followHIM - Doctrine & Covenants 137-138 followHIM Favorites with Dr. Steven C. Harper

Episode Date: November 28, 2021

Hank, John and Dr. Steven C. Harper share their favorite thought from this week's Come, Follow Me lesson.Show Notes (English, French, Spanish, Portuguese): https://followhim.co/episodesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followhimpodcastYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/FollowHimOfficialChannelThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Executive ProducersDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: MarketingLisa Spice: Client Relations, Show Notes/TranscriptsJamie Neilson: Social Media, Graphic DesignWill Stoughton: Rough Video EditorAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsKrystal Roberts: French TranscriptsIgor Willians: Portuguese Transcripts"Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com/products/let-zion-in-her-beauty-rise-pianoPlease rate and review the podcast.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to Follow Him Favorites. My name is Hank Smith. I'm the host of a podcast called Follow Him, and I am here with my wonderful co-host, John, by the way. Hello, John. Hi, Hank. Everybody's favorite. And we're joined this week by the incredible and handsome and brilliant Dr. Stephen Harper. Hi, Steve. Hey, Hank. Thank you. Yeah, you are. We love having Steve Hopper on the podcast, don't we, John? If I can say his name right. We love having Steve Harper on the podcast. I was preparing to be offended there. Thanks for clearing that up.

Yeah, him too. I love that. Steve Hopper. Welcome to both of you. He's from Boston. He's Steve Hopper. Steve Hoppa. Steve Hoppa. Hey, there are sections this week for Follow Him Favorites.

Our Doctrine and Covenants 137 and 138. You get to choose one thing. You guys both know the drill. John, let's start with you. 137, 138. Hank, Steve, this just gets harder and harder to find because there's so many things. But there is one phrase in here that I just can't put enough exclamation points next to it. And that is verse 39.

Joseph F. Smith sees a number of characters in the next life in the spirit world. And he mentions, and our glorious Mother Eve and many of her faithful daughters. Sadly, much of mainstream Christianity has kind of thrown Adam and Eve under the bus. And oh, if it weren't for them, you know, all these problems are their fault and not seeing it the way that our restored theology does. Go look at Moses 5, verse 10, 11. But this is our glorious mother Eve, a phrase you will not find many places in Christianity, I don't think at all. And many of her faithful daughters, here's a homework assignment, go look up the daughters

of Onita, O-N-I-T-A-H, and read about who they are, some of those faithful daughters and so many others. So I love that the restored gospel has given place to our Mother Eve and called her glorious. And look forward to that reunion, and I want to see what Joseph F. Smith saw. That's my favorite. Oh, John, that's fantastic. Let's return her to her rightful place, the glorious Mother Eve. That is, I mean, that's a great follow him favorite. I'm glad you have that as your favorite. My follow him favorite is going to be kind of just the idea of the two sections,

137 and 138 are both visions of the next life. And you may hear, especially those of you who are a little bit younger, you may hear the idea of living after you die is just a crazy idea that makes people feel good. No, it is not. These sections are a testimony that you will live and so will your family and friends will live after they die. And not only will they live, they are part of the same work you are. We're all on the same team moving the gospel of redemption through the atonement forward. I got to just read one quick story. President Eyring said the day his mother died, of course, he was devastated. And he said, we got home from the hospital and my father seemed upset. He went to his room and didn't come out for a little while. He said, but he came out

and he looked different. And so I asked him, you know, what happened? And this is what President Eyring says. He said, my father had gone to his bedroom to ask his heavenly father. By the way, Henry Eyring Sr., when you talk brilliance, this man is a brilliant man. So if the idea that only foolish, uneducated people believe in life after death, tell them, anybody who tells you that, tell them, yeah, should have won a Nobel Prize, right? Everybody knew it. Henry Iron, Sr. That man had gone to his bedroom to ask his heavenly father to have someone greet Mildred, his wife, and my mother. He said that he had been told in answer to his prayer that his mother had been there to meet his sweetheart. President Eyring said, I smiled at that. Grandma Eyring was not

very tall. I had a clear picture of her rushing through the crowd, her short legs moving rapidly on her mission to meet my mother. When I saw in my mind, my grandmother rushing to my mother, I felt joy for them and a longing to bring my sweetheart and our children to such a reunion. And part of my following favorite is my testimony that that is going to take place. You are going to be reunited with those you have lost. So that's why I love the idea of these two sections. So Dr. Harper, let's turn it over to you. Okay, very good. Did I tell you guys that my brother, Dr. Harper, says that I have to be able to take someone's appendix out

before I let people call me Dr. Harper? Yeah, those doctors say you're not a doctor yeah i brethren um this has never meant more to me than it does now what you just said hank and john what you said a bit ago very touchingly because my father passed away earlier this year, and long ago, my older brothers passed away. And so my follow-me favorite is verse 57 of section 138, where Joseph F. Smith says, I beheld that the faithful elders of this dispensation, when they depart from mortal life, continue their labors in the preaching of the gospel of repentance and redemption through the sacrifice of the only begotten Son of God among those who are in darkness That's poetry to me. Those are my people.

I feel like there will be a place for me when I get there, a meaningful work to be done. I feel like in the meantime, there's meaningful work for me to do here and now to cooperate with them and to bring to pass that redemption of the spirits of the dead. And I'm deeply grateful for such a meaningful, purposeful existence, both here and hereafter. And for the wonderful consolation it provides me that the people i love most are with me still and engaged in the same work and that i'll have an opportunity to be to be with them in that again i can't i can't overstate how meaningful that verse has been to me throughout my life wow yeah especially right now.

Man, that is, it's a beautiful idea. And what's even more beautiful is it's true. It's true. It's true. We hope you all will join us on our full podcast. You're not going to want to miss this one. You're not going to want to miss any of them, but this one especially, you're not going to want to miss this one.

You can find Follow Him at anywhere you get your podcasts. Use your Google and thumb them. Type it in. Follow Him podcast. You're going to want to miss this one. Uh, you can find follow him at any, anywhere you get your podcast, use your Google and thumb them, type it in follow him podcast. You're going to find us. Uh, you want to, you want to see these episodes, uh, but we know that some of you can't do it or, uh, just won't do it. Uh, so we hope you join us next time on follow him favorites. Thank you.