Category: Come Follow Me

Categories
Devotional Theology

How Do I Receive and Recognize the Holy Ghost?

A young boy is charged to receive the Holy Ghost after being baptized by priesthood authority.

Learning to recognize the Spirit can take a lifetime to master. Latter-day Saints “receive the Holy Ghost” after baptism, but it can be a difficult charge to follow. While the Standard Works counsel seeking gifts of the Spirit, church members may feel guilty about not feeling a “burning in the bosom” or wonder whether they’ve done something to prevent the “constant companionship” of the Spirit. In this interview, Latter-day Saint scholar and teacher Robert L. Millet teaches how to receive the Holy Ghost, explains how it differs from the Light of Christ, and offers practical tips for recognizing the Spirit.

This is Part 2 of a two-part series about the Holy Ghost in Latter-day Saint theology. In Part 1, Charles Harrell discusses the Development of the Holy Ghost in Latter-day Saint Theology.

Continue reading “How Do I Receive and Recognize the Holy Ghost?”
Categories
Book of Mormon Come Follow Me Doctrine and Covenants Joseph Smith

How Did the Joseph Smith Papers Project Influence the 2025 Scripture Updates?

A photo of someone reading D&C 106 on a tablet, illustrating the 2025 updates to Latter-day Saint scriptures such as the Doctrine and Covenants, Book of Mormon, and Study Helps.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints made several updates to its scriptures in 2025. Roughly half of the changes approved by the Scriptures Committee provide additional historical context, while the other half make minor factual adjustments to details like dates and places. This includes updates to “Study Helps” such as Doctrine and Covenants section headers and Book of Mormon chapter introductions. In this interview, scholar Matthew Godfrey introduces the scripture updates and illustrates how many of them were made possible by the Joseph Smith Papers Project.

Continue reading “How Did the Joseph Smith Papers Project Influence the 2025 Scripture Updates?”
Categories
19th Century Book excerpts Theology

Who Was the Early Mormon Jesus?

Anthony Sweat painting of the Mormon Jesus.
Anthony Sweat, "Man of Joy"

Christology—literally the “study of Christ”—was not one of the points of contention between early Mormons and their many antagonists. When Joseph Smith and his few followers founded a church in 1830, they drafted a set of Articles and Covenants that explained the church’s organization. In the tradition of creeds, they also listed a few core beliefs.

Continue reading “Who Was the Early Mormon Jesus?”
Categories
Doctrine and Covenants Theology

Redeeming the Dead: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants

Baptismal font used for baptism for the dead, central to the Latter-day Saint doctrine of the redemption of the dead.

Redeeming the dead is central to Joseph Smith’s vision of uniting all humanity in a heavenly kinship. In Latter-day Saint practice, this doctrine is enacted through proxy ordinances—performed in temples—through which Christ’s gift of salvation is offered to every soul by linking the living with the departed. From Malachi’s prophecy in the Old Testament to Joseph F. Smith’s 1918 vision, scripture underscores that human connection is the heart of redemption. In this interview, Dr. Amy Harris shares insights from her contribution to the Maxwell Institute’s Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants book series.

Continue reading “Redeeming the Dead: Themes in the Doctrine and Covenants”
Categories
Devotional Quotes

D. Todd Christofferson Quotes You’ll Use Again and Again

Sepia pencil sketch profile of D. Todd Christofferson with the title “D. Todd Christofferson Quotes (By Theme)” on the right.

If you’ve felt steadied by President D. Todd Christofferson’s voice, you’ll recognize the pattern: Christ at the center, covenants as the path, Zion as the aim, and family sealed by priesthood power. Now Second Counselor to Dallin H. Oaks in the First Presidency, he has offered 40+ General Conference messages over more than 30 years of service as a Seventy and Apostle. This page includes quotes from his conference talks organized by theme so you can find the right words quickly—whether you’re preparing a lesson, drafting a talk, or studying at home.

Continue reading “D. Todd Christofferson Quotes You’ll Use Again and Again”
Categories
New Testament

What Language Did Jesus Speak? Aramaic and the Historical Jesus

Aramaic Jesus depicted in Jorge Cocco’s Sermon on the Mount painting, showing Christ teaching his followers
“Sermon on the Mount” by Jorge Cocco. Used by permission.

Jesus spoke Aramaic, the common language of Galilee in the first century. The Gospels preserve traces of this in words like Abba and ṭalîta’ qûmî, even though they were written in Greek. But the real significance goes beyond vocabulary: Aramaic-speaking circles that contributed to the accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John remembered Jesus in distinct ways. For example, Peter’s circle emphasized forgiveness, that of Mary Magdalene focused on purity, and so on. Together, they form overlapping but distinct “streams of tradition” in the Gospels, revealing that no single community preserved the whole picture of Jesus. In this interview, Bruce Chilton discusses his book Aramaic Jesus and what it reveals about the language Jesus spoke, memory, and the earliest church.

Continue reading “What Language Did Jesus Speak? Aramaic and the Historical Jesus”
Categories
Come Follow Me Devotional Latter-day Saint History

In the Hands of the Lord: The Life of Dallin H. Oaks

Dallin H. Oaks is an apostle who used to be a judge

Dallin H. Oaks is expected to become the 18th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints following the passing of Russell M. Nelson. Oaks taught at the University of Chicago, became president of Brigham Young University, and served on the State of Utah Supreme Court prior to being called as an Apostle. In this interview, biographer Richard E. Turley discusses the life and personality of the 93-year-old President Oaks.

Continue reading “In the Hands of the Lord: The Life of Dallin H. Oaks”
Categories
Book of Mormon Latter-day Saint History

What Does the Book of Mormon Teach About Race?

Illustration of Nephites and Lamanites dividing in the Book of Mormon (2 Nephi 5:21), symbolizing the racial curse with light and shadow.

The Book of Mormon teaches that race is not fixed, but tied to stories of lineage, faith, and covenant. Early Latter-day Saints used these narratives to explain human differences, sometimes in ways that reinforced exclusion and other times in ways that promised transformation. Jane Manning James’s remarkable life—captured in her statement, “I am white except for the color of my skin”—shows both the possibilities and the painful contradictions of this theology. Remembering how racial origins were narrated, forgotten, and internalized sheds light on the legacy of whiteness in Mormon thought. In this interview, Max Perry Mueller discusses themes from his book, Race and the Making of the Mormon People.

Continue reading “What Does the Book of Mormon Teach About Race?”
Categories
Book excerpts Book of Mormon

What I Learned Studying the Lost 116 Pages

Part of the book cover for Don Bradley's study on the lost manuscript of the book of Mormon.

When I first set out to learn what I could of the Book of Mormon‘s lost pages, I had no idea how deeply the complexity of the text would require me to keep going, or for how long—thus far for a decade and a half—and how completely that search would turn my life and view of the world upside down.

Continue reading “What I Learned Studying the Lost 116 Pages”
Categories
Quotes

President Nelson Temple Quotes

A President Nelson quote about that temple which says nothing strengthens your spiritual foundation more than temple service and temple worship.

Many Russell M. Nelson Quotes focus on the temple. Since becoming the prophet in January 2018, President Nelson has repeatedly emphasized the importance of gathering Israel, spending more time in the House of the Lord, and gaining a deeper understanding of the temple endowment. This post compiles President Nelson’s general conference quotes about the temple from April 2018 to April 2025.

Continue reading “President Nelson Temple Quotes”