June 30-July 6 Joseph Smith was tasked by the Lord to do something rather unique for a backwoods, upstate New York farmer now living in Northern Ohio. The Prophet Nephi had seen a vision some two thousand four hundred years before that many of the plain and precious things which were in the Bible had been taken out by the great and abominable Church, and because those plain and precious things were taken away, “an exceedingly great many do stumble, yea, insomuch that Satan hath great power over ...
Jun 27, 2025•35 min•Season 7Ep. 26
June 23-29 By November 1831, Joseph had received 65 revelations, and it was time to publish them. He told the brethren at the conference he convened that the contents of this book should “be “prized by this Conference to be worth to the Church the riches of the whole Earth.” In a world where men’s best ideas can never be more than puny and inadequate compared to the knowledge of God, these modern revelations were beyond a treasure. Think what it means to have a glimpse into the mind and will of ...
Jun 20, 2025•39 min•Season 7Ep. 25
June 16-22 Many years ago, I read Les Misérables, by Victor Hugo: the unabridged version which is 1,463 pages long. Next to the scriptures, it was the greatest reading experience of any book I have ever had. I became so close to the characters, Jean Valjean, Monsieur Charles-François-Bienvenu Myriel—the Bishop of Digne (‘deen’), Fantine, Cosette, Gavroche, Marius, Javert and many others that I wept for a long time after I finished the book because I was so sad, I would not be able to meet them i...
Jun 14, 2025•34 min•Season 7Ep. 24
June 9-15 This week we will be talking about some of those early elders who had traveled a thousand miles to get to Western Missouri, had fulfilled a small mission, held a special conference, had dedicated the land of Zion and a temple site in Independence, Missouri, and now, they were turning around and making their way back the thousand miles to Kirtland. You can learn a lot in 2,000 miles of walking in a wilderness land, and here’s what the Lord wanted these elders to know.
Jun 09, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 7Ep. 23
June 2-8 Can you imagine living in a world where people did not hurt each other or become angry or divided? Can you imagine families with total harmony and marriages with no contention? Can you imagine a world where everyone watched out for each other and people were there to help you when you needed it? Can you imagine a place so pure that God could be there? It may sound too good to imagine, but that is the Zion that the Lord envisions for us and that’s what we hope to build.
May 30, 2025•36 min•Season 7Ep. 22
May 26-June 1 I grew up on a beautiful spread of woods and meadows near Rolla, Missouri. We had about 230 acres with our house up on the south hill overlooking a beautiful valley. A small stream called Spring Creek ran through the bottomlands and a narrow gravel road led from our home to the access road of old Highway 66. The view was so peaceful and beautiful. One late afternoon I stood outside with my Dad in our front yard looking over all of this beauty. Dad was a noted professor at the Unive...
May 23, 2025•31 min•Season 7Ep. 21
May 19-25 When you read Doctrine and Covenants Sections 49 and 50, it helps to have the rest of the story. Why should you care about Leman Copley or the Shakers and what’s this talk about false spirits? We will have some fun and give you the context in this episode.
May 18, 2025•35 min•Season 7Ep. 20
May 12-18 “We must remember that to every man [or woman] is given a gift by the Spirit of God. It is our right and responsibility to accept our gifts and to share them. God’s gifts and powers are available to all of us.” (Ashton, Marvin J., There are Many Gifts, General Conference, October 1987) Each of us has at least one spiritual gift. Some people have many, but the Prophet Joseph Smith had them all. We will learn about them in this episode.
May 12, 2025•38 min•Season 7Ep. 19
May 5-11 The Second Coming is a topic of endless speculation for us, especially in light of the social unrest and wars and rumors of wars that mark our time. President Russell M. Nelson has spoken often of the Savior’s Second Coming in words like these from the October 2024 General Conference. “The best is yet to come, my dear brothers and sisters, because the Savior is coming again! The best is yet to come because the Lord is hastening His work. The best is yet to come as we fully turn our hear...
May 02, 2025•37 min•Season 7Ep. 18
April 28-May 4 We live in a time when the Church of Jesus Christ has been well established and we are used to talking in terms of large numbers, general conferences translated into scores of languages simultaneously, missionaries serving in diverse countries all over the world and the Kingdom of God on the earth organized unlike any worldly entity. We are used to thinking in terms of the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Church Headquarters, the Conference Center, Temple Squar...
Apr 28, 2025•34 min•Season 7Ep. 17
April 21-27 Robert Matthews said, “Many have supposed that the translation of the Bible [what we call the JST] was only a sideline, a matter of personal, but passing interest to the Prophet Joseph.” We agree that too many misunderstand the importance of this work. How many in the Church understand what the JST is or use it regularly? But, as Matthews said, to neglect or ignore that is mistaken. “Joseph Smith was commanded of the Lord to do this great work; that it was central to the Restoration,...
Apr 18, 2025•35 min•Season 7Ep. 16
April 14-20 This week we are studying that magnificent gift the Savior gave to us in the atonement and resurrection.
Apr 11, 2025•42 min•Season 7Ep. 15
April 7-13 Parley Parker Pratt was 16 months younger than the Prophet Joseph and he was born about 140 miles east of Palmyra, New York. Parley was born curious about religion. He said to his father one day when he was 18 years old and they were laboring together in the forest: "Father, how is it there is so manifest a difference between the ancient and modern disciples of Jesus Christ and their doctrines? If, for instance, I had lived in the days of the Apostles, and believed in Jesus Christ, an...
Apr 04, 2025•39 min•Season 7Ep. 14
March 31-April 6 By the time Section 29 of the Doctrine and Covenants was given, the fledgling Church was just over five months old. Rumors and false claims were circulating faster than convert numbers. What a strategic time for the adversary of all righteousness to attack the young flock and scatter them as fast as he could—to try to stop this little flock from growing. The Church only had less than 100 members. Can we even imagine this? Most who are listening to this podcast are from a ward or...
Mar 28, 2025•34 min•Season 7Ep. 13
March 24-30 In August of 1830, Newel Knight and his wife Sally visited Joseph and Emma in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Since neither woman had yet been confirmed, they agreed to perform the ordinance and have the sacrament together. Joseph set out to buy some wine for the occasion, when after he had traveled only a short distance, he was met by a heavenly messenger with a new instruction. The Church was rolling forth with understanding coming line upon line.
Mar 21, 2025•37 min•Season 7Ep. 12
March 17-23 After the sacred gathering of nearly four dozen Saints in the Whitmer Home in Fayette, New York on Tuesday, April 6, 1830, this tiny band was given the commission to take the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to all the world. What an overwhelming task! How could so few bless so many? And yet, the Lord knew who He was calling and what various converts would do. One eager young man, twenty-two-year-old Samuel Harrison Smith, younger brother of the Prophet Joseph, stepped forward and vol...
Mar 14, 2025•40 min•Season 7Ep. 11
March 10-16 When that group of 40 or more gathered in the 20 by 30-foot Whitmer cabin that April 6, 1830 to organize the “only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:30), they could not have entirely foreseen what lay ahead for this church that would, as the prophet Daniel said, “roll forth to fill the whole earth” (See Daniel 2: 31-45), but they did know they were about a great work inspired by God Himself. Let’s take you to that scene in this episode...
Mar 07, 2025•35 min•Season 7Ep. 10
March 3-9 Martin Harris found himself in a tight spot when he agreed to put up the money to pay for the printing of the Book of Mormon. He began to have doubts and “stagger in confidence” at the amount of debt he was entering into, whose payback would depend entirely on sales of the Book of Mormon. He was a wealthy and respected farmer in Palmyra. He had repented of his sins and become one of the Three Witnesses, but now he was putting up his farm as collateral and everything was at stake. What ...
Feb 28, 2025•35 min•Season 7Ep. 9
February 24-March 2 The Doctrine and Covenants is a book full of affirmations that individuals count—that each of us is important in the sight of God. Message after message is to individuals, some we have heard of like Oliver Cowdery or Hyrum Smith, and some to less familiar people like Leman Copley or Northrop Sweet, but then the Lord often adds this note: What I say unto one, I say unto all. But if that is not enough to let us know WE count; He gives us these 12 words in our lesson this week: ...
Feb 21, 2025•33 min•Season 7Ep. 8
February 17-23 I love the natural unfolding of the restoration. Much of what happens is a result of questions that come to the minds of Joseph and Oliver in the course of the translation of the record. The more carefully you study the translation and the coming forth of the Book of Mormon, the more you are amazed at the gift and power of God that was given to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery as they translated the record. These are two very young men: Joseph is 23 and Oliver is 22 years old!...
Feb 14, 2025•1 hr 13 min•Season 7Ep. 7
February 10-16 As you read the Doctrine and Covenants, section 10 seems out of place chronologically. Since it talks about Martin Harris and the translation of the 116 pages, shouldn’t it come after Section 3? What happened? We’ll tell you in this episode.
Feb 07, 2025•37 min•Season 7Ep. 6
February 3-9 Just a few months after the 116 manuscript pages of the Book of Lehi were lost, a young man arrived in Manchester, New York. He had dark brown eyes, a slight build, a prominent lower jaw, high forehead and, as one described, a roman nose. He was hired to be a teacher in New York’s Joint District 11. The small frame schoolhouse was located just about a mile south of the Joseph and Lucy Mack Smith Farm on Stafford Road. In this first teaching job, he had 107 little “scholars.” Little ...
Feb 03, 2025•34 min•Season 7Ep. 5
January 27-February 2 Joseph does not shy away from humbly including Section 3 in the Doctrine and Covenants, where he is severely chastened by the Lord for a failing. He could have hid it or polished it up to preserve his image, but because he is so honest, we not only get to see firsthand, the spiritual development of a prophet, but he also gives us all a deep teaching: “You should not have feared man more than God” (Doctrine and Covenants 3:7).
Jan 27, 2025•33 min•Season 7Ep. 4
January 20-26 Do we know every scripture that Moroni told Joseph Smith on his September 21 visit in 1823? Our first answer is, “They are listed right here in Joseph Smith’s history.” Yet Oliver Cowdery told us there are many more. And here’s another surprise—all but two are from the Old Testament.
Jan 17, 2025•37 min•Season 7Ep. 3
January 13-19 In every dispensation of the world a witness is called to testify to the people of that day and age that he has seen God and has talked with Him and has received instructions and guidance from Him. That witness is called to testify in his day that God lives, that He is real, that He cares about His children, that He hears and answers our prayers and that He has a work for us to do. Faith comes and is increased by listening to and heeding the testimony of that witness. In our day, i...
Jan 10, 2025•38 min•Season 7Ep. 2
January 6-12 Hasn’t this been a glorious year in carefully studying the Book of Mormon as individuals and families? Did you notice time and time again that the lesson for that week was just the answer you needed for yourself, your family or for the current situation in the world? Have you found that you have drawn closer to Christ in this past year of study? It’s hard to leave our intense Book of Mormon studies behind, but we are now given the immense privilege of studying the Doctrine and Coven...
Jan 03, 2025•35 min•Season 7Ep. 1
December 23-29 Hello and welcome to Meridian Magazine’s “Come Follow Me” Christmas podcast. We are Scot and Maurine Proctor and we love to celebrate the real reason for the season. Our gifts to each other are just symbols of the real gift.
Dec 23, 2024•31 min•Season 6Ep. 53
December 16-22 I think it’s fascinating that Moroni starts out chapter 10 by saying that he’d like to send these words to his brethren, the Lamanites. That is a fascinating view of Moroni’s heart. He has seen the Lamanites completely destroy his nation. Because of the Lamanites, he remains alone. Because of the Lamanites, his father has been killed and all of his kinfolk and family are dead. Now, despite all this, he writes this most important message to his brethren, the Lamanites. How can any ...
Dec 17, 2024•36 min•Season 6Ep. 52
December 9-15 Moroni Chapter 7 is a powerful sermon on faith, hope, and charity given by Mormon, but when? You can’t help but wonder. He was born in AD 310, was made a general at the age of 16 and knew war most of his life until he had seen his whole nation destroyed. Was this sermon given at the time when he gave up leading the army? Isn’t it fascinating that there were still enough faithful followers of Christ that he could preach in a synagogue? Who were these people and did they become wicke...
Dec 06, 2024•35 min•Season 6Ep. 51
December 2-8 Moroni did not know when he would die, attacked by Lamanites or some other deadly surprise, in his 36-year wandering. He tells his latter-day readers goodbye more than once on the plates. Yet even living with that insecurity, not knowing his own mortal future, Moroni trudges on with absolute faith.
Nov 29, 2024•34 min•Season 6Ep. 50
