reading schedule, so they will be shared here where they fit best.)

Class Notes

Additional Reading

Elder Graham W. Doxey, “Missouri Myths,” Ensign, April 1979, pp. 64–66. Brother Doxey, who had been president of the Missouri Independence Mission (1973–1976), explored some of the “urban legends” about Missouri that persist among Latter-day Saints.

Mike Parker is a business and marketing analyst with over twenty years’ experience in the financial services and cellular telephone industries. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Management Information Systems from Dixie State University (now Utah Tech University) of St George, Utah. He also has eight years’ experience in corporate training and currently teaches an adult religion class in southern Utah. Mike and his wife, Denise, have three children.

The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – 87, 90, 100–101, 103, 105 – Mike Parker appeared first on FAIR.

by Autumn Dickson

I want to talk about two different themes from the sections assigned this week, standing in holy places and the parable of the wheat and tares. I’m not sure whether the Lord purposefully put these two themes right next to each other, but now it’s caught my attention and won’t leave me alone. Here are just a couple of excerpts from the Lord regarding these themes.

In the parable of the wheat and tares, the Lord says this.

Doctrine and Covenants 86:6 But the Lord saith unto them, pluck not up the tares while the blade is yet tender (for verily your faith is weak), lest you destroy the wheat also.

In the parable of the wheat and tares, the wheat are the righteous and the tares are the wicked. Many biblical scholars believe that the tares are darnell, a plant that looks incredibly similar to wheat until it’s fully grown. Only at the last day are they divided, after what they truly are comes to fruition.

Then the Lord prophesies of immense war through Joseph Smith before teaching us this:

Doctrine and Covenants 87:8 Wherefore, stand ye in holy places, and be not moved, until the day of the Lord come; for behold, it cometh quickly, saith the Lord. Amen.

In Section 86, we learn that we will be surrounded by the wicked and the righteous until the day of the Lord.

In Section 87, He tells His Saints that they should stand in holy places until the day of the Lord.

Even though the Lord allows us to grow amongst wickedness, He asks us to stand where it’s holy.

How do we stand in holy places when much of the world around us isn’t holy? We cannot forever stand on temple grounds. We cannot stay in the chapel indefinitely. Even if we can turn our homes into sacred spaces, I don’t think it’s advisable to never leave your home.

In the guide to the scriptures, we learn that “Holiness indicates purity of a person’s heart and intent.”

THIS IS SO DANG COOL TO ME. It’s cool because wheat and tares look incredibly similar. You can’t really tell them apart in a field until they are fully ripe. And though wheat and tares look similar, what they truly are is hidden internally. Holiness is something that happens internally. When a place is holy, it’s because the things that are happening within that place are turned towards the Lord.

We can make ourselves a holy place. The space that we inhabit, the air that we breathe, can be a holy place if we are pure in heart and intent. We can stand in holy places by making ourselves holy.

How do we make ourselves holy? How do we purify our hearts and intent?

Get this. We weed out any of our personal tare tendencies.

Tare and wheat look similar. Sometimes we have traits that look Christlike but aren’t. Sometimes we do things that look Christlike but are not truly so.

For example, sometimes we serve and find resentment. Sometimes we go out and try to correct someone from a pedestal we’ve put ourselves upon. Sometimes we think we’re so wonderful for tolerating someone to their face, but find ourselves relieved when they’re gone because we haven’t taken the time to truly develop love for them. Christ felt true love. He didn’t tolerate people and then secretly rejoice when they left. And yet sometimes we think we’re being Christlike because we’re nice on the outside. We’re nice, but we’re not actually being Christlike. We’re not wheat. We are being tares, and we have to work to weed those tendencies out of ourselves.

As we extend ourselves to being truly Christlike, we become wheat. As we practice truly seeing others and loving them in our heart, we purify ourselves and become holy.

The Lord placed us in an environment that has plenty of tares. And though He placed us in an unholy environment, He asks us to stand in holy places. There are many ways to stand in holy places, but one of the best ways is to take holiness with us. We take holiness with us by weeding out the parts of ourselves that are not truly Christlike even if it mimics Christlike behavior.

I testify that as we shed those parts of ourselves that look like love but are not based in love, we will become a blessing to others and to ourselves. I’m an introvert. Being around people is often tiring for me. There have been plenty of times that I’ve been a tare, and I’ve just endured people until I could get some peace. However, as I truly engage and connect with others, I have found that those encounters are worth it even if I’m tired after. I’ve learned that the Lord is extremely willing to help us shed those tendencies. I testify that He stands ready to help purify us so that we can experience life as He does.

Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award.

The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Doctrine and Covenants 85-87 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

by Autumn Dickson

There is a reference to an Old Testament story found in the sections for this week. Let’s talk about the background and then read the verse.

In 2 Samuel, the Israelites are bringing the ark of the covenant back into Israel after an enemy nation had captured and released it. An oxen shook the ark of the covenant while they were crossing a river, and Uzzah touched it and tried to steady it even though no one was allowed to touch the ark. He was struck dead immediately next to the ark of the covenant.

Here is the verse in the Doctrine and Covenants.

Doctrine and Covenants 85:8 While that man, who was called of God and appointed, that putteth forth his hand to steady the ark of God, shall fall by the shaft of death, like as a tree that is smitten by the vivid shaft of lightning.

Around the time this verse was given, Edward Partridge and Joseph were disagreeing. Partridge thought the quality of land in Missouri was poor and didn’t want to buy it, and it took a while for him to reconcile with Joseph over the matter. This warning would have been to Partridge had he not repented. In 1834, Oliver Cowdery recorded that Joseph clarified that this verse didn’t apply to any individual. It was a warning to anyone.

So what is the warning?

Just like with any scripture story, there are a few different lessons. Elder Neal A. Maxwell taught that trying to direct God’s work without authority can bring spiritual death. We learn that good intentions aren’t sufficient to protect us. It teaches us that approaching God with a lack of immense reverence is dangerous. The ark of the covenant was a representation of God, and only the high priest (as a type of Christ) could approach that ark and only after a series of cleansing rituals.

This can be a tender spot for some who are struggling in the church. Our belief in a prophet who is led by God can create a sense of all or nothing when attempting to follow the church. And while I desperately hope for everyone to continue working out their salvation within the church, this is a legitimate warning. When we try to change things without authority or try to steady the ark when we think it’s out of balance, it really can bring spiritual death.

I have a friend who has left the church over the past few years. As I’ve had conversations with him about it, I have repeatedly heard the phrase, “I just don’t think God would do something like that.” This sentiment was repeated over and over. I often found myself internally asking, “Well, have you asked Him if He would do something like that?”

With the way the church is set up, it really boils down to whether it’s true or not. It’s hard to find a way around that sticking point. Either the prophet is led by God or he isn’t. Sure, we all receive personal revelation and the Lord can guide us about specific principles and policies in our lives. But, we also believe that the Lord only gives revelation to the prophet if He is trying to direct His church. Just like in the New Testament, the Lord didn’t teach every individual that the Law of Moses was completed and done away. He sent that revelation to Peter, the head of the church, and then people got to decide whether they would follow.

Just like with most people in the church, I have found myself struggling with doctrine, policy, and history. While I was growing up, I would often choose to ignore it and just keep going. As I got older, I decided I didn’t really want to do that anymore. If I couldn’t face these doubts head on and work it out with God, then I didn’t want to be a part of this. If these issues couldn’t stand up in the light, then why am I working so hard to follow the church?

When we are trying to figure out whether the prophet and church are led by God, we have to be ready to follow. That is one of the major keys here. If you want Him to answer you about the truthfulness, you have to be ready to lay aside your own thoughts and opinions in favor of His greater knowledge and wisdom. You have to be prepared to say, “I don’t understand, but I will trust that God does and I will follow Him until I do.” You have to be prepared to follow regardless of whether He tells you why He is working in a specific manner.

And so I often approach my struggles in this manner.

I work it out in my head first. When I run across something that I struggle with, I try to approach it head on. I try not to hide from that discomfort. I try to write everything I understand about God and eternal realities. I try to place what I don’t understand into the context of those eternal realities. Sometimes that has been enough to soothe the disquiet. Other times, I just feel more and more troubled.

This is when it’s time to go directly to the Lord.

I lay it all out for the Lord. I tell Him everything. I tell Him why I think it’s wrong or skewed or incorrect or faulty. I try to get to the root issue of what I’m really struggling with, and I take it all to Him.

And then I tell the Lord that I don’t know as much as He does. I tell Him that even if I don’t understand, I tell Him that I will choose to follow Him in faith and rejoicing. Sometimes He will help me understand, and sometimes He just tells me to keep following. Either way, I know that He’s got this. Maybe the time has not come for Him to change things. Maybe He will never change things because there are aspects that I do not understand with my limited knowledge. Maybe, maybe, maybe.

But there are two aspects that are not a “maybe.” God knows all, and He loves His children. I feel this in my bones. So if He says that I’m on the right track and if He tells me that this is where I need to be, I feel safe enough to do so. I have gotten to know God, and though I don’t understand all of His decisions, I understand His love and omnipotence and I am not afraid. I am excited for Him to show me all that He sees when He deems that it’s the right timing.

So when I feel that the ark is off balance, I have learned to steady myself rather than the ark. I have learned to let the Lord do His own work, and I’ve learned that the ark will be just fine. If I follow, I’ll make it across the river and home someday.

You don’t have to follow blindly. You don’t have to hide from scary doubts. You can work them out in your mind and do your best to understand them. But you can also get to know God. You can deeply internalize His love and omnipotence, and then you can go to Him. You can tell Him that you’re willing to follow where He leads because you have come to trust Him deeply. You can be willing to let go of what you don’t understand because you trust that He understands.

Everyone is going to have to work this out in their own lives. You have to receive that answer for yourself. Is the prophet truly being led by God? This can feel like a difficult answer when it seems like it conflicts with some deep part of you, but the conflict only exists because we do not see all that He sees. I can testify of His God’s love and omnipotence. I can testify that He isn’t betraying you or setting you aside. I can testify that He sacrificed everything so that no hurt would go unhealed. I also testify that He leads His prophet and church today.

Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award.

The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Doctrine and Covenants 85-87 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

by Autumn Dickson

There is a promise found in Section 84. And though it is specifically in relation to priesthood ordinations, I believe the promises we find there can apply to all of us. Here it is.

Doctrine and Covenants 84:33 For whoso is faithful unto the obtaining these two priesthoods of which I have spoken, and the magnifying their calling, are sanctified by the Spirit unto the renewing of their bodies.

There’s a lot of good stuff here. Sanctification by the Spirit is a huge part of receiving and magnifying a calling. Some might even say it’s the entire purpose of receiving and magnifying a calling. However, the specific portion I want to speak about is the “renewing of their bodies.” I find this to be a very unique promise that coincides with something I’ve been thinking a lot about lately.

Namely, the widow of Zarephath found in 1 Kings in the Old Testament. It is one of my absolute favorite scripture stories of all time which is probably why I’ve spoken about it on more than one occasion. The gist of the story is this.

There is a great famine in the land, and the widow of Zarephath only has enough food for one more meal with her son before they starve. The prophet Elijah is led to her door, and he promises her that her food will never run out if she feeds him first and then feeds herself and her son.

I think about that widow a lot. She didn’t have much to lose since they were already facing starvation. I think about how she chose to give out of what she didn’t really have. I think about how she must have felt when she looked at her son and made the decision to feed Elijah.

I also think about what happened after she fed Elijah. What happened right after? What happened the next day? What did this miracle look like?

Did she wake up to a full barrel? Or in the days that followed, was her barrel always full? Would it get replenished the second she took from it?

Or perhaps the miracle looked different. Maybe she opened that barrel the next morning, and it was full. Perhaps she emptied that barrel all the way to the bottom over time and when she arose the morning after emptying it, she found that barrel filled again.

Or maybe it looked even different than that. Maybe there was always just enough for the next meal. I think this option would have felt the scariest. Did it feel scary to open the lid every day and find an almost-empty barrel? Did she still feel adrift and worried? Or did she see the miracle and recognize that whether the barrel was completely filled up or not, it would never be empty?

This is a story that teaches a great many things. One of the things that it teaches is renewal.

When it comes to priesthood ordination or any kind of service you choose to do in the name of the Lord, there will be enough in the barrel. Because of the atonement of Jesus Christ, there can enough energy, time, resources, and love when you are magnifying your calling in His name. You can be renewed to do what needs to be done, what the Lord wants you to do.That doesn’t mean He will enable you to do everything, but there will be enough in the barrel for what He needs you to do. He will renew you for what you need done.

Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award.

The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Doctrine and Covenants 84 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

by Mike Parker

(Mike Parker is a long-time FAIR member who has graciously allowed us to use materials he originally prepared for the Hurricane Utah Adult Religion Class. The scripture passages covered in his lessons don’t conform exactly to the Come, Follow Me reading schedule, so they will be shared here where they fit best.)

Class Notes

Additional Reading

Ronald K. Esplin and Sharon E. Nielsen, “The Record of the Twelve, 1835: The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles’ Call and the 1835 Mission,” BYU Studies 51, no. 1 (2012): 4–52. This document, made available through the Joseph Smith Papers Project, is the earliest extant record of the activities of the modern Quorum of the Twelve.

Elder L. Aldin Porter, “A History of the Latter-day Seventy,” Ensign, August 2000, 15–20. Elder Porter reviews the organization and growth of the modern office of the Seventy.

“Race and the Priesthood,” Gospel Topics Essays. This scholarly article on the Church’s website explores the origins of the ban on ordaining men of African descent to the priesthood.

Edward L. Kimball, “Spencer W. Kimball and the Revelation on Priesthood,” BYU Studies 47, no. 2 (Spring 2008): 4–78. Edward L. Kimball discusses the chain of events that led his father, President Spencer W. Kimball, to seek revelation regarding changing the Church’s ban on ordaining black men to the priesthood. The article describes how President Kimball went about obtaining the revelation, how the revelation was spiritually confirmed to other leaders, and members’ reactions when the change was announced.

Lester E. Bush Jr., “Mormonism’s Negro Doctrine: An Historical Overview,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 8, no. 1 (Spring 1973): 11–68. This seminal article—which appeared before the 1978 revelation that reversed the Church’s ban on ordaining men of African descent to the priesthood—examines when the policy began and developed, and what scriptures were employed to explain it.

Elder Bruce R. McConkie, “All Are Alike unto God,” address in the Second Annual CES Symposium, 18 August 1978. Elder McConkie’s address came just two months after the 1978 revelation that extended the priesthood to men of African descent.

Mike Parker is a business and marketing analyst with over twenty years’ experience in the financial services and cellular telephone industries. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Management Information Systems from Dixie State University (now Utah Tech University) of St George, Utah. He also has eight years’ experience in corporate training and currently teaches an adult religion class in southern Utah. Mike and his wife, Denise, have three children.

The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – D&C sections 84, 107; Official Declaration 2 – Mike Parker appeared first on FAIR.

by Autumn Dickson

When I was growing up, I remember being worried about receiving revelation. How could I differentiate between His voice and my own internal voice? I know I wasn’t the only one who asked this question and as I’ve become an adult and occasional leader over the youth, I have heard that same question frequently.

I am not perfect at it, but I have learned to recognize a distinct feeling in my head when the Lord is trying to say something to me. When I start to receive that subtle, distinct feeling, I turn to my journal, start to write, and the Lord will often teach me something.

Elder Bednar once taught that it doesn’t matter whether it’s coming from the Lord or not. If something good pops into your head, you should follow it regardless of whether it’s an official prompting. I agree with him. If a thought pops into your head about serving someone or doing something uplifting, it doesn’t really matter whether the Lord is asking you to do it. Do it anyway.

But there are some cases when it is necessary to be able to discern between your own voice and the Lord’s.

For example, when Joseph Smith asked the Saints to pack up and leave their comfortable homes in New York for the rugged frontier in Ohio, it was probably pretty important that Joseph knew whether it was a commandment from the Lord or whether it was just something that popped into his head. I’m sure Joseph Smith could discern the Lord’s voice. I’m merely pointing out a situation in which it was pretty important to have that ability to discern.

There is a verse found in Section 84 that reminds me of one of the most powerful admonitions I have heard from President Nelson. The admonition is to hear Him. The verse is as follows.

Doctrine and Covenants 84:52 And whoso receiveth not my voice is not acquainted with my voice, and is not of me.

The definition of “acquainted” is to “make someone aware or familiar.” Are you aware of the Lord’s voice? Is it familiar to you?

How do we become aware of His voice? How do we become familiar with it? How do we become acquainted with how the Lord speaks to us?

Develop an awareness

There is a difference between an awareness that He is speaking to you and a familiarity of His voice. Developing an awareness that He is speaking to you is a matter of developing faith. It’s a matter of purposefully choosing to believe that He wants to talk to you. If you don’t believe the Lord would ever deign to talk to you, then you’re cutting off your ability to hear. You have to develop faith that He has something to say or you’re not going to listen and become aware.

Sometimes this faith is most easy to develop when you are seeking His voice on behalf of someone else. A grand majority of the revelation I receive from the Lord is when I’m seeking it on behalf of someone else. I’m studying a question that was posed to me. I’m studying it for my blog. I’m seeking answers for how to help my family or friends. The Lord has often spoken to me for my personal life, but it is usually in conjunction with the fact that I’m seeking it on behalf of someone I love. When I am seeking revelation to serve someone, it puts me in an uplifting mindset where I’m more sensitive to the Spirit, and it also helps my faith that the Lord would choose to speak to me. Maybe the Lord doesn’t have anything to say to me, but I know He’s going to be willing to help me help someone else.

So first develop an awareness of His voice. Believe that He is willing to speak to us. You have to believe that He is willing to speak if you’re ever going to become familiar with His voice. Once you believe that He’s willing to speak, awareness of His voice is a matter of checking in consistently.

Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award.

The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Doctrine and Covenants 84 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

by Autumn Dickson

Rather than talking about a specific verse from this week, I want to talk a bit more about context so that the verses we read are more powerful. Hearing the Lord speak about gospel principles is wonderful, but sometimes understanding the stories behind the principles He chooses to talk about make a big difference because it makes it more relatable. So let’s talk a bit about what’s happening in the lives of the people who the Lord is speaking to.

It is no secret that Emma and Joseph suffered much in their personal lives during the restoration of the Lord’s church. They buried several children, many of whom did not live past babyhood. For a moment, I want you to think about this timeline that is shared in the Institute Manual.

March 15 – Section 81 was given.

March 24 – Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon were taken by a mob and tarred and feathered.

March 29 – One of the adopted twins of Joseph and Emma died from measles.

April 1-24 – Joseph and other leaders travel to Missouri.

April 26 – Section 82 was given.

April 30 – Section 83 was given.

Joseph is tarred and feathered. Five days later his son dies. Two days later he leaves to go to Missouri. Emma is left behind after a traumatic couple of days.

The fact that Joseph preached to the Saints the day after being tarred and feathered, and the fact that he still followed the Lord’s command to go to Missouri after all of this is a sermon in itself. The fact that Emma stuck around is a sermon as well.

This is a strange analogy, but it’s the only way to explain what I’m picturing.

I picture this earth life as some kind of virtual reality game that we’re trying to conquer. We put on our helmets, and we’re put into this very intense training arena where we actually have very little control. Everyone can choose their own path. You are given a team, but some teams are effective and other teams are not. You receive little missions to accomplish, but there are so many obstacles. Sometimes those missions feel worthwhile, and sometimes you look back and think, “What was the point of all that effort?” The arena can be dangerous, disheartening, discouraging, devastating.

It feels so real, and that was the point; the Lord wanted to train you. It was meant to be real because anything less than a completely immersive experience would hinder your progression.

And this immersive experience is rough. You are actually quite limited in how missions go, and you are also quite limited in saving your team. Sometimes it feels like you’re pushing against this giant unmoving wall. Sometimes it feels like you’re losing more ground and more people than you’re gaining.

But in the end, it really is only a virtual reality game. Though it doesn’t feel like it, you are actually completely safe. Someday, when it’s time to take off the helmet, you’re going to look around and see that you were never truly in danger. You’re going to laugh at yourself for some of the things you’re stressed over. You’re going to rejoice that some of the things that were drowning you weren’t “real.” This was all just an intensive training experience that the Lord paid for. The Lord isn’t cruel. He didn’t look the other way when it seemed like the missions He gave were impossible. He didn’t send you on wild goose chases for nothing. He wasn’t permanently taking away things that uplifted you. He wasn’t just manipulating everyone like game pieces for His own glory or fun.

He was manipulating everything, but He was manipulating everything in order to try and train His children to become as powerful as possible.

Without the Savior’s atonement, this virtual reality experience would have trapped us and the stakes would have been impossible. You may have learned, but it would have all come to naught. It is the Savior’s atonement that enabled Him to make this training experience mean something, and our success literally boils down to whether we love Him and are trying. You can’t lose if you lean in and garner the experience He meant for you to have.

The devastation that Joseph and Emma experienced was real. What you’re feeling in your life is real. I’m not trying to make light of difficult situations or minimize what you’re going through. What I’m trying to do is place your pain in the context of eternity so that it doesn’t drown you. You can grieve and experience hope at the same time. You can lean into the immersive experience and trust the Lord’s plan, resources, and abilities. You can recognize that you didn’t step into this virtual reality to actually complete anything or save anyone. You didn’t step into this arena to feel safe or have the Lord take care of you. You don’t need the Lord to take care of everything in order to prove His love. Rather, the real and difficult immersive experience and readily available happy ending is the proof of His love.

You came because you wanted that growth that the Lord wanted you to have, and He is delivering it. Lean into the growth and accept the price you have to pay in order to gain that growth. Simultaneously recognize that the price you pay for that growth is paid back by the atonement of Jesus Christ. You lose nothing and gain everything because of a Savior whose purpose is rooted in love.

In the beginning before I described my analogy, I said that sometimes the Lord waits to ask us to do something when we’re drowning. Joseph could have very easily been drowning. He could have resented the Lord for what was asked of him in his deepest grief. And yet, the Lord didn’t ask it of Joseph because He’s cruel. It’s because when we’re drowning, it pushes us to more readily lean into Him where we find true safety. Sometimes we get to the point where we have no choice but to trust in Him. If we can remain in a state where we’re looking to Him and leaning on Him, this virtual reality experience will be at its most effective. It won’t wear us down or destroy us. We will know that everything that happens is a sign of His love as He coaches us through specific experiences to garner the characteristics we need to live like Him.

We have a Savior who loves us. Everything He and the Father arranged in this plan are signs of that love.

Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award.

The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Doctrine and Covenants 81–83 – Part 2 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

by Autumn Dickson

This week I’m talking a lot about context rather than any specific verses which is not usually my norm. However, I think that delving into the context of these sections is really important and can make the scriptures feel more rich. Just as we learn from the stories in our other books of scripture, we can learn more about the revelations from the Lord by studying when they were given. So here is some context for what we read this week.

Section 81 was originally given to a man named Jesse Gause who was called to serve as Joseph Smith’s counselor in the forerunner of what would eventually evolve into the First Presidency. When Gause was excommunicated, he was replaced by Frederick G. Williams. Gause’s name was also replaced by Williams’ name in the revelation that was given.

I wonder if it slightly bothered Frederick G. Williams when he didn’t get his own revelation upon being called. Please note that I’m not saying it should bother him; I just wonder if it did.

Imagine being in a ward where the bishop gets called and then moves six months later. A new bishop comes in, and the stake president is just like, “Here. We recorded the blessing for the last bishop. We’ll set you apart, but this blessing is just going to be yours now.”

Imagine going in to receive your patriarchal blessing and the patriarch recycles an old blessing he gave and inserts your name in it. Would you feel a little shafted? These are supposed to be individualized, right?

Now, I’m not sure that it bothered Williams at all. Maybe he didn’t think twice about it, but it can’t hurt to explore the concept and dig deeper.

Joseph Smith was receiving a lot of revelation during this time period. He probably could have easily received something just for Williams, but he didn’t. Have you ever felt skipped over at church? Have you ever felt like everyone else was receiving something special but you weren’t? Maybe it was a calling or a special experience. It could have been anything.

I have. I used to feel that way all the time. I remember having experiences where parents told me about how special the patriarchal blessings of their kids were. They talked about how it felt so powerful and singular, and I remember feeling very un-special.

I’m going to tell you a little secret that changed my life. When we seek to be set apart from others, to be singular, to receive something that no one else has received, we usually end up having the opposite experience. Trying to be more than others is an insatiable desire; you can temporarily please it but you can’t quench it. Maybe we don’t think we’re trying to be more; I certainly didn’t recognize it at the time, but I was. There was a comparison, and you can’t win with comparisons. No matter how things play out, you lose.

In my own life, those deep and unrelenting desires to be special were coming from a place of insecurity about my Heavenly Father’s love for me. Unfortunately, I wasn’t just trying to feel loved. I wanted to be more loved, probably in some mistaken belief that it would drive away the insecurity.

Luckily, the Lord is smarter than giving me what I want sometimes.

He could have given me something special. He could have given me some experience that no one else got to have to make sure that I knew that He knew me and that I was important to Him. He could have looked at me and worried about the insecurities and worried about the fact that I didn’t have a testimony of His love.

But He didn’t want to do that for a couple of good reasons. He didn’t communicate that I was more special because I’m not more special. It would be silly to tell me an untruth. He also didn’t give some overt, flamboyant sign of His love because it would have actually just fed the insecurity. You would think that I’d be able to take these huge signs of love and accept them. But in my experience, it simply doesn’t work. Think about it from a mortal perspective. You can make huge overtures of your love to someone, but until they’re ready to believe it, the signs you choose to give don’t change their insecurity.

Rather, He continued to feed me a healthy, quiet kind of love and left me to accept it. He never caved when I felt unloved, insecure, and assumed He was so angry with me. He just kept feeding me that unrelenting, reverent love and waited for me to finally accept it.

Drawing this back to Frederick G. Williams, I would have felt distraught over getting a recycled blessing that had originally been given to someone else. At the time that I was still seeking that unhealthy form of love, I would have let that circumstance speak to me, and it would have said, “You don’t really matter. You don’t even get your own blessing.”

I’ve learned a few things since my angsty teen years. The Lord does love me. I’m so important to Him even if that’s illogical. Nowadays, if I were to receive a recycled blessing, I would be able to quietly read it in gratitude. That gratitude would have enabled me to see the quiet, personalized messages He was sending. The recycled blessing would have been as personalized as I allowed. The help of the Spirit, love from our Heavenly Father, and my own belief in that love would have given me what I was seeking – a reassurance of His love for me.

The most interesting part about this experience is the fact that once I let go of comparison, once I let go of desperately seeking some inarguable sign that I was valuable, I was able to start seeing the small tokens of His love. If I had received a “recycled” blessing and chosen to let go of any whispers of insecurity, the experience of receiving this revelation would have been a sacred and treasured experience. Letting go of the need to have my own, I would have been able to read this blessing in a state of mind where the Spirit could whisper the personalized messages I needed to do my work to serve others.

Isn’t that ironic? Once I let go of trying to receive some ostentatious sign that I was special, I was able to see and receive those smaller, special messages that were meant for me at a specific time period in my life. And once I began appreciating and accepting those small, special messages, I have become convinced that I’m special to my Heavenly Father.

I testify that the Lord loves you. He recycles the same values, words, and lessons that He teaches everybody because He loves all of us. You’re not going to receive anything “new,” but I promise that you can receive something better, something that fills you up more.The need for something singular can be sinister. It can prevent you from receiving the healthy kind of love that sticks with you and fills in all of the cracks. I testify that the Savior loves you with a deep and abiding love and that His love is enough to fill you up, even if it’s not more than the love He gives to others.

Autumn Dickson was born and raised in a small town in Texas. She served a mission in the Indianapolis Indiana mission. She studied elementary education but has found a particular passion in teaching the gospel. Her desire for her content is to inspire people to feel confident, peaceful, and joyful about their relationship with Jesus Christ and to allow that relationship to touch every aspect of their lives. Autumn was the recipient of FAIR’s 2024 John Taylor Defender of the Faith Award.

The post Come, Follow Me with FAIR – Doctrine and Covenants 81–83 – Part 1 – Autumn Dickson appeared first on FAIR.

by Junior Banza and Jeffrey Bradshaw at the 2024 FAIR Conference

That’s fun to do this, because if you’re an academic, if you’re a professor, you talk for a living. So, you’re glib; you don’t have to know anything about what you’re talking about, but you can sound really convincing.

So that’s what I’m going to try to do here. I’ve been asked to chair this session, I guess because I’m the president of the Interpreter Foundation, and this project is really fascinating. The project that they’re going to be talking about is under the auspices of the Interpreter Foundation, so I’ll let them do that talking. Then we’ll see how this goes.

But I thought I would first introduce Jeff Bradshaw, who will then introduce Junior Bonza, and then we’ll get the ball rolling.

CONTINUED HERE

Junior Banza was born and raised in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. In October 1979, his parents joined the Church in Geneva, Switzerland, but they returned to the DR Congo soon afterward. Junior was baptized in June 1986 right after the Church was officially recognized there. As a young man, he began his full-time mission in the DR Congo Kinshasa mission and finished in Johannesburg, South Africa. Junior and his family live in West Jordan, Utah, where he works in the financial industry. He and his wife Annie are the parents of two daughters and a son. Department in efforts to encourage outreach and historical engagement.

Jeff Bradshaw is a vice president of the Interpreter Foundation and a Church service missionary for the Church History Department. See www.TempleThemes.net for his Church-related publications. Jeff and his wife, Kathleen, began to research and recount the stories of Church history in Africa during their first mission to the DR Congo in 2016. They have four children and sixteen grandchildren. Professionally, Jeff is a senior research scientist for the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition (www.ihmc.us/groups/jbradshaw).

The post Not By Bread Alone: Capturing the Inspirational Stories of the Saints in Africa on Film appeared first on FAIR.

by Mike Parker

(Mike Parker is a long-time FAIR member who has graciously allowed us to use materials he originally prepared for the Hurricane Utah Adult Religion Class. The scripture passages covered in his lessons don’t conform exactly to the Come, Follow Me reading schedule, so they will be shared here where they fit best.)

Class Notes

Additional Reading

Max H. Parkin, “Joseph Smith and the United Firm: The Growth and Decline of the Church’s First Master Plan of Business and Finance, Ohio and Missouri, 1832–1834,” BYU Studies 46, no. 3 (2007): 5–66. Parkin sheds light on how the United Firm was organized and operated and the role it played in early Church history.

David J. Whittaker, “Substituted Names in the Published Revelations of Joseph Smith,” BYU Studies 23, no. 1 (Winter 1983): 103–12. Whittaker explains Joseph Smith’s use of code names when he published the revelations related to the United Firm.

D. Michael Quinn, “Jesse Gause: Joseph Smith’s Little-Known Counselor,” BYU Studies 23, no. 4 (Fall 1983): 487–93.

Joseph Smith’s 27 November 1832 letter to William W. Phelps, an extract of which was canonized in 1876 as section 85.

Bill Shepard, “‘To Set in Order the House of God’: The Search for the Elusive ‘One Mighty and Strong’,” Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 39, no. 3 (Fall 2006): 18–45. Shepard traces the various interpretations of and claimants to the “one mighty and strong” mentioned in D&C 85:7.

First Presidency statement on the “One Mighty and Strong,” Improvement Era 10, no. 12 (October 1907): 929–43. This statement—written and signed by Presidents Joseph F. Smith, John R. Winder, and Anthon H. Lund—suggests two possible interpretations of D&C 85:7.

Mike Parker is a business and marketing analyst with over twenty years’ experience in the financial services and cellular telephone industries. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Management Information Systems from Dixie State University (now Utah Tech University) of St George, Utah. He also has eight years’ experience in corporate training and currently teaches an adult religion class in southern Utah. Mike and his wife, Denise, have three children.

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