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 this great work, if you have felt those wonderful feelings of the Spirit in your life, if you came to know something was true at some point in your life; can you feel so now?  Let’s explore Alma’s teachings together.

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 faithful Latter-day Saint. Each of us will be tested.” (Nelson, Russell M., The Future of the Church: Preparing the World for the Savior’s Second Coming, Ensign, April 2020.)

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 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 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.