“A Catholic Reads the Book of Mormon”

30 Jun 2026- “A Catholic Reads the Book of Mormon”
Notes:

Jacob 6:

Interpretation of the allegory of the tame and wild olive trees

Doctrine of Christ-

• Faith
• Repentance 
• Baptism
• Gift of the Holy Ghost
• Endure to the End

Calling and Election-
The Prophet Joseph Smith (1805–44) outlined the process by which one obtains this promise: “After a person has faith in Christ, repents of his sins, and is baptized for the remission of his sins and receives the Holy Ghost, (by the laying on of hands), … then let him continue to humble himself before God, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, and living by every word of God, and the Lord will soon say unto him, Son, thou shalt be exalted. When the Lord has thoroughly proved him, and finds that the man is determined to serve Him at all hazards, then the man will find his calling and his election made sure, then it will be his privilege to receive the other Comforter, which the Lord hath promised the Saints, as is recorded in the testimony of St. John” (History of the Church, 3:380).

Blessings & Adversity-Whenever anything spiritual in our lives takes place, there’s always that great chance that the adversary will counter it in someway:

• Joseph Smith being attacked by the adversary before God the father and his son Jesus Christ descended 
• First Vision 

God is my friend’: What we can learn from how Joseph Smith dealt with adversity

2Nep 28:20

For behold, at that day shall he (Satan) rage in the hearts of the children of men, and stir them up to anger against that which is good.

07 September 2025

Feeling impressed to post the following:

———

“And to each of you who has made temple covenants, I plead with you to seek—prayerfully and consistently—to understand temple covenants and ordinances. Spiritual doors will open. You will learn how to part the veil between heaven and earth, how to ask for God’s angels to attend you, and how better to receive direction from heaven.”

~Russell M. Nelson

———

I do it often- asking “for God’s angels to attend to” me- and, to my family members, and friends. 

When I’ve asked it for myself, it’s usually been in moments of great neurological distresses, some of which feel insurmountable. Nearly immediately, the stress eases as those unseen (one or more) are there doing their ministering. 

07 July 2025

 An Answer to Prayer

I was praying to my Heavenly Father and letting Him know my feelings of inadequacy in assisting in moving His work forward, as most weekdays all I can do is to go to work at my part-time job- only to return home and go straight to bed due to complete exhaustion!  My weekends haven’t been any better. My main concern was my not being able to attend, or to serve in the Temple as I once did several month ago  

There is very little desire to even turn on the TV- which, if I do, I’ll only watch it for a few minutes and then turn it off.  And lately, I’m finding it more difficult to read anything but the scriptures from “Come Follow Me”; and I don’t utilize as much the study guide materials as I once did  

The one thing that I am able to do on a regular basis, is to continue in my prayers both morning and evening, and sometimes in between- which is what I was doing this evening.

While pondering after the prayer, I did not receive anything specific as far as an answer, so I decided to watch the next bookmarked general conference address from last April.  It was Bishop Causse’s address: “Compensating Blessings”.  The answer from Heavenly Father came at the front end of the address— 

“My dear friends, if you ever feel limited or disadvantaged by the circumstances of your life, I want you to know this: The Lord loves you personally. He knows your circumstances, and the door to His blessings remains wide open to you no matter the challenges you face.”

I now realize that both my Heavenly Father and Savior Jesus Christ are not only mindful of my health issues, in which I have received great blessings over the past few years, but that They are also ever so mindful of the challenges I am experiencing, both emotionally and spiritually.

Even with this knowledge I will still pray for greater strength to do more, to be of greater service in the Lord’s Kingdom; and to better prepare myself for His eventual return to the earth  

Guess Who This Is?

I came across an off-duty Trooper who was just finishing up changing a flat tire on his personal car near Provo Center Street. He did a great job of "Playing it up", as the angry motorist, for the video camera.

Book of Mormon Authenticity

 How the Book of Mormon’s Complexity Shows It’s Authenticity

A Prophecy Long Foretold

A prophecy which had long been foretold

Of a falling away from the Savior’s True Fold

By the deaths of His Apostles o’er a number of years

And authority taken from earth, and truths changed by itching ears

How in Latter-days, Satan’s chain of darkness, with links not a few

Would become dismantled, and then all things again become new

When in the Spring of 1820, a young boy so humble, yet so bold

Would enter a sacred grove, to petition the God of which he’d been told

And humbly knelt, and for the first time began to pray

When immediately darkness bound his tongue, and words he could no longer say

Exerting all strength, the boy within called out for deliverance from evil unseen

While so near to abandoning himself to destruction, as it seemed

Heaven’s windows long ere closed, so sure, and so tight 

Had suddenly opened, from which descended a Glorious Light

Two beings before the boy stood in brilliant, eternal flame

When the God of heaven then called him by name 

“Joseph, this is My Beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased”,

Hear Him”- the boy’s burdens now began to be eased 

The boy asked which of all the churches to cast his lot

The reply came back, the Savior’s true church on the earth, at that time was not

But the fullness of the Savior’s Gospel, so peaceful, so pure

Soon would be set inplace, eternally solid, and forever sure

The time of refreshing, prophesied by ancient prophets who sought

Was now to begin, and put an end to centuries of spiritual rot

The Savior’s restored Kingdom would vanquish spiritual dearth

And continue to roll forth, until it has fill the whole earth

Angels with priesthood, and keys to restore

Soon would appear, and upon man’s head place them once more

A prophecy which had long been foretold

Had now come to pass, as the Savior restored His True Fold

A Retrospection: “Go See Your Friend”

Sometime ago, I was talking with a longtime friend on the phone and listening to him as he described a number of the challenges that he was facing at that time.  In my prayers that night I had asked Heavenly Father to please bless this person with the things he stood in need of at that time.  A distinct impression of the Spirit then came to me which said: “Go see your friend”.  

The next morning I let work know that I would not be in for few hours, and then went to see this friend.  When I arrived I found that he was at home alone, which made it easier for us to have a good visit with each other.  He once again rehearsed, in more detail, all that he had been going through.  As part of this conversation he also mentioned that he previously had some frightening thoughts and had been considering making an abrupt exit from this life, but was now in control of those thoughts, but was still facing some very great challenges otherwise. Drawing upon lessons that I had learned over the years, I was able to offer reassurance and faith in Christ to my friend. I also decided that work that day could wait a while longer, and I stayed an extra hour just so that we could talk about memories from our younger days.

A day or so later, when I called to check in with him, he thanked me profusely for coming that morning, and told me how much it meant to him.  He also said that others had also been randomly been stopping in at the perfect moments, all of which served to provide reassurance to him that that his Heavenly Father and Savior were both mindful of him and that all was going to be well!

The lesson: We often pray to be guided to those who may stand in need of our assistance, and then miss, or dismiss the impressions of the Spirit which follow (at least that has been the experience for myself).  But, if we were to immediately follow through on a Spiritual impression, we will often find that we were correct in following it!