3 Podcast Picking Tips to Help You Hear Him

By Karla Wallentine

My life started way before podcasts. I would read the scriptures with a red marking pencil, and glean from seminary teachers. Then with modern technology, I started listening to scriptures over and over. My favorite Book of Mormon cassette is still in my mom’s car and I love to listen to it every time I visit.

Then came cable and the ability to watch classes from BYU TV, along with BYU Devotionals and General Conference. All options would expound on my scripture study and understanding. Christ’s teachings enlarged even more in my mind as I taught Seminary for years. The Institute & Seminary Manuals and Scriptures all laid open on my kitchen table for days on end. That’s probably when we started eating on the couch.

Our technology is so advanced now, and with the Come Follow Me curriculum, we have many new podcasts and other social media resources to choose from and listen to. I soon realized that I didn’t have enough space in my old missionary scriptures to write in all the new inspiration I was enjoying. I bought the new journal scriptures and have loved marking them up and plastering them with notes, insights, and spiritual impressions. That came in handy as I taught the adult Sunday School class for a few years.

That’s when I realized that not everybody knows the Scriptures or reads the Come Follow Me lessons. It felt like people were coming to hear the lesson from me, rather than contributing and sharing insights they also learned from their individual and family studies. Like you, I have a few favorite podcasts. I’m a bit picky as to who I outsource my spiritual education to and their content. This is ironic since I have a Podcast myself. But here are a few ideas of what I look for in a podcast:

First and foremost, do I feel the spirit? If it’s the Spirit that teaches, can I hear the Spirit or am I too focused on the teacher. Some podcasts are fun and entertaining but sometimes I get too distracted by all their stories and great ideas that they share.

Second, does the person stay true to the scriptures and what they say? Sometimes people tend to modernize scripture too much or in an attempt to make it more relevant to our day and they miss the mark, possibly by going beyond the mark.

Third, I enjoy teachers who include Hebrew and Greek definitions to words for clarification. The true Hebrew meaning gives greater insight to what the writer is truly conveying. When a passage of scripture was written by the spirit and is understood by that same spirit, in the way it was intended, the message lingers longer! And lasting impressions like that change feelings into actions.

Some of us feel that to understand the scriptures better, we need to listen to a scripture scholar, or be taught by someone else. But going to the scriptures, while pondering and inquiring of the Lord to teach you is best. A follow up from your individual study with a podcast will have deeper meaning for you after you have put in the time to become familiar with the doctrine and hear from the Lord.

Nephi understood the importance of inquiring of the Lord, he said in 1 Nephi 1:1, “I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father.” This was his scriptures or podcast, but it’s clear he also went to the Lord for clarification and understanding because he was, “highly favored of the Lord in all my days”, and he had “a great knowledge of the goodness and the mysteries of God.”

Laman and Lemuel also heard it from their father, or others but when Nephi asked them: “Have ye inquired of the Lord?” they said, “We have not; for the Lord maketh no such thing known unto us”. (1 Nephi 15:8-9)

It was the Lord who taught Nephi, one on one, and that is the best way for us to learn as well.

Could that be one of the great mysteries of God that Nephi learned about? That Jehovah, the very God of Heaven, wants to speak to us, one on one, and teach us Himself? It gives greater weight to the Prophets prophetic call to, “Hear Him!”

Podcasts can be great and we can learn a lot from them, but they should never replace our own individual time in the scriptures and with the Lord.

We come to know the Lord by spending time with Him in prayer, scripture study, and when we feel the spirit of the Lord. Why would you want to outsource that process of spiritual education and development to anyone else?

Nephi testified, “He that diligently seeketh shall find; and the mysteries of God shall be unfolded unto them, by the power of the Holy Ghost”. I am thankful for Nephi’s example of not being content to hear the gospel secondhand, and because he inquired of Lord, he received greater knowledge and wisdom.

As we diligently seek Him, we shall find Him, and He will make all things known unto us; and by the power of the Holy Ghost, we will know the truth of all things!

Karla Wallentine is the owner of the “Isaiah Made Easier!” podcast on Simplify and the “God Needs Strong Women of Faith” Facebook group.

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