Come Follow Me 2020

Anxiously, I am waiting for the 2020 Come Follow Me curriculum to begin.

I am starting to read the new guide, today.  Therefore, I am reminded of this old blog from 2013-2015. And have decided to reignite it as I begin a new journey through the Book of Mormon. I am well aware that my loved ones pretty much ignored my prior requests to partake of the Book of Mormon, much less look at my commentary.  Nevertheless, here goes.

Ezra Taft Benson stated:
It is not just that the Book of Mormon teaches us truth, though it indeed does that. It is not just that the Book of Mormon bears testimony of Christ, though it indeed does that, too. But there is something more. There is a power in the book which will begin to flow into your lives the moment you begin a serious study of the book. You will find greater power to resist temptation. You will find the power to avoid deception. You will find the power to stay on the strait and narrow path. The scriptures are called ‘the words of life’ (D&C 84:85), and nowhere is that more true than it is of the Book of Mormon. When you begin to hunger and thirst after those words, you will find life in greater and greater abundance” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Ezra Taft Benson [2014], 141).


The ability to resist temptation: This is one of the unexplainable powers I have discovered from reading the Book of Mormon.  This influence has strengthened me when I have been spiritually devoid and without a reservoir of resolve on my individual accord.

Yes, study of the Book will bring an even greater power.  However, just reading will be cause a groundswell of power in our lives.  

Week 15

Ether 7 - Moroni 10
Pages 499-531

The conclusion of the Book of Mormon.  What a journey!


After his father's death, Moroni shares these tender words from from Mormon:

My beloved son, Moroni, I rejoice exceedingly that your Lord Jesus Christ hath been mindful of you, and hath called you to his ministry, and to his holy work.

 I am mindful of you always in my prayers, continually praying unto God the Father in the name of his Holy Child, Jesus, that he, through his infinite goodness and grace, will keep you through the endurance of faith on his name to the end.
Moroni 8:2-3

What more would a parent want for their children?

 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.

 4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost.

 5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

Moroni 10:3-5


With all my heart, I likewise exhort each of us to gain and treasure up a testimony of these things and then to continue in the right way that we may then become truly converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Week 14

3 Nephi 28 - Ether 7
Pages 463-498

From the conclusion of the personal ministry of Jesus Christ, we watch the rise and fall of the Nephite society.  The death of Mormon and the rise of the Jaredites.



"ye are redeemed from the fall; therefore you are brought back into my presence"
Ether 3:13

Week 13

3 Nephi 10  - 3 Nephi 28
Pages 427-462

The crown of the Book of Mormon experience is the personal visit of the Lord Jesus Christ to the Nephites at the temple in the land of Bountiful. The topics the Savior address that particularly touched me on this reading include His admintion to avoid contention and disputations on the points of the doctrine and perfomances of the ordinances of the gospel as there hitherto have been. The other is his admonition to pray.  That we pray in our families is so vital.

Thus we see

One of the great terms used by Mormon is "Thus we see" or "and we see".   Through this teaching method In various places, after chronicling the occurrence of events, Mormon will draw together lessons one may learn as a result of certain actions.  I find this fascinating and always look for these distinct moments.

Two Examples:

2 Yea, and we may see at the very time when he doth prosper his people, yea, in the increase of their fields, their flocks and their herds, and in gold, and in silver, and in all manner of precious things of every kind and art; sparing their lives, and delivering them out of the hands of their enemies; softening the hearts of their enemies that they should not declare wars against them; yea, and in fine, doing all things for the welfare and happiness of his people; yea, then is the time that they do harden their hearts, and do forget the Lord their God, and do trample under their feet the Holy One--yea, and this because of their ease, and their exceedingly great prosperity.

3 And thus we see that except the Lord doth chasten his people with many afflictions, yea, except he doth visit them with death and with terror, and with famine and with all manner of pestilence, they will not remember him.

Helaman 12:2-3

13 And thus we see how great the inequality of man is because of sin and transgression, and the power of the devil, which comes by the cunning plans which he hath devised to ensnare the hearts of men.

14 And thus we see the great call of diligence of men to labor in the vineyards of the Lord; and thus we see the great reason of sorrow, and also of rejoicing--sorrow because of death and destruction among men, and joy because of the light of Christ unto life.

Alma 28:13-14

Week 12

Helaman 9- 3 Nephi 10

 Pages 391-426

 A great upheaval of the Nephite society occurs during this period of time as chronicled by Mormon.  The church and the government of the land are broken up.  These events did not come without many prophetic utterances...

From Samuel the Lamanite...


to the birth..


and the crucifixion of the Savior of the world...

Week 11

Alma 58 - Heleman 9

Page 356-390

And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall.

Helaman 5:12

The experiences of sons of Helaman named Nephi and Lehi are amazing.  The miracles surrounding them were the catalyst for the conversion of many Lamanites to the gospel so much so that the Lamanites were largely more rightous, as the Nephites had become overrun by the secret combinations brought forth by the band of the Gadianton robbers.