Anciently the Sacrament was a meal. These meals took place in what are commonly called “house churches.” (You might even call it a home-centered church). The early Christian community started as a house church, “They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship… They broke bread in theirContinue Reading

3 Nephi 20 These chapters (3 Nephi 20-26) is the story of the victory of Zion at the end of the world. This is one of the places where Jesus shares his favorite story. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland put it this way: In fact, I have a theory about thoseContinue Reading

3 Nephi 12-14 is very similar to the Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew. This text is a temple ascension text, or what modern Saints call an endowment. In this podcast, we worked to demonstrate the depth and breadth of this sermon, with the hopes that thoseContinue Reading

The Book of Mormon is written in code.1 It has many layers. On the surface we read the stories, wars, sermons, and the situations the heroes in the text find themselves in. Underneath the text there is the message about the mysteries of God, the temple, and character of theContinue Reading

At the very beginning of the Book of Mormon record, Nephi gives his readers the hint that he is going to speak in terms that those that understand the first Israelite temple drama would understand. Nephi writes: I Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhatContinue Reading

Ephesians 1 is all about who we were in the Pre-earth Council and who God the Father is in relation to us… this is set in the context of First Temple Israelite religion and in the modern Holy Temple I discuss many of these ideas with my colleague Bryce DunfordContinue Reading

The Psalms were originally the text of the ancient Israelite temple services. Their poetry was woven into a magnificent eight day pageant-like temple drama that depicted the full eternal sweep of the Savior’s mission and his Atonement. The principles taught in that drama were accurately preserved on the brass platesContinue Reading