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Gospel Doctrine: Signs of Destruction

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This week’s lesson talks about signs of the second coming. The apostles ask Jesus about the signs for three events – the destruction of the temple, the Second Coming of Christ, and the end of the world (JS-Matthew 1:4). The Savior provides His answer in the remainder of the chapter. The chapter, incidentally, is the Joseph Smith translation of Matthew 24. I digress because I had an absolutely horrible time finding the chapter, and grew very frustrated – not a good attitude to have just before scripture study. It is not located with the rest of the Joseph Smith translations; … Continue reading →

Gospel Doctrine: Glad Tidings of Great joy

Walk with me, if you will, through an imaginary world that thankfully never existed. Imagine that, after your death, the devil rose up and claimed your soul with evil glee. “But,” you insisted, “I tried. I learned from my mistakes. I tried each day to do better. I served God with all of my heart and intent. I wasn’t perfect, but I was the best person I could be.” And the devil said to you, “It does not matter. The first time you sinned, you became mine.” And he dragged you down into a pit of despair and endless misery. … Continue reading →

Gospel Doctrine: The Gospel Light the World Did Not Comprehend

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One of the things I really love about breaking down the Sunday School scripture study is that it means I can really take the time to relish and pursue different avenues of exploration, rather than simply reading the lesson. When I have several days to read a few chapters or verses, I can involve myself in the footnotes and other resources that I might have available. The down side, of course, is that I only get through a handful of verses at a time, but hey, you can’t have everything. Today, it took me pretty much my whole 30 minutes … Continue reading →

Scripture Study: 1 Nephi 10:1-10

Lehi has related his dream of the tree of life to his family, and Nephi has taken a moment to explain that these plates are those upon which he is enscribing the more spiritual things and that the other plates he is keeping will be for the more political things of his people. 1. And now I, Nephi, proceed to give an account upon these plates of my proceedings, and my reign and ministry; wherefore, to proceed with mine account, I must speak somewhat of the things of my father, and also of my brethren. 2. For behold, it came … Continue reading →

Two Women of Galilee – Mary Rourke

In the Book of Luke, 8:1-3, we read: “And it came to pass afterward, that he went throughout every city and village, preaching and shewing the glad tidings of the kingdom of God, and the twelve were with Him. And certain women . . . and Joanna, the wife of Chuza Herod’s steward . . . and many others, which administered to him of their substance.” Who was Joanna, and how did the wife of Herod’s steward come to be a follower and supporter of Jesus Christ? This is the question posed and fictionally answered in Mary Rourke’s novel, “Two … Continue reading →

RS/EQ: Serving God Through Eternity

The second section in the President Kimball lesson manual centers on the eternal mission of Christ. Though we usually think of Christ’s time on earth as the primary substance of His mission, we must keep in mind that, like all of Heavenly Father’s spirit children (that’s us), He existed before the creation of the world, and will continue to exist long after. During that time, He continuously obeys the will of God and keeps Him as a primary focus. As Latter-day Saints, we know that Christ was Jehovah of the Old Testament. He organized the physical world we live on … Continue reading →

RS/EQ: Why Does God Let Tragedies Happen?

After my daughter started crawling, I had to resist the urge to rescue her all the time. This proved significantly harder with her than with the other two because she was the first. When she slipped, when she fell, when she strained for something just out of reach, my maternal instincts screamed for me to rush to her aid. Over and over again, I repeated to myself that she needed these slipups, these errors, these trials to grow and develop. After all, if I held her hand every step of the way, she would never learn to walk on her … Continue reading →