They thought Joseph was deceiving many people into supporting and believing him.

And so an evil plan entered their minds…

And they chose to keep thinking it:

“Why don’t we steal the transcribed pages, alter them, and then frame Joseph after he re-translates?

“Sure, it involves lying and deception on our end.

“But it’s okay because we are exposing lying and deception.”

Thus, the plan was put in place.

And a book of scripture was lost to our generation.

It can feel tempting to fight sin with the same type of sin and feel justified in doing it.

If someone is angry with me, I’m going to become angry with them, too.

If someone is outraged at something, I’m going to become outraged at how outraged they are.

If someone complains a lot to me, I’m going to complain to other people about how much they complain.

Satan wants us to believe that we are justified in sinning.

And he’ll use any strategy to get us there.

And I think he has succeeded quite a bit with this strategy in particular—

Sinning with the illusion that it is justified because of another’s (real or perceived) sin.

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, wo be unto him that lieth to deceive because he supposeth that another lieth to deceive, for such are not exempt from the justice of God.” (D&C 10:28)

God doesn’t want us “fighting fire with fire.”

He wants us to keep His commandments and show love with integrity to all.

No matter what those around us choose to do. 

He wants us to fight fire with love and peace.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post This lie will expose that lie first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

Mormon had just finished telling his son Moroni about the terrible things that were going on with the Lamanites and Nephites, and what tragic futures were to come.

But then he reminds his son:

Don’t let these things weigh you down.

Don’t let the evils of others bring your spirit and your faith down.

Don’t let the wickedness of the world dim your light.

Don’t let other people’s poor decisions linger in your mind.

And instead?

Let Christ lift you up.

Let your knowledge of His atoning sacrifice bring you hope.

Let His mercy linger in your mind.

Let His goodness be a powerful example to you.

What a lesson right?

Sometimes, I wish that I didn’t tie so many of my posts into “2020”. But at the end of the day, I can’t ignore the similarities between the end of the Book of Mormon and our current reality.

There is a lot of evil around us.

There are people with ill-intentions.

There are people making terrible decisions that affect us.

And yet, knowing that Christ has already atoned for our sins makes the weight much less heavy.

Because – Christ has already won. He has won victory over sin, over weaknesses, and over death.

And that knowledge can lift us up, even when we are surrounded by the most unpleasant of circumstances.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Weighed down and lifted up first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

He never experienced righteousness and peace in the land.

He didn’t really have any super successful “missions” where he converted a bunch of people.

He didn’t get to perform miracles in front of a bunch of believers.

(This is all at least as far as we know, and I feel pretty fair assumptions based on his descriptions.)

His world was in extreme turmoil, war, and hatred from the moment he was born until he took his dying breath.

And yet he lived a righteous life, followed the Spirit, was visited by the Savior when he was 16 years old, tried to influence his world for good, and took on a writing project that influenced millions of people for years to come.

I don’t know about you, but I’ve definitely had the attitude sometimes that the world needs to go back to “normal” before my real purpose can go back to normal.

But Mormon never had a “normal” world.

And he still found a way to be one of the most righteous individuals in history and change history for the better.

President Nelson taught us recently to: “Embrace your new normal by repenting daily.

“Seek to be increasingly pure in thought, word, and deed.

“Minister to others.

“Keep an eternal perspective.

“Magnify your callings.

“And whatever your challenges, my dear brothers and sisters, live each day so that you are more prepared to meet your Maker.”

We don’t need to wait for old “normal” to do any of that.

It’s all available to us right now.

And even if we never go back, even if we keep getting more chaos and hatred and even bloodshed around us-

We still have full access to God, to our Savior, to righteousness, and to fulfilling whatever our purpose might be.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post A lifetime of abominations first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.

All in the space of one chapter.

My thoughts were always…

Really, Nephites?

You are going to forget the word of God and turn to wickedness that quickly? It seems a little ridiculous.

Until I examine my own life.

Circumstances can change super quickly.

And when circumstances change…

Habits can change FAST.

Hearts can change FAST.

This is not-so-great news.

And, this is great news.

We can make fast changes in our lives.

I can suddenly stop going to church.

And I can suddenly start reading my scriptures.

I can suddenly decide that I’m not going to initiate family prayer anymore.

And I can suddenly text a friend and ask how I can help.

Although most of us probably aren’t cycling between extreme wickedness or extreme righteousness every single week, we do find our lives and habits to be cyclical in nature.

And we can decide pretty quickly whether we are headed in one direction or another.

So what’s a quick change you can make right now?

Is there a decision you’ve been putting off? Is there a habit that you’ve been waiting to start? Is there a sin that you’ve been waiting to stop?

Make the fast decision now.

Because if the civilizations in the scriptures teach us anything, it’s just how quickly people can change.

Happy Studying!

-Cali Black

The post Fast changes first appeared on Come Follow Me Study with Cali Black.