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

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 be a faithful Latter-day Saint. Each of us will be tested.” This week’s material is a great lesson on boldness, standing up for the truth and being faithful when it is not too popular.

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 have the setting down pat, but what about the setting in our hearts—if King Benjamin were to send a text message to all of us, desiring to know if WE believed the words which he has spoken to US, what would be our answer?  And what would be our proof?

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.

March 30-April 12

I love the season of spring.  I love the newness of life.  I love the crocus, 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 things are created and made to bear record of [Jesus Christ]…things which are on the earth, and things which are in the earth, and things which are under the earth, both above and beneath: all things bear record of [Him].” (See Moses 6:63) What an exciting thing to talk about this week: the newness of life that comes and the celebration of Easter—the atoning sacrifice, death and resurrection of our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.

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 listening to this on the Sabbath—or it might be some other day of the week—either way, let’s just sit down together and talk.

March 23-29

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, that you 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 learn about prayer from Enos in his book.

March 16-22

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 thought it did.  We’ll tell you all about it.

March 9-15

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 2-8

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 31-33, have we possibly missed some critical teachings for our own spiritual progress?  Let’s study together and see what we can find out.