I just want to say a sincere thank you for helping me see FINALLY!! why President Nelson has been stressing the gathering of Israel. The covenant is our whole purpose. Helping God get each child back to Him. What a grand mission and purpose!!
I can't help but feel that an important part of President Nelson's ministry has been to improve the "covenant consciousness" of all the members of the Church. This episode is such an important contribution to that effort. I'm so grateful for it.
Love these podcasts!!! They are so enlightening! I want to give a special shout out to the Sorenson’s and all the behind-the-scenes people who provide this precious resources! Thanks! Thanks!! Thanks!!!
Elder Bednar’s talk at the devotional on tuesday “works” really well with this podcast. We are the work that the Lord is engaged in and our works help him do His work … Gathering the House of Israel.
Thank you for the message hat our wayward kids are not cast off forever. We have every reason to be hopeful. God is mighty to save. We can love them . Love is so powerful. God loves his children.
Thank you again Dr. Sears, Hank and John! I learned so much from this podcast. Dr. Sears is my most favorite guest. All guests bring truth and goodness, but I guess with Dr. Sears I feel I am sitting am at the knees of a consummate teacher. Together, this week you provided new lenses to see covenants, the Book of Mormon and the Bible, the restoration of people not things, and appreciation for God’s long game. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I know this podcast takes much time, preparation, energy and resources. Please know THOUSANDS of us are very grateful for your efforts because you help and bless our lives.
I love the discussion at the end that links saving a people to saving an individual and I think this really highlights how important the temple is- because the “people” as a group are restored, and the “things” that are restored in the restoration for the purpose of saving individuals, that culminate with the temple, the “people” can now go to the temple and offer these covenants to every individual who has ever lived. What a glorious plan, God is so good! And as an added bonus, doing the temple “work” helps to change us to be more like the Savior (because we are doing His work), and it is through this change (that He helps us accomplish) that He is then able to save us personally. Everything comes full circle, it’s beautiful.
Brother Sears, Thank you for mentioning your Grandfather. He was a wonderful man. We lived out of their hometown but always tried to go to their ward for the Fourth of July celebration. Everyone gathered to show such respect for our country; he was their homegrown hero. and honored by all. He is, I'm certain, so proud of you and your work spreading knowledge about the gospel. I learn so much from your visits to this series. Thanks also, Hank, John, and the Sorenson family.
Just a wonderful insightful message! Will listen again and take notes. The explanation of the relationship of the Abrahamic covenant and the Book of Mormon was a new concept to me and the hope for our wayward loved ones to be brought back to the Lord , has just made all the difference to me, thank you so much, Br Sears, Hank and John, a great lesson !
Thank you so much for this wonderful podcast in general, and for this episode in particular! For years I have felt puzzled while reading about Jesus's visit to the Nephites in 3 Nephi. It's awesome when He descends from heaven and meets the people one by one. It made sense to me that He defined His doctrine, called 12 apostles, shared His Sermon on the Mount, instituted the sacrament, blessed the children, etc. But I didn't understand why He then spoke so much about the scattering and gathering of Israel, the Gentiles and the house of Israel. To me, this just didn't seem that pertinent to the Nephite audience. But, thanks to this podcast, I now understand that Jesus was filling the Nephites' record (that would eventually become the Book of Mormon) with plain and precious information about the Abrahamic covenant--information He knew would be lost from the Bible by the latter days. This information needed to be recorded in a book of scripture that would endure, unadulterated, into the latter days. I am so grateful to finally understand this. Thank you so much!
You’re all wonderful!! Watching your podcasts for 4 years now has changed my life & increased my gospel knowledge & strengthened & stretched my testimony of my covenantal relationship with my Savior & God. Please tell us what the Bednar talk was Dr. Sears referred to.
I have been so fed again. I’m so grateful the Lord always remembers what he has promised❣️ I hope at some point I will be like Him and remember all he teaches us and wants us to know and remember all 😊
Thank you, Dr. Sears, Hank and John. I read the Book of Mormon twice in 2023 focusing on covenants. I am so much better prepared to study it this year with greater understanding of covenants and the crucial role The Book of Mormon plays in restoring covenant understanding in this dispensation. You have strengthened my testimony of this book.
Thank you so much Dr. Sears and Follow Him team! I felt the Spirit and learned so much about my covenant relationship with God. I get so excited when I see that Dr. Sears is on because I learn so much!
So fantastic! I want to and will listen to this over and over again. I felt the spirit strongly while listening to Dr. Sears. His understanding and clarification and explanation is so wonderful and helpful. Thank you a thousand times over!
This was a wonderful discussion! Thank you so much, Dr. Sears, what a flowing wealth of knowledge and insight you have. And always thank you Hank and John, you also bring such clarity. I appreciate the brilliant people that you bring on to you podcast.
This has become our favorite CFM podcast.. So many nuggets. I look forward to these every week. Add a teenager I grew up listening to John Bytheway cassette tapes for teenagers so he has a special place in my heart always. Love the humor, love all the insights❤❤❤
Enjoyed with a balanced enthusiasm, every sentence and paragraph the whole episode. Those who explain these doctrines from the Scriptures are as the stars in the heavens shining all over the world bringing people bacb and bringing in the new to believers. I thrive as greater insights are explained.
I found this episode amazing. I really learned a lot. I especially liked how Dr. Sears talked about the wording of the original Book of Mormon and explained how it opened Nephi's vision that Jehovah is to be the future Christ and that he is the son of Elohim.
I might not have paid enough attention, but I have never heard this information about covenants! It makes so much sense! Thank you so much. That truly is the reason there was the great apostasy!
What an amazing episode!!!! Dr. Sears is truly one of my favorites. Such a spiritually gifted teacher and person! He had me in tears many times. Thanks you for all your time and efforts in blessing so many lives. 😇🙏🏼
Thank you all for enhancing my studies in marvelous ways. I am so grateful! God bless you for sharing your insights, years of study and testimony in helping me grow.
This week's lesson, like those before, is amazing at the incredible insights you and your guests have brought to us. I really appreciate the understanding, Dr. Joshua Sears shared at the end...that those we love who have strayed from the path, even because of their own choices, are not necessarily lost forever! That gives me great hope. Thank you again, ALL who are involved in bringing this wonderful program to us. I knew this was going to be a GOOD year of study... but already you both and your guests are making this a GREAT YEAR OF LEARNING!❤
Awesome presentation! I love the way I was enlighten by the guest explanations about the Lord’s covenants with his children. Thank you Dr Sears, Thank you Hank and John. You are the digital preachers of this latter days. God bless you all for your amazing work.!!
AMAZING! I loved re-visiting this podcast. 1 Ne 11-15! Thank you for sharing ' the meat' of these chapters/verses and expanding my understanding! I love learning from those who teach and not just ask questions, therefore letting the class do the teaching. I could listen all day! ❤
Thank you so very much!!! Questions answered. Blessings received. I’m so grateful for these sessions. May Heavenly Father bless all of you associated with making these available ❤️🙏 58:20
My best friend Peggie is serving a senior mission in The Laoag Philippines. I sent her your podcast and she absolutely loves listening. She has said that it lifts her spirits and that your podcasts have been a huge blessing while she's serving. She has even gone back to listen to the podcasts from years past from the Old Testament and D&C . She would be absolutely thrilled if you could give her a shout out in the Philippines on your next podcast 🙏🩷
All the discussion about the apostasy and it's root cause being a loss of an understanding of our covenant relationship with God reminds me of President Nelson's emphasis and challenge for us to study and understand our role in the Abrahamic covenant. Our understanding of our role as participants in the covenant is fundamental to our anchor in the gospel.
So many thoughts today. I am actually sharing a small portion of them... I frequently have this thought run through my mind. Not as an excuse, but as a source of hope. "There is NOTHING we can break that God can't fix". To build on that, a breaking and a repairing IS covenant.
Impressive,most Impressive! Two things: I've always seen the key plain and precious truth the BoM teaches us that is taken from the Bible is the principle of the Resurection, and keying on that concept my 2nd thought is this vision was similar to Joseph seeing God & Jesus, where Nephi finds out that the Messiah is and actual person(w/ a body) and is the "Son of God in the flesh" Amazing lesson!
I loved the analogy at the end @53:12 where Dr Sears compares his grandfather's Alzheimer's to how we are sometimes (doing things that we wouldn't of we understood who we really are): "spiritual Alzheimers."
I enjoyed the teaching about covenant consciousness and I can see why the gentiles -or new Christians would feel like the Jews lost their covenant because they crucified the Covenant-Giver and totally left the covenant, thus paving the way for the Christian’s to take it over. That can show us how bound God is to covenants and to us that make them.
I had a thought the other day about "the man", (13:12) often thought to be Columbus. I'm not sure he comes to mind for me. There were others like Amerigo Vespucci, but maybe he is a composite of all who traveled here. Secondly, maybe “the (unnamed) man” who discovers the promised land is unnamed because he represents me or you and anyone who is separated from God and is reconciled through baptism (repentance), etc. and “travels” across "the waters" to the promised land, “joining the seed of my family” here and in eternity. I always look at possible symbolism in the Book. I think many times there is more than one interpretation. That is the beauty of the scriptures, particularly the Book of Mormon. It is drenched in symbolism.
Hank & John the Book of Mormon was delivered to Joseph Smith on Sept. 22, 1827. That was the Jewish feast of Trumpets. That was the when the Rabah blew the trumpet to signel the last harvest. The last harvest of the house of Israel!!
This really helps . The Christian’s right now who are gentiles who believe they are adopted in and that Israel is no more the covenant people . And Israel is still the covenant people to gather Israel . Not gentiles .
This is why Enoch sees “righteous from heaven and truth from the earth” to gather the elect from the four corners of the earth-The Book of Mormon is the tool prepared for the gathering and the restoration of the covenant.
I appreciated that they acknowledged that the covenants to the House of Israel (made thousands of years ago) were the most important part of the message from Christ as detailed in 3rd Nephi. However, the restoration (different from the gathering) is not understood by the Church generally, and this is a problem, because it will effect us all so greatly in just a few short years when the Lord's host comes to redeem Zion. I encourage everyone to diligently study the book "A Remnant Shall Return" by Michael Rush. The Spirit has made it clear to me, that he has a gift of prophecy that they Lord gave to him in order to help us understand what the Restoration of the 10 tribes will actually entail. If you will have a soft heart and open mind, I believe you will come to the same understanding.
The fact that the D& C 84 identities The Book of Mormon as the New and Everlasting covenant supports Jesus’s teaching the Nephites to write down what he teaches them, so the world will know the importance of the Abraham Covenant yet to be fulfilled. To restore the world’s covenant consciousness.
I think the tree in Jacob 5 and the tree of Lehi and Nephi’s visions is the same tree; the one (Jacob) is the tree in its current state and the other is the tree in the future. God is in the process of turning the one into the other.
Wow if you want to know the most important thing that ever happened to in this earth in this latter Day it is the restoration of the gospel . In the restoration. Of the gospel our church history most all things are full filled with. No wonder the gospel could not even be started until the Book of Mormon was printed . The Book of Mormon is the gathering .
Thanks you guys for sharing your love for the Gospel and sharing your many talents. Josh talked about a paper written by Jennifer C. Lane in titled "Presence of the Lord" I went to RSC as Josh said but I couldn't find it under her name. Could you help me find it. THANKS. (Life is Good) Maybe you can't help me because I am not on Facebook or Instagram! I have followed you guys ever since you started your podcast. In fact I have a list of every guest you have on your program.
14:13-16 I have read this as potentially in 3 periods of time. I think I usually considered it pre to early United States era. But today I read it and felt like it applied to today, right now) as much as any time in the past. Am I off, or is that valid?
Have any of you personally lost a child in a way that makes regaining that child extremely unlikely? We're constantly given these messages of, "They can always repent, so don't be sad." But then we're told that there will be deep sadness and that not everyone will make it, and we're constantly reminded that nothing and no one trumps agency. The mixed messages aren't remotely helpful for those who have lost a child to deliberate wickedness, especially a child raised in the gospel who knows full well what he or she is doing. Yes, statistically there's always "a chance" that a child will return but, if you have a child like Laman and Lemuel and you know you do, there's not much comfort in the gospel. It's pretty stark. I'm so tired of hearing things from people who have no clue what some children can choose, and are choosing, and how unlikely it is given their personalities and characters and life-long histories, that things will end well. It's just not remotely helpful to sit in church week after week and hear the things people say on this topic.
It's been my observation that few families in and out of our faith are idyllic. I personally hold to the thought that God loves each family member and knows them far better than we do. Because of that love and understanding, he is not just the God of second chances, He is the God of thousands of chances. Elder David A. Bednar addressed your very concern in "Faithful Parents and Wayward Children" (Ensign Magazine, March 2014). He borrows from President James E. Faust, who provided a very comprehensive explanation. It's long but worth the read. “I believe and accept the comforting statement of Elder Orson F. Whitney: “‘The Prophet Joseph Smith declared-and he never taught more comforting doctrine-that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return. They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins; and may tread a thorny path; but if it leads them at last, like the penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father’s heart and home, the painful experience will not have been in vain. Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God.’ “A principle in this statement that is often overlooked is that they must fully repent and ‘suffer for their sins’ and ‘pay their debt to justice.’ I recognize that now is the time ‘to prepare to meet God’ [Alma 34:32]. If the repentance of the wayward children does not happen in this life, is it still possible for the cords of the sealing to be strong enough for them yet to work out their repentance? In the Doctrine and Covenants we are told, ‘The dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances of the house of God. “‘And after they have paid the penalty of their transgressions, and are washed clean, shall receive a reward according to their works, for they are heirs of salvation’ [D&C 138:58-59]. “We remember that the prodigal son wasted his inheritance, and when it was all gone he came back to his father’s house. There he was welcomed back into the family, but his inheritance was spent. [See Luke 15:11-32.] Mercy will not rob justice, and the sealing power of faithful parents will only claim wayward children upon the condition of their repentance and Christ’s Atonement. Repentant wayward children will enjoy salvation and all the blessings that go with it, but exaltation is much more. It must be fully earned. The question as to who will be exalted must be left to the Lord in His mercy. “There are very few whose rebellion and evil deeds are so great that they have ‘sinned away the power to repent.’ That judgment must also be left up to the Lord. He tells us, ‘I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men’ [D&C 64:10]. “Perhaps in this life we are not given to fully understand how enduring the sealing cords of righteous parents are to their children. It may very well be that there are more helpful sources at work than we know. I believe there is a strong familial pull as the influence of beloved ancestors continues with us from the other side of the veil."
Oh yes, I have children and grandchildren who have left the path in big and dramatic ways. It has been the most painful thing in my life, more painful than the death of my husband, my baby, my parents and 2 siblings. But this episode confirms what I believe and hang on to. God’s love and His plan is bigger than all our messes. If what was said in this episode can’t give you hope, I don’t know what will.
I haven't lost a child (yet), but I have lost my parents. My dad killed my mom and then took his own life. It took me two decades of striving to understand covenant doctrine to take their names to the temple and be sealed to them. What I learned during that time and can testify to you now is that the Lord's plan is eternal and this mortality is only a blip in that eternal time that our spirits have to learn. They have the opportunity to continue to grow and learn after this life, without the influence of the demons that plagued them here. They still get to choose what they will choose. Some spirits just don't want celestial responsibility. They don't feel comfortable in that space. We don't have to think on that because it is not our place to judge where we think they we go. All the kingdoms are greater than we can imagine with our mortal minds. Jesus gets to be the one the stand by their sides, talk through with them what their destiny will be, advocate for them, and love them perfectly. We get to love them the best our mortal heats and minds can, learn how the gospel works, offer them covenants, and have joy when we see them, and we are all in our perfected state.
I also have had a similar experience. I have, after years of tears and pain, now realize each of us will be resurrected to a glory that will bring us maximum happiness. My maximum happiness and joy may be different with a different address than another’s happiness and joy that I love and hold dear.
I have been concerned about the statement that Dr. Sears made about Nephi not knowing that Jesus is the Son of God, that he only knew Jesus as Jehovah. I could see how that is possible- that the knowledge of the Father and Son could have been lost. But if Lehi had the brass plates from Genesis on, the family would have known this information even if it had been lost from their current teachings. Jacob 4:5 states clearly they knew of both the Father and the Son. I appreciate all the wonderful he has taught but I do need to not believe that particular teaching.
I thought everyone was a gentile until they got bapitized . So Joseph Smith and his family of course are gentiles . But once they are baptized and organize the church aren’t they then Israelites ? But at first when they were gentiles they brought the truth to all the world . Is that what you mean ? I need to watch this many times .
I just want to say a sincere thank you for helping me see FINALLY!! why President Nelson has been stressing the gathering of Israel. The covenant is our whole purpose. Helping God get each child back to Him. What a grand mission and purpose!!
I can't help but feel that an important part of President Nelson's ministry has been to improve the "covenant consciousness" of all the members of the Church. This episode is such an important contribution to that effort. I'm so grateful for it.
Love these podcasts!!! They are so enlightening!
I want to give a special shout out to the Sorenson’s and all the behind-the-scenes people who provide this precious resources! Thanks! Thanks!! Thanks!!!
Elder Bednar’s talk at the devotional on tuesday “works” really well with this podcast. We are the work that the Lord is engaged in and our works help him do His work … Gathering the House of Israel.
Thank you for the message hat our wayward kids are not cast off forever. We have every reason to be hopeful.
God is mighty to save. We can love them . Love is so powerful. God loves his children.
I have learned so much from this one. Dr. Sears blessed with a gift for speaking with power and making it so simplified at the same time.
Thank you Dr. Sears for clarifying the Abrahamic Covenant/The Law of Moses! What a monumental insight to the Book of Mormon.
Thank you again Dr. Sears, Hank and John! I learned so much from this podcast. Dr. Sears is my most favorite guest. All guests bring truth and goodness, but I guess with Dr. Sears I feel I am sitting am at the knees of a consummate teacher. Together, this week you provided new lenses to see covenants, the Book of Mormon and the Bible, the restoration of people not things, and appreciation for God’s long game. Thank you, thank you, thank you! I know this podcast takes much time, preparation, energy and resources. Please know THOUSANDS of us are very grateful for your efforts because you help and bless our lives.
Stunned by the power and generosity of the quote from Elder Uchdorf!
I am so happy you have Dr. Sears on again! Please have him on all the time if possible. He is a brilliant teacher.
I love the discussion at the end that links saving a people to saving an individual and I think this really highlights how important the temple is- because the “people” as a group are restored, and the “things” that are restored in the restoration for the purpose of saving individuals, that culminate with the temple, the “people” can now go to the temple and offer these covenants to every individual who has ever lived. What a glorious plan, God is so good! And as an added bonus, doing the temple “work” helps to change us to be more like the Savior (because we are doing His work), and it is through this change (that He helps us accomplish) that He is then able to save us personally. Everything comes full circle, it’s beautiful.
The best, clearest come follow me podcast out there!!!! So real and practical and gives us a definite path to understanding!!
I felt the tender heartedness of Dr. Sears as he taught us in this podcast.......thank you for your humble brilliance........
Very interesting! Thanks so much for clarifying the importance of the Abrahamic covenant.
Absolutely wonderful lesson! So hopeful. So encouraging! Absolutely loved it! Thank you all so much! ❤️🇨🇦
I LOVE LOVE LOVE this episode! Thank you all.
Just so absolutely wonderful. I have learned so much. My testimony has been strengthened and I want to dive into the Book of Mormon and learn.
My prayers will be changed forever! Letting God be in charge and ask him to let me know how to help him get HIS kids back!❤
Another triumph you two. What a terrific guest. This is one to hear again and again. . .
Thank you so much! Your shows are always insightful, but this one was especially special.
What an amazing God we have who has bound Himself to us by covenant!
This adds so much clarification, and also so much hope for everyone who worries about loved ones who have left the covenant path.
I’m so grateful for Dr Sears and this podcast. Thankyou
Wow! What a thrilling episode!
Brother Sears, Thank you for mentioning your Grandfather. He was a wonderful man. We lived out of their hometown but always tried to go to their ward for the Fourth of July celebration. Everyone gathered to show such respect for our country; he was their homegrown hero. and honored by all. He is, I'm certain, so proud of you and your work spreading knowledge about the gospel. I learn so much from your visits to this series. Thanks also, Hank, John, and the Sorenson family.
Beautiful thought provoking discussion. Thank you.
Love your insights Dr. Sears. From the Philippines with Love.
I learned something wonderful today....I love it when I learn. Thank you, very much.
Just a wonderful insightful message! Will listen again and take notes. The explanation of the relationship of the Abrahamic covenant and the Book of Mormon was a new concept to me and the hope for our wayward loved ones to be brought back to the Lord , has just made all the difference to me, thank you so much, Br Sears, Hank and John, a great lesson !
Thank you so much for this wonderful podcast in general, and for this episode in particular! For years I have felt puzzled while reading about Jesus's visit to the Nephites in 3 Nephi. It's awesome when He descends from heaven and meets the people one by one. It made sense to me that He defined His doctrine, called 12 apostles, shared His Sermon on the Mount, instituted the sacrament, blessed the children, etc. But I didn't understand why He then spoke so much about the scattering and gathering of Israel, the Gentiles and the house of Israel. To me, this just didn't seem that pertinent to the Nephite audience. But, thanks to this podcast, I now understand that Jesus was filling the Nephites' record (that would eventually become the Book of Mormon) with plain and precious information about the Abrahamic covenant--information He knew would be lost from the Bible by the latter days. This information needed to be recorded in a book of scripture that would endure, unadulterated, into the latter days. I am so grateful to finally understand this. Thank you so much!
You’re all wonderful!! Watching your podcasts for 4 years now has changed my life & increased my gospel knowledge & strengthened & stretched my testimony of my covenantal relationship with my Savior & God. Please tell us what the Bednar talk was Dr. Sears referred to.
This was soooo good.
This was AMAZING!! Thank you so much!
I have been so fed again. I’m so grateful the Lord always remembers what he has promised❣️ I hope at some point I will be like Him and remember all he teaches us and wants us to know and remember all 😊
Thank you, Dr. Sears, Hank and John. I read the Book of Mormon twice in 2023 focusing on covenants. I am so much better prepared to study it this year with greater understanding of covenants and the crucial role The Book of Mormon plays in restoring covenant understanding in this dispensation. You have strengthened my testimony of this book.
Fantastic lesson thanks brothers!
Thank you so much Dr. Sears and Follow Him team! I felt the Spirit and learned so much about my covenant relationship with God. I get so excited when I see that Dr. Sears is on because I learn so much!
I am blown away with this concept of the plain and precious things being the Abrahamic Covenant! Wow! Thank you so much!
So fantastic! I want to and will listen to this over and over again. I felt the spirit strongly while listening to Dr. Sears. His understanding and clarification and explanation is so wonderful and helpful. Thank you a thousand times over!
This was a wonderful discussion! Thank you so much, Dr. Sears, what a flowing wealth of knowledge and insight you have. And always thank you Hank and John, you also bring such clarity. I appreciate the brilliant people that you bring on to you podcast.
This has become our favorite CFM podcast.. So many nuggets. I look forward to these every week. Add a teenager I grew up listening to John Bytheway cassette tapes for teenagers so he has a special place in my heart always. Love the humor, love all the insights❤❤❤
I am sooooo grateful for this eye opening connection to the Abrahamic covenant. It made my week. Lots to ponder. Thank you,❤❤
Enjoyed with a balanced enthusiasm, every sentence and paragraph the whole episode. Those who explain these doctrines from the Scriptures are as the stars in the heavens shining all over the world bringing people bacb and bringing in the new to believers.
I thrive as greater insights are explained.
Covenant consciousness! Wow, I love it! Thank you!
I feel so much light from this discussion. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience.
I found this episode amazing. I really learned a lot. I especially liked how Dr. Sears talked about the wording of the original Book of Mormon and explained how it opened Nephi's vision that Jehovah is to be the future Christ and that he is the son of Elohim.
I might not have paid enough attention, but I have never heard this information about covenants! It makes so much sense! Thank you so much. That truly is the reason there was the great apostasy!
What an amazing episode!!!! Dr. Sears is truly one of my favorites. Such a spiritually gifted teacher and person! He had me in tears many times. Thanks you for all your time and efforts in blessing so many lives. 😇🙏🏼
Thank you all for enhancing my studies in marvelous ways. I am so grateful! God bless you for sharing your insights, years of study and testimony in helping me grow.
Thank you for all the wonderful discussions, It is so helpful to understanding The Book of Morman.
Great lesson, you always shed new light on the scriptures. Helps me understand so much better. Thank you ❤
This has been wonderful and so uplifting. Thank you
This week's lesson, like those before, is amazing at the incredible insights you and your guests have brought to us. I really appreciate the understanding, Dr. Joshua Sears shared at the end...that those we love who have strayed from the path, even because of their own choices, are not necessarily lost forever! That gives me great hope. Thank you again, ALL who are involved in bringing this wonderful program to us. I knew this was going to be a GOOD year of study... but already you both and your guests are making this a GREAT YEAR OF LEARNING!❤
A huge thank you to Follow Him and Dr. Sears! Incredibly enlightening and clarifying session. This is one I'll listen to multiple times.
Love this podcast
Awesome presentation! I love the way I was enlighten by the guest explanations about the Lord’s covenants with his children. Thank you Dr Sears, Thank you Hank and John. You are the digital preachers of this latter days. God bless you all for your amazing work.!!
AMAZING!
I loved re-visiting this podcast.
1 Ne 11-15! Thank you for sharing ' the meat' of these chapters/verses and expanding my understanding!
I love learning from those who teach and not just ask questions, therefore letting the class do the teaching.
I could listen all day! ❤
Thank you You have no idea how much good you do by sharing the gospel with church members and all who watch these videos.
Thank you so very much!!! Questions answered. Blessings received. I’m so grateful for these sessions. May Heavenly Father bless all of you associated with making these available ❤️🙏 58:20
So good and inspiring ❤ thank you
My best friend Peggie is serving a senior mission in The Laoag Philippines. I sent her your podcast and she absolutely loves listening. She has said that it lifts her spirits and that your podcasts have been a huge blessing while she's serving. She has even gone back to listen to the podcasts from years past from the Old Testament and D&C . She would be absolutely thrilled if you could give her a shout out in the Philippines on your next podcast 🙏🩷
This is so timely and has given me much needed hope. Thank you all! ❤️
Mind blown! I thought I knew the BOM, but complete paradigm shift now!
Great guest! Always excited to learn from Dr. Sears! This podcast was so packed I listened twice. Thank you!
Thank you!
All the discussion about the apostasy and it's root cause being a loss of an understanding of our covenant relationship with God reminds me of President Nelson's emphasis and challenge for us to study and understand our role in the Abrahamic covenant. Our understanding of our role as participants in the covenant is fundamental to our anchor in the gospel.
Funny - our study of our covenant with God is like an endless law class on contracts 😂
That sounded negative. I mean it in an ironic and humorous way 😜
So many thoughts today. I am actually sharing a small portion of them... I frequently have this thought run through my mind. Not as an excuse, but as a source of hope. "There is NOTHING we can break that God can't fix". To build on that, a breaking and a repairing IS covenant.
Wow! Just incredible. All of this episode (parts 1 & 2), but the last 30 minutes were incredibly powerful. Thank you!
Impressive,most Impressive! Two things: I've always seen the key plain and precious truth the BoM teaches us that is taken from the Bible is the principle of the Resurection, and keying on that concept my 2nd thought is this vision was similar to Joseph seeing God & Jesus, where Nephi finds out that the Messiah is and actual person(w/ a body) and is the "Son of God in the flesh" Amazing lesson!
I loved the analogy at the end @53:12 where Dr Sears compares his grandfather's Alzheimer's to how we are sometimes (doing things that we wouldn't of we understood who we really are): "spiritual Alzheimers."
I enjoyed the teaching about covenant consciousness and I can see why the gentiles -or new Christians would feel like the Jews lost their covenant because they crucified the Covenant-Giver and totally left the covenant, thus paving the way for the Christian’s to take it over.
That can show us how bound God is to covenants and to us that make them.
Thank you!
Thanks!
Thank you
I had a thought the other day about "the man", (13:12) often thought to be Columbus. I'm not sure he comes to mind for me. There were others like Amerigo Vespucci, but maybe he is a composite of all who traveled here. Secondly, maybe “the (unnamed) man” who discovers the promised land is unnamed because he represents me or you and anyone who is separated from God and is reconciled through baptism (repentance), etc. and “travels” across "the waters" to the promised land, “joining the seed of my family” here and in eternity. I always look at possible symbolism in the Book. I think many times there is more than one interpretation. That is the beauty of the scriptures, particularly the Book of Mormon. It is drenched in symbolism.
I really needed to hear this!
Hank & John the Book of Mormon was delivered to Joseph Smith on Sept. 22, 1827. That was the Jewish feast of Trumpets. That was the when the Rabah blew the trumpet to signel the last harvest. The last harvest of the house of Israel!!
This really helps . The Christian’s right now who are gentiles who believe they are adopted in and that Israel is no more the covenant people . And Israel is still the covenant people to gather Israel . Not gentiles .
This is why Enoch sees “righteous from heaven and truth from the earth” to gather the elect from the four corners of the earth-The Book of Mormon is the tool prepared for the gathering and the restoration of the covenant.
I appreciated that they acknowledged that the covenants to the House of Israel (made thousands of years ago) were the most important part of the message from Christ as detailed in 3rd Nephi. However, the restoration (different from the gathering) is not understood by the Church generally, and this is a problem, because it will effect us all so greatly in just a few short years when the Lord's host comes to redeem Zion. I encourage everyone to diligently study the book "A Remnant Shall Return" by Michael Rush. The Spirit has made it clear to me, that he has a gift of prophecy that they Lord gave to him in order to help us understand what the Restoration of the 10 tribes will actually entail. If you will have a soft heart and open mind, I believe you will come to the same understanding.
The fact that the D& C 84 identities The Book of Mormon as the New and Everlasting covenant supports Jesus’s teaching the Nephites to write down what he teaches them, so the world will know the importance of the Abraham Covenant yet to be fulfilled. To restore the world’s covenant consciousness.
Love it!
I think the tree in Jacob 5 and the tree of Lehi and Nephi’s visions is the same tree; the one (Jacob) is the tree in its current state and the other is the tree in the future. God is in the process of turning the one into the other.
So good!❤
Can you please share the reference for the Jack Welch quote? Many thanks for a great episode
Wow if you want to know the most important thing that ever happened to in this earth in this latter Day it is the restoration of the gospel . In the restoration. Of the gospel our church history most all things are full filled with. No wonder the gospel could not even be started until the Book of Mormon was printed . The Book of Mormon is the gathering .
Thanks you guys for sharing your love for the Gospel and sharing your many talents. Josh talked about a paper written by Jennifer C. Lane in titled "Presence of the Lord" I went to RSC as Josh said but I couldn't find it under her name. Could you help me find it. THANKS.
(Life is Good) Maybe you can't help me because I am not on Facebook or Instagram! I have followed you guys ever since you started your podcast. In fact I have a list of every guest you have on your program.
14:13-16 I have read this as potentially in 3 periods of time. I think I usually considered it pre to early United States era. But today I read it and felt like it applied to today, right now) as much as any time in the past. Am I off, or is that valid?
Sermon on a mount is the temple indoument.
So, I wonder if Laman and Lemuel might repent at some point.
Where may I find a good discussion about the differences and similarities between the Abrahamic Covenant and the New and Everlasting Covenant, please?
I like the concept of "spiritual alzheimers"
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I am lost
What chapter are reading from
How can I get a print version of thid podcast?
Everyone makes her or his own choice
Have any of you personally lost a child in a way that makes regaining that child extremely unlikely? We're constantly given these messages of, "They can always repent, so don't be sad." But then we're told that there will be deep sadness and that not everyone will make it, and we're constantly reminded that nothing and no one trumps agency. The mixed messages aren't remotely helpful for those who have lost a child to deliberate wickedness, especially a child raised in the gospel who knows full well what he or she is doing. Yes, statistically there's always "a chance" that a child will return but, if you have a child like Laman and Lemuel and you know you do, there's not much comfort in the gospel. It's pretty stark. I'm so tired of hearing things from people who have no clue what some children can choose, and are choosing, and how unlikely it is given their personalities and characters and life-long histories, that things will end well. It's just not remotely helpful to sit in church week after week and hear the things people say on this topic.
It's been my observation that few families in and out of our faith are idyllic. I personally hold to the thought that God loves each family member and knows them far better than we do. Because of that love and understanding, he is not just the God of second chances, He is the God of thousands of chances. Elder David A. Bednar addressed your very concern in "Faithful Parents and Wayward Children" (Ensign Magazine, March 2014). He borrows from President James E. Faust, who provided a very comprehensive explanation. It's long but worth the read.
“I believe and accept the comforting statement of Elder Orson F. Whitney:
“‘The Prophet Joseph Smith declared-and he never taught more comforting doctrine-that the eternal sealings of faithful parents and the divine promises made to them for valiant service in the Cause of Truth, would save not only themselves, but likewise their posterity. Though some of the sheep may wander, the eye of the Shepherd is upon them, and sooner or later they will feel the tentacles of Divine Providence reaching out after them and drawing them back to the fold. Either in this life or the life to come, they will return. They will have to pay their debt to justice; they will suffer for their sins; and may tread a thorny path; but if it leads them at last, like the penitent Prodigal, to a loving and forgiving father’s heart and home, the painful experience will not have been in vain. Pray for your careless and disobedient children; hold on to them with your faith. Hope on, trust on, till you see the salvation of God.’
“A principle in this statement that is often overlooked is that they must fully repent and ‘suffer for their sins’ and ‘pay their debt to justice.’ I recognize that now is the time ‘to prepare to meet God’ [Alma 34:32]. If the repentance of the wayward children does not happen in this life, is it still possible for the cords of the sealing to be strong enough for them yet to work out their repentance? In the Doctrine and Covenants we are told, ‘The dead who repent will be redeemed, through obedience to the ordinances of the house of God.
“‘And after they have paid the penalty of their transgressions, and are washed clean, shall receive a reward according to their works, for they are heirs of salvation’ [D&C 138:58-59].
“We remember that the prodigal son wasted his inheritance, and when it was all gone he came back to his father’s house. There he was welcomed back into the family, but his inheritance was spent. [See Luke 15:11-32.] Mercy will not rob justice, and the sealing power of faithful parents will only claim wayward children upon the condition of their repentance and Christ’s Atonement. Repentant wayward children will enjoy salvation and all the blessings that go with it, but exaltation is much more. It must be fully earned. The question as to who will be exalted must be left to the Lord in His mercy.
“There are very few whose rebellion and evil deeds are so great that they have ‘sinned away the power to repent.’ That judgment must also be left up to the Lord. He tells us, ‘I, the Lord, will forgive whom I will forgive, but of you it is required to forgive all men’ [D&C 64:10].
“Perhaps in this life we are not given to fully understand how enduring the sealing cords of righteous parents are to their children. It may very well be that there are more helpful sources at work than we know. I believe there is a strong familial pull as the influence of beloved ancestors continues with us from the other side of the veil."
Oh yes, I have children and grandchildren who have left the path in big and dramatic ways. It has been the most painful thing in my life, more painful than the death of my husband, my baby, my parents and 2 siblings. But this episode confirms what I believe and hang on to. God’s love and His plan is bigger than all our messes. If what was said in this episode can’t give you hope, I don’t know what will.
I haven't lost a child (yet), but I have lost my parents. My dad killed my mom and then took his own life. It took me two decades of striving to understand covenant doctrine to take their names to the temple and be sealed to them. What I learned during that time and can testify to you now is that the Lord's plan is eternal and this mortality is only a blip in that eternal time that our spirits have to learn. They have the opportunity to continue to grow and learn after this life, without the influence of the demons that plagued them here. They still get to choose what they will choose. Some spirits just don't want celestial responsibility. They don't feel comfortable in that space. We don't have to think on that because it is not our place to judge where we think they we go. All the kingdoms are greater than we can imagine with our mortal minds. Jesus gets to be the one the stand by their sides, talk through with them what their destiny will be, advocate for them, and love them perfectly. We get to love them the best our mortal heats and minds can, learn how the gospel works, offer them covenants, and have joy when we see them, and we are all in our perfected state.
I also have had a similar experience. I have, after years of tears and pain, now realize each of us will be resurrected to a glory that will bring us maximum happiness. My maximum happiness and joy may be different with a different address than another’s happiness and joy that I love and hold dear.
Hmmmmm read every word of every scripture… THE LORD ISNT THE SAVIOUR UNTIL HE HAS SAVED !!!
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Choices
I have been concerned about the statement that Dr. Sears made about Nephi not knowing that Jesus is the Son of God, that he only knew Jesus as Jehovah. I could see how that is possible- that the knowledge of the Father and Son could have been lost. But if Lehi had the brass plates from Genesis on, the family would have known this information even if it had been lost from their current teachings. Jacob 4:5 states clearly they knew of both the Father and the Son. I appreciate all the wonderful he has taught but I do need to not believe that particular teaching.
I thought everyone was a gentile until they got bapitized . So Joseph Smith and his family of course are gentiles . But once they are baptized and organize the church aren’t they then Israelites ? But at first when they were gentiles they brought the truth to all the world . Is that what you mean ? I need to watch this many times .