Come Follow Me 2026 · Old Testament

Walking It Backwards

The Old Testament wasn't written for us. We can still hear it. Whether you're studying on your own or with your family, you'll find what the surface reading misses.

Try a Complete Week — $15 Our Approach

The Old Testament was written in Hebrew, by Jews, in an ancient Near Eastern world we've never seen. Christians inherited it later. Latter-day Saints inherited it through Christian interpretation. Walking It Backwards goes back to the source.

The Method

Three Movements, One Walk

We don't read the Old Testament forward from our own century. We walk it backwards — into the world that produced it.

Explore

We follow the threads of history, geography, and culture the original audience would have known — going back into the world that produced the text.

Analyze

We study the original languages, literary structure, and word play that often gets lost in translation — recovering meaning the surface reading misses.

Connect

We bring those discoveries back into the present so you can hear these ancient voices on their own terms — and let what they're saying shape your walk with God.

What We Do Every Week

Eight Pieces of Content. One Methodology. Every Week of CFM.

Every week of Come Follow Me, we produce eight original pieces of content — chapter analyses for adults, teens, and kids, plus deep dives, historical context, Hebrew language work, and a weekly summary. Here's what a recent week looks like.

A Recent Week
Deuteronomy 6–8; 15; 18; 29–30; 34
"Hear, O Israel. The Lord our God is one Lord."
Adult Depth

The Wilderness Wasn't Punishment. It Was School.

Forty years of hunger to teach one lesson. The Deep Dive on Deuteronomy 8 unpacks what most readers miss — that the wilderness was the curriculum, not the consequence. This is the kind of work we do every week.

37
Files in this week's pack
The Wilderness Was the Teacher — Deuteronomy 8 Deep Dive
Deep Dive
The Wilderness Was the Teacher
A Prophet Like Moses — Deep Dive on Deuteronomy 18
Deep Dive (Bonus)
A Prophet Like Moses — One Prophecy, Five Voices
Historical Context Part 1: Where and When
Historical Context · Part 1
In Its World — Where & When
Historical Context Part 2: How They Lived
Historical Context · Part 2
In Its World — How They Lived
The Big Picture: Choose Life — Adult version
The Big Picture · Adult
Choose Life
Hebrew Word of the Week

The Word Behind the Translation

Every week we feature one Hebrew word that carries weight the English doesn't — the kind of detail your translation can't show you. Here's a recent one.

Shema — Hebrew Word of the Week

שְׁמַע · Shema

The single most important word in Jewish prayer. "Hear, O Israel." Not a casual hear — a hear that commits, that obeys, that belongs. Recited twice daily by faithful Jews for three thousand years. The first prayer taught to every Jewish child.

Most readers move past it in one verse. The original audience built an entire spiritual life around it.

This is what Walking It Backwards does, every week. One Hebrew word. The history behind it. What it actually meant. Why it still matters.

Built for Every Age

So the Whole Family Can Talk About It

Family scripture study only works when everyone at the table has read the same thing at their level. Every week, in three versions.

Big Picture for Adults
Adult Version

For Adults

Depth content with the throughline, key verse, old covenant / new covenant connection, and Hebrew language work.

Big Picture for Teens
Teen Version

For Teens

Modern, direct, visually clean. Built to actually be read by someone who has a phone in their other hand.

Big Picture for Kids
Kids Version

For Kids

Bright, illustrated, with coloring activities built in. The same throughline as the adult version, at a kid's eye level.

Why We Built This

Scripture Study That Goes Deeper

Most Come Follow Me material stays at the surface. We don't. Here's what makes this different.

The Old Testament as Jewish Text

It was written by Jews, in Hebrew, within an ancient Near Eastern world. Christians inherited it later. Latter-day Saints inherited it through Christian interpretation. We go back to the source.

Law and Teaching, Not History Textbook

The Hebrew Bible is Torah — instruction. The stories carry the law. The law is the point. Reading it as a history book misses what it's actually doing.

LDS Faith as the Integrating Frame

We engage seriously with Jewish tradition, broader Christian scholarship, and ancient Near Eastern context. Then we apply LDS theology as the integrating framework that connects these discoveries to faith.

Treats You Like an Adult

No oversimplification. No pre-digested insights. No manufactured certainty where none exists. Substantive material, presented clearly, so you can form your own conclusions.

How the Weekly Content Is Organized

Three Tiers, One Methodology

When ongoing subscriptions launch later this year, the weekly content will be organized into three tiers. The introductory pack lets you experience all three before you decide which one fits.

Free

A real weekly study practice — no payment required.

  • The Big Picture (Adult)
  • The Big Picture (Teen)
  • The Big Picture (Kids — with coloring)
  • Hebrew Word of the Week
  • Between the Lines (both parts)
Family Study

Everything for studying scripture as a family — so dinner conversation can go somewhere.

  • Everything in Free
  • Adult Chapter Analysis
  • Teen Chapter Analysis
  • Kids Chapter Analysis
Complete

Everything in Family Study, plus the depth content for serious individual study.

  • Everything in Family Study
  • All weekly Deep Dives
  • Historical Context (full two-part set)

Subscriptions launching later this year. Right now, the introductory pack is the way to experience all three tiers in one purchase — so you'll know exactly which one fits when the time comes.

Introductory Offer

Try Walking It Backwards

A complete week of Walking It Backwards in one download — every asset, every tier's worth of content. The Deuteronomy week is our introductory pack. See exactly what we make, before you decide on a subscription.

$15
One-time No subscription
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Start Free Instead

Get a sample of what we do — the free-tier assets from a recent week. No payment, no obligation. Your download starts as soon as you submit.

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On the Horizon

What's Coming Next

Next Week

Joshua 1–8; 23–24

"Be strong and of a good courage." The conquest narrative, the captain of the Lord's host, the missing middle of Joshua.

Special Edition · Nov 23–29

Jonah

A flagship year-end piece exploring the book's structural irony, theological tension, political context, and Hebrew word play. Released as a complete study package.

January 2027

The Intertestamental Bridge

The 400-year gap most studies skip. Persian, Greek, and Roman rule. Jewish sects. The world Jesus walked into. Released as the New Testament year begins.

Who's Behind This

About Brian Ford

Returned missionary. Former Gospel Doctrine teacher. Father of eight. Brian has spent his adult life going deeper into scripture than the manuals ever go — the Hebrew, the history, the Jewish tradition, the scholarship most LDS members never encounter.

Walking It Backwards is the project he's been waiting to build: a place where the original voices of scripture can be heard on their own terms, by people who want more than they're getting.

If that's you — welcome.