As The Joseph Smith Papers, Documents, Volume 5: October 1835–January 1838 editor Christian Heimburger says, it was not uncommon in the days of the early Church for men to resolve their conflicts with physical blows. But on December 16, 1835, a particular physical confrontation resulted in the members of the Twelve Apostles to hold a special council for one of the men involved, while the other was left unable to "sit down or rise up without help," according to the new Joseph Smith Papers volume.

Early in my career as a psychologist, I worked with a client who suffered from depression. Knowing that depression is primarily fueled by inaccurate, negative thoughts, I set out to help him change his thinking. Each week he would come in with a very pessimistic view of life. I’d tell him to try to focus on the positive. One particular time, he responded by providing a long list of negatives in the world, including widespread poverty, school shootings, dread health crises, pollution, domestic violence, hatred, ethnic genocide, social inequality, etc. He said, “How can I focus on the positive when there is so much negative all around us?” His answer gave me pause. I didn’t know how to respond. Was he actually correct? Were my attempts to get him to “think positive” simply a naïve overlooking of all the drama, death, and injustice that seem to plague the world every day?

Colby is a teenager approaching adulthood and he has a question: Is it bad to participate in the Church out of a sense of duty?

Del and Don Gull have been there for each other through it all. From competing in eighth-grade football to playing in their high school band, the twin brothers from Parowan have stuck together.

Have you ever thought, “Oh, I could do that so much better”? Maybe it was something as important as a job or as trivial as a party invitation, but you just knew that your effort would’ve been superior than the person who actually did it. Well, in Doctrine and Covenants 67–70, we are going to learn about a few men who were so convinced that they could write revelation better than Joseph Smith, they even tried it. So grab your scriptures, and let’s find out what the result was and what it can teach us about how God operates today.

It’s been a month since the last general conference. The messages are available to go back and read, and we’ve had an opportunity to let their words soak in. The last two weeks in Come, Follow Me also cover a conference of sorts when King Benjamin spoke to his people. Now, along with our study of Mosiah 7–10, we’ll relate this message on the power of prophets to the most recent words from our living prophets and general authorities today.