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

November 13-19

Of the three men named James in the New Testament, which one wrote the Book of James? And another question: Is James actually a Hebrew name anyway?

November 6-12

When I was in college, my great desire was to develop an unshakeable faith, and so I tried many things. I went up the canyon hoping to be alone with God and pray for an hour, but I ran out of things to say in ten minutes. Then, a speaker came to my college ward who struck me as a woman with wonderful faith, and so I asked if I could go visit with her at her home and if she could teach me what she knew. But things began to open up for me when I read what Paul wrote in the magnificent Hebrews 11 about faith. Let’s explore today.

October 30-November 5

Who wrote the epistle to the Hebrews—Paul or somebody else? It has been a centuries old debate that Joseph Smith had an answer for.

October 23-29

What would you say to your beloved friends and followers if you knew this was the last time you would ever speak to them?  Such is the case with 2 Timothy as Paul has his last words penned by a scribe from a dungeon in Rome.  Paul’s words to Timothy, and of course from his other letters, would change the entire world.

October 16-22

We have many sicknesses today in our tumultuous world, but Paul aptly labels one of the most pervasive and contagious. We’ll call it the “shaken in mind” syndrome. Being “shaken in mind” is as deadly as it sounds, like something that would make you really sick. It is where stillness and stability and a sure foundation have fled. 

October 9-15

Paul’s letters, or the Pauline epistles, are arranged in the New Testament in descending order of their length—with the exception of The Book of Hebrews.  These 14 letters comprise 173 pages, just about 43% of the entire New Testament.  This week we will be looking at the small epistle of Paul to the Philippians—those converts living in Philippi in the region of Macedonia, Greece and another even smaller epistle to the Colossians—those living in Colossae, a celebrated city of Phrygia just 100 miles east of Ephesus in modern day Turkey. And we will be looking at one particular very wonderful thing Paul taught:  “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.”

October 2-8

What does it mean to be a “stranger in the world”? That’s a lonely idea, right up there with one of the saddest words in our language—homeless.  Paul tells the Gentile converts, “Now, therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the Saints” (Ephesians 2:19). Being a stranger in the world is what it means to be without Christ in our journey. A stranger in the world is exiled from Him and from home. That would be lonely, indeed.

September 25-October 1

The Book of Galatians is little known among us.  It’s only 6 chapters, in 149 verses and a total of 3,084 words.  Can we glean some eternal lessons from this brief letter of the Apostle Paul?  We certainly can!  In today’s podcast we will draw out some of Paul’s teachings that we think will bless all of our lives.

September 18-24

In this book of 2 Corinthians we come nearest to the inner feelings of Paul than in any other of his writings. As one writer said, here Paul reveals his “joy and depression, anxiety and hope, trust and resentment, anger and love.” We see his human qualities. Some writers have suggested that one of the best words to describe 2 Corinthians is that it is a defense. What would Paul have to defend? We'll discuss that this week.

Septebmer 11-17

This mortal experience was never meant to be easy—it was meant to be a school—but a school full of joy and wonderful learning.  Paul wrote to the Corinthians:  We are troubled on every side (have you ever felt that way?), yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.” (See 2 Corinthians 4: 8-9) Paul sounds like he is talking to us in our day—not to the people living in Corinth in the 1st Century A.D.  Or was he talking to both?  Let’s explore this together.