Scot

It’s never easy to comprehend that another year has flown past us and it’s Christmas again. Don’t the days seem to go quicker than they used to? With this glorious season upon us, we are blessed to be able to talk about this day of days and this time of times when the Savior came to this earth to experience mortality and to wrought the Atonement in our behalf. Do we realize that this entire last year of study has truly been about God’s people anticipating His arrival? Let’s talk about that.

Maurine

Welcome to Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me Podcast! We are Scot and Maurine Proctor and we are delighted to be with you for this last podcast of the Old Testament studies year. Many of you have been with us for all of the more than 200 podcasts Scot and I have done these past four years. It’s been quite a time of learning and loving to learn side by side together. We have loved being with you each week. Now, we have three things to tell you at the outset, then we will dive into the message.

One:  We will still offer Scot’s beautiful Come Follow Me New Testament 2023 calendar to you, our beloved listeners, for a 30% discount for just using the discount code: Listener. Go to latterdaysaintmag.com/2023 and use the code Listener at checkout. That’s our way of saying thanks to you.

Scot

Two: This podcast will continue for this coming New Testament curriculum and for the three years beyond that again. We hope you’ll stay with us and that we can continue to study and learn together. We truly love our time together each week and hope you will continue to stay with us for years to come.

Maurine

And three, and this is very important: In the past few years we have been very concerned, as you have, about many people whose faith seems to fail them—some of these are people in our own families whom we know and love very much. Many voices are claiming that there is no God, that He has failed them, that if there is a God, He is one who asks nothing of them. At the end of the day, in their view, all He hopes is that we’ve had a good time. When they think of religion, they think of hardness, judgment and, even hatefulness. This is not the God we know, and so on Jan 2, 2023 we are launching a second podcast called How I Know where weekly guests talk about their journey to find God, the bonding experiences that have made them firm believers, their sometimes-tough experiences on the way to know God. We want to know and be blessed by Him. We want to find his light in this difficult world, and our guests will be people like you and me from every walk of life who have found Him in their quest.

Scot

We will have wonderful discussions as we learn together how to doubt our doubts and fuel our faith. Again, the first podcast will be released on Monday, January 2, 2023 and each succeeding one will be released every Monday. Will you join us? We would be honored to explore these things with you by our side. We’re already in the midst of interviewing the first five guests and you will love their stories!

Maurine

Please stay with us on both podcasts—our Come Follow Me Podcast released every Friday and our How I Know Podcast released every Monday. We’re so humbled and excited to explore the complexities of our times and share those explorations with you. We will release the new podcast on all the major podcast platforms as we have before including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Stitcher, Overcast, iHeartRadio, Castbox, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic and Podbean—as well as on Soundcloud. Can’t wait to be with you all!

Scot

Maurine, I remember my first Christmas in Germany. In those days we could only talk to our families twice a year—on Mother’s Day and on Christmas Day. I was excited to hear the voices of my parents in Missouri and I was excited to experience a German Christmas.

I was in Mannheim at the time and a wonderful family invited us to their home for the Christmas Eve celebration. They had small children and there was an excitement in the air not unlike how it had been in our home growing up. But all this excitement was focused on Christmas Eve and the Christ child who was coming to give them gifts. We came into the room where the live tree was decorated—including with candles instead of Christmas lights. At some point, all the candles were lit and we all went out of the room. The large, double-hung windows were gently opened wide by the parents to allow the Christ child to come. We were in the other room for a few minutes and then the parents said we should all go in. As we opened the door to the room it was freezing cold and there were presents everywhere and the children knew that the Christ child had come! I’ve never forgotten the feeling in that room—not just the cold, but the excitement and anticipation of the whole family that the Christ child would come. At this point in the lives of these young children, they had no doubt that the Christ child had actually come to their home and brought the most personal and precious gifts. It was for me absolutely magical and I loved it.

Maurine

That German Christmas that you’ve told me about so often, Scot, reminds us of the anticipation of ancient Israel as they looked forward to the coming of the Messiah—the Holy One of Israel. All the prophets testified of Jesus Christ and we have some of their records in our holy writ.

“…there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel…” (Numbers 24:17)

From Isaiah:

14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)

And another from Isaiah:

6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.

And the angel Gabriel:

“…behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.

21 And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins. (Matthew 1:20-21)

Ancient Israel watched for and waited for the Messiah for generations and He finally came!

Scot

And it was no different among the peoples of the Book of Mormon. They anticipated the coming of the Messiah—Jesus Christ—for six hundred years. They prepared for His coming. They anticipated His coming. They longed for His coming. And then—He finally came!

Remember the prophet Nephi at the time of Christ was praying to know when the sign would be given spoken by Samuel the Lamanite Prophet—of a day, a night and a day wherein there was no darkness.

12 And it came to pass that he cried mightily unto the Lord all that day; and behold, the voice of the Lord came unto him, saying:

13 Lift up your head and be of good cheer; for behold, the time is at hand, and on this night shall the sign be given, and on the morrow come I into the world, to show unto the world that I will fulfil all that which I have caused to be spoken by the mouth of my holy prophets. (3 Nephi 1:12-13)

What joy filled his heart and the hearts of all the faithful as the sign was given that very night and they knew that this next day was the day that the Savior would be born.

Maurine

Haven’t you noticed throughout our studies of the Old Testament this year the feeling of anticipation and the longing for the coming of Jesus Christ? The entire Law of Moses was but a type and a shadow of the coming of Jesus.

Nephi, son of Lehi, wrote:

4 Behold, my soul delighteth in proving unto my people the truth of the coming of Christ; for, for this end hath the law of Moses been given; and all things which have been given of God from the beginning of the world, unto man, are the typifying of him. (2 Nephi 11:4)

And he also wrote this of how the law pointed to Christ:

23 For we labor diligently to write, to persuade our children, and also our brethren, to believe in Christ, and to be reconciled to God; for we know that it is by grace that we are saved, after all we can do.

24 And, notwithstanding we believe in Christ, we keep the law of Moses, and look forward with steadfastness unto Christ, until the law shall be fulfilled.

25 For, for this end was the law given; wherefore the law hath become dead unto us, and we are made alive in Christ because of our faith; yet we keep the law because of the commandments.

26 And we talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, we prophesy of Christ, and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins.

Scot

Those are among my very favorite scriptures, Maurine. I love how all the scriptures turn us towards Jesus Christ. The law turns us to Him. Priesthood ordinances turn us to Him. Our living prophets today turn us to Him. Where else can we go? Jesus Christ has the words of eternal life!

Now, as I was pondering and praying about this week’s podcast, I was led to thinking about many of the lessons we have learned this year in our Old Testament studies. I started to write a number of things down and then our dear friend, Kathy Clayton, published a piece on Meridian that really captured some of the things I wanted to say, so I borrow from her words. Kathy, as you may know, is a gifted and talented writer, a very seasoned and articulate speaker and a woman of great faith. She is also the wife of Elder Whitney Clayton, emeritus member of the Seventy.

Maurine

She wrote:

“The approaching end of 2022 and our completion of “Come, Follow Me” for the Old Testament is a compelling time to review some of the mighty, pithy sermons of that timeless and enduring volume of scripture.

“Following is a list of twenty sentences and phrases that encapsulate in just a few words, significant life lessons from Old Testament stories. The culture and context of those stories are ancient, but the application is modern and immutable. I have kept this list for decades and referred to it often. I no longer remember to whom it can be attributed, but I offer a lasting thanks to whoever had the insight to assemble these one-line sermons. I hope they speak to you and spark personal reflection as they have for me as you consider who said them, what the context was, and what the application might be for you and for us all today.

  1. “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Genesis 39:9)
  2. “If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldst thou not have done it?” (2 Kings 5:13)
  3. “They that be with us are more than they that be with them.” (2 Kings 6:16)
  4. “But if not…” (Daniel 3:18)Scot
  5. “Thou art the man.” (2 Samuel 12:7)
  6. “What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears?” (1 Samuel 15:14)
  7. “I will not cease to call upon God, I have other things to inquire of Him.”(Moses 1:18)
  8. “Speak, for thy servant heareth.” (1 Samuel 3:10)Maurine
  9. “I am but a lad,…wherefore am I Thy servant?” ((Moses 6:31)
  10. “Prove me now herewith.” (Malachi 3:10)
  11. “Is any thing too hard for the Lord?” (Genesis 18:14)
  12. “And they seemed unto him but a few days.” (Genesis 29:20)Scot
  13. “Now then, whatsoever God hath said unto thee, do.” (Genesis 31:16)
  14. “Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee.” (Exodus 18:18)
  15. “But as for me and my house…” (Joshua 24:15)
  16. “Thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God.” (Ruth 1:16)Maurine
  17. “How long wilt thou halt between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him.” (1 Kings 18:21)
  18. “And after the fire a still small voice.” (1 Kings 19:12)
  19. “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away.” (Job 1:21)
  20. “Who hath believed our report?” (Isaiah 53:1) (https://latterdaysaintmag.com/who-when-why-old-testament-take-aways/)

Scot

Don’t just love those powerful reminders of the eternal verities contained in the Old Testament and our call to faithfulness in keeping our covenants with God? As we read each one of those slowly, the scene, the story, the people involved passed through my mind and just strengthened me so much. And, in fact, as I pondered the list that Kathy gave us, a dozen more “one-line sermons” multiplied in our minds that we’d like to add to the list—and, of course, there are dozens more:

Maurine

  1. “I know not, save the Lord commanded me.” (Moses 5:6)
  2. “Were it not for our transgression we never should have…known…the joy of our redemption.” (Moses 5:11)
  3. “My son, God will provide himself a lamb for a burnt offering.” (Genesis 22:8)
  4. “Let the same be she that thou hast appointed for they servant Isaac…” (Genesis 24:14)

Scot

  1. “Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?” (Genesis 41:38)
  2. “Be strong and of a good courage…” (Joshua 1:9)
  3. “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down…” (Nehemiah 6:3)
  4. “And who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (Esther 4:14)

Maurine

  1. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.” (Psalm 23:1)
  2. “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place?” (Psalm 24:3)
  3. “And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)
  4. “…and with his stripes we are healed.” (Isaiah 53:5)

All of these quotes draw us closer to Jesus Christ. All of these reminders fill us with gratitude for Him and His birth, life and atoning sacrifice. I am just so deeply grateful for this past year of immersion in the Old Testament and to see, more clearly than any time in my life, the central figure of Jesus Christ in our readings and the covenants that He has made for us to be bound to Him.

Scot

Now the Christmas season is upon us. It’s easy to get caught up in the pressures and the presents and miss the great Spirit of the season. We well remember many years like the one we will describe but this particular year we were very exhausted from all that had led up to that very late Christmas Eve night. We had sent the children to bed and started our own preparations for our family of eleven children to have a wonderful Christmas the next morning. Of course, there were so many things left to do to be ready, assisting the magic of Christmas to do its work. But this particular night, as we were working so hard, we watched out our windows at all the neighbors around us and one by one, all the lights went out, the Schreyers to the south of us, the McAllisters to the east of us, the Broadwaters and the Barnes and the Riches and the Petersons—all the homes went dark and we were still working and preparing and trying to be ready. I can see why Santa uses Elves to assist him, as the dreaded words “some assembly required” kept appearing on so many things.

Maurine

Oh, Scot, we were so exhausted that night and yet working together we were able to finish everything. And so many Christmases, with this ever-expanding family, it seemed like we would just finally get to sleep and children would come running into our bedroom informing us that it was Christmas morning! I know from my experience that the Lord blesses us to survive such events and to thrive in them—because He sends His Spirit—and I’m sure angels—to bear us up. I love what President Thomas S. Monson said some years ago in a Christmas devotional as He helped focus our minds on the true meaning of Christmas:

“When we keep the spirit of Christmas, we keep the Spirit of Christ, for the Christmas spirit is the Christ Spirit. It will block out all the distractions around us which can diminish Christmas and swallow up its true meaning.

“There is no better time than now, this very Christmas season, for all of us to rededicate ourselves to the principles taught by Jesus Christ.

Scot

He continues:

“Because He came to earth, we have a perfect example to follow. As we strive to become more like Him, we will have joy and happiness in our lives and peace each day of the year. It is His example which, if followed, stirs within us more kindness and love, more respect and concern for others.

“Because He came, there is meaning to our mortal existence.

“Because He came, we know how to reach out to those in trouble or distress, wherever they may be.

“Because He came, death has lost its sting, the grave its victory. We will live again because He came.

“Because He came and paid for our sins, we have the opportunity to gain eternal life.” (President Thomas S. Monson, 2011 First Presidency Christmas Devotional)

Maurine

I do love those words that help us focus on this glorious season of rejoicing. I was so grateful that the lesson materials this week pointed us to a talk that President Nelson gave some years ago. His message is even more applicable today:

“As conflicts between nations escalate, as cowardly terrorists prey on the innocent, and as corruption in everything from business to government becomes increasingly commonplace, what can help us? What can help each of us with our personal struggles and with the rigorous challenge of living in these latter days?

“The prophet Lehi taught a principle for spiritual survival. First, consider his circumstances: He had been persecuted for preaching truth in Jerusalem and had been commanded by the Lord to leave his possessions and flee with his family into the wilderness. He had lived in a tent and survived on what food could be found on the way to an unknown destination, and he had watched two of his sons, Laman and Lemuel, rebel against the teachings of the Lord and attack their brothers Nephi and Sam.

Clearly, Lehi knew opposition, anxiety, heartache, pain, disappointment, and sorrow. Yet he declared boldly and without reservation a principle as revealed by the Lord: “Men are, that they might have joy.” Imagine! Of all the words he could have used to describe the nature and purpose of our lives here in mortality, he chose the word joy!

Scot

President Nelson continued:

“Life is filled with detours and dead ends, trials and challenges of every kind. Each of us has likely had times when distress, anguish, and despair almost consumed us. Yet we are here to have joy?

“Yes! The answer is a resounding yes! But how is that possible? And what must we do to claim the joy that Heavenly Father has in store for us?

“Eliza R. Snow, second General President of the Relief Society, offered a riveting answer. Because of Missouri’s infamous extermination order, issued at the onset of the grueling winter of 1838, she and other Saints were forced to flee the state that very winter. One evening, Eliza’s family spent the night in a small log cabin used by refugee Saints. Much of the chinking between the logs had been extracted and burned for firewood by those who preceded them, so there were holes between the logs large enough for a cat to crawl through. It was bitter cold, and their food was frozen solid.

“That night some 80 people huddled inside that small cabin, only 20 feet square (6.1 meters square). Most sat or stood all night trying to keep warm. Outside, a group of men spent the night gathered around a roaring fire, with some singing hymns and others roasting frozen potatoes. Eliza recorded: “Not a complaint was heard—all were cheerful, and judging from appearances, strangers would have taken us to be pleasure excursionists rather than a band of gubernatorial exiles.”

“Eliza’s report of that exhausting, bone-chilling evening was strikingly optimistic. She declared: “That was a very merry night. None but saints can be happy under every circumstance.”

“That’s it! Saints can be happy under every circumstance. We can feel joy even while having a bad day, a bad week, or even a bad year!

“My dear brothers and sisters, the joy we feel has little to do with the circumstances of our lives and everything to do with the focus of our lives.” (Nelson, Russell M., Joy and Spiritual Survival, General Conference, October 2016, Sunday Morning Session)

Maurine

President Nelson’s teachings are right on. They are so true. We have felt such joy in our work that we do, including photographing sites holy to the Latter-day Saints and other people of faith throughout the world. This leads us to a rather unique Christmas story that doesn’t conform to how you picture Christmas.

“We have wanted our photographs to capture not only the places where significant sacred events have transpired, but also the time and season, bringing the viewer right to the holy place, a participant in the scene and on one particular photo shoot, that day was April 6, likely Christ’s birthday, and we were on our way to Shepherd’s Hill across from Bethlehem.

“”Merry Christmas,” we said to each other through tired eyes. It was four o’clock in the morning and still dark outside. When we are on a shoot, we get up morning after morning early enough to beat the sun to the place we are planning to photograph, but we never entirely get used to it. “Anything for a picture,” we tell ourselves. “First light is worth it.” On this occasion, we awakened Maurine’s mother to come with us and the three of us drove through Jerusalem’s empty streets, then south of the city to the place where shepherds had once watched their flocks by night and had been awed by a multitude of the heavenly host.

Scot

“Morning was closer as we pulled our car to the top of the hill, yanked our gear out, and began picking our way across the stony field looking for just the right place to set the camera. Across a little valley about a mile wide, on a hill just opposite where we stood, was Bethlehem, still dark at this early hour. “No one knows this is the real Christmas,” we said to each other. “It’s like a secret. Everyone is sleeping and they just don’t know.”

“We began to sing, “O little town of Bethlehem, how still we see thee lie.” The three of us made a small chorus on the hill and wondered how it was that we should be so blessed to know. Where were all the others who could be here celebrating a day of such importance? Our voices were the only sound we heard. “Above thy deep and dreamless sleep the silent stars go by.” We ran through our repertoire of carols until we heard the first crowing of the roosters, signaling that dawn was near—and then the hurry, the scramble to have the right lens, the right angle, to be perfectly in focus for the light before it broke across the landscape.

“As we were on a northern hill, with Bethlehem on the southwest, the village was the first to catch the light, which then crept slowly toward us. Bit by bit, the scene which had been painted in hues of gray and blue became illuminated. Then we could see ambling stone walls, the caves that pocked the hillsides. The colors changed, the rock houses of Bethlehem becoming amber in the sun, the hills brushed with dusty olive. Bright red poppies, which had been closed in the cool night, now stretched open to the light.

Maurine

“Of course, it would have been like this, we thought—of course his birth would be in the spring, a season of new life. He had told us that “all things are created and made to bear record” of him (Moses 6:63s), so no other season would do. The image of a snowy Christmas where your breath hangs like a cloud in the air before you and the ground is thick with snow was quickly slipping away. The shepherds had been out watching their flocks by night because it was the season of new lambs that needed their special protection. The earth was green and growing again after its little season of death to symbolize him who came to give life more abundantly. Of course, his birth was in the spring.

“God reveals himself to us not just in words, but also through the earth itself and the very shape our experience takes. It is as if all things, including the events in our lives, are constantly pushing on our spirits, saying, “See. See. Here is a type of Christ—but only if you have eyes to see.” Here we were in Bethlehem, where the very land echoes with his presence, where his image is in every rock and tree, and we could see the witnesses everywhere.

“The word Bethlehem itself means “House of Bread” in Hebrew, and he came to be the bread of life. Bread is the perfect symbol to speak to us needy mortals, who get our fill of bread only to need it once again. Then, too, Bethlehem was the home of David, the shepherd who was also a king. From Bethlehem flowed the waters that quenched the thirst of all Jerusalem, and Christ was the living water. Even the fields crusted by stones were a symbol of him and celebrated his coming. “Wherefore, I am in your midst, and I am the good shepherd, and the stone of Israel.” (Doctrine and Covenants 50:44.) We saw him on the left and on the right, before us and behind us.

Scot

“With the light came the early morning sounds. His newborn cry must have carried on the air with noises just like these. Sheep were bleating on the hillsides, birds sang, dogs barked, and somewhere across the way a stubborn donkey who didn’t want to start a day of work was braying his complaint. These were rural sounds, village noises, sounds of life spilling into the air that hadn’t changed in two thousand years. “It was like this,” we thought, “just like this.” No hush for his coming. No pause in the routine. People went on about their work, unnoticing. He added his baby cry to a thousand sounds to join us in life. If we listened hard enough even now, we could probably hear a baby cry.

“We took our pictures, moved the camera to a different angle and snapped again, but the images printed on our souls were the most vivid—a scene bearing record of him. It would have been gift enough had the day ended there, but there was more.

“Photographers don’t usually take pictures during the flat light of day. Our work is accomplished in the first light of morning and the last light of night. Noon offers no shadows or plays of light, no nuances that make a picture sing. So that late afternoon we came back to the same spot to complete our shot list. Among many other things, we needed to get a photograph of a flock of sheep…

Maurine

“The sheep were first on the list. The sun was low in the sky as we scrambled over one stone wall with our gear and then sat on another, watching a family of Bedouins tending their flocks. Suddenly we heard an explosion, felt the ground rumble, and quickly turned just to the east to see smoke rising from the trees. Our mother and our daughter Laura, who were resting in the car, had heard and felt the sound too. “That must have been a sonic boom,” they said almost simultaneously, each hoping the other would be comforted by the bad guess. It hadn’t been. A mortar shell had landed perhaps two-hundred yards away, and though it may have been just a military maneuver, it was a grim reminder that this place where the Prince of Peace had been born was in turmoil, a land divided, where even teachers of schoolchildren carry machine guns to guard the students, and the military is a constant presence. Was it safe to stay for our pictures? Should we go? But this was April 6 and we had pictures yet to take. A little shaken, we turned back to the sheep, who grazed in friendly clusters before us.

“We took several pictures of the sheep, the wooly silhouette of their bodies outlined in flame in the setting sun. One little lamb pulled away from the flock, scampered up a rocky ledge and turned back long enough for a photograph.

Scot

“Sheep are helpless creatures, without defenses, unable to protect themselves against roaming wolves or nighttime predators. God gave porcupines quills and cheetahs speed, but sheep he left vulnerable. They are perfect symbols for humanity without the Lord. That is why they need a good shepherd who will stay with them in all kinds of weather and at nighttime lead them into a fold and sleep across its only gate. Burned by the sun and parched in the wind, the shepherd’s job isn’t glamorous or even very picturesque, but the sheep cannot survive without him. He is good; he is constant. His sheep know his voice when he calls them forth again in the morning. Even if several flocks are tended together in one fold, the sheep will respond only to the voice of their master.

“So, our eyes scanned the hills for a shepherd to see what we could learn, finally fixing on a bearded man in a flowing robe carrying a lamb tenderly close to his chest, his arms wrapped around the little creature. We watched the lamb with some affection and wondered: Had this lamb strayed, been lost? The man picked his way with sandaled feet carefully across the stony hillside, down a slope and back up again, past the tent of his family to the wall where we sat.

Maurine

“Then in an instant the image changed. Now we were no longer being taught about the Good Shepherd. He was gone. Instead we were shown why Christ was the Lamb. The Bedouin brought the submissive lamb, laid it gently on a rock, and then with a swift stroke, he slit its throat. Tonight was their holy feast, and a lamb was needed. It was a shocking moment, completely unexpected, the reality of sacrifice suddenly vivid and graphic before us, no longer comfortably removed into a clean and sterile abstraction. The lamb’s blood spurted and splattered and then flowed freely before us. Then when the little creature had squealed and struggled its last, the Bedouin tied the body to the stone wall just a few hundred feet from us. Poor little lamb. We were drawn both to look and to turn away, but turning away conquered as the wall became flooded and stained red.

“Here was a lamb that had gone willingly to the slaughter. For us, it had become more than a creature of the earth. It had become the Lamb who had also gone willingly, who had suffered for our sins, “Which suffering caused myself, even God, the greatest of all, to tremble because of pain, and to bleed at every pore, and to suffer both body and spirit—and would that I might not drink the bitter cup, and shrink.” (Doctrine and Covenants 19:18.) Would we ever be able to think about the atonement the same way again? Could we comfortably distance ourselves from it? We couldn’t take a picture of the scene before us. Something about it was much too sacred…

“Somehow, Christ had been born again on that day for us in Bethlehem. And in a way we couldn’t quite explain, the nativity and the atonement both happened again for us that day. We had been there. We had seen it all enacted again, felt it in our bones and sinews. And we felt to exclaim, [Oh, come let us adore him; Oh, come let us adore him; Oh, come, let us adore him, Christ, the Lord.] (See Keeping Christmas, Stories from the Heart, Maurine Jensen Proctor and Scot Facer Proctor, Were You There?, Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, 1996, pp. 100-113)

Scot

That’s all for today and that’s all for this year’s Old Testament studies. We’ve loved studying this tremendous volume of scripture with you throughout this year. Next week we begin again on our studies in the New Testament in a lesson entitled: We are Responsible for Our Own Learning.” Here are two final reminders from today’s podcast: One: Remember you can get the 2023 New Testament Come Follow Me calendar for 30% off as one of our listeners. Go to latterdaysaintmag.com/2023 and use the discount code: Listener. Second: Remember, we will be starting a brand-new podcast, in addition to the weekly Come Follow Me podcast, called, How I Know where weekly guests talk about their journey to find God, the bonding experiences that have made them firm believers, their sometimes-tough experiences on the way to know God. We will have wonderful discussions as we learn together how to doubt our doubts and fuel our faith. Again, the first podcast will be released on Monday, January 2, 2023 and each succeeding one will be released every Monday. Will you join us?

Join us on your favorite podcast platform by searching Scot & Maurine Proctor How I Know and, of course, we will have a link on Meridian Magazine.

A big four-years-long thanks to Paul Cardall for the beautiful music that has accompanied this podcast and a deep, heartfelt thanks to our amazing producer, Michaela Proctor Hutchins.

See you next week as we begin the New Testament and have a wonderful week and a very happy and prosperous New Year.