Latter Day Radio, now podcasting from The Intersection of Faith & Freedom.

In September 2018, Latter Day Radio was on the air broadcasting via KLO 1430AM in Salt lake City from the Firm Foundation Expo at the South Valley Exposition Centerin Sandy, Utah. One of the interviews broadcast conducted that day was with Dr. Lynn Ridenhour, a Baptist minister ifrom Independence, Missouri, who, believe it or not, preaches and teaches out of the Book of Mormon.

He explains how he was introduced to the book and why he has taken such a nonconformist approach. What is particularly appealing is how he supports the notion that people of faith are coming together, they’re converging just as the article last week in the Church News pointed out in January 2022 what the highly popular series, THE CHOSEN, has accomplished in bringing Christians together.

Reverend Ridenhour sets a good example for all believers, and that is, not to discount or disparage people of faith or their beliefs because of rumors and tradition. In regards to Christians’ commonality of belief, note the scripture in I John 4:2 where it says … 2 “Hereby aknow ye the bSpirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the cflesh is of God.”

People of faith ARE converging, as evidenced by the 300+ million views of THE CHOSEN and people like Lynn Ridenhour whose story is shared here.

While millions of Americans were mourning about the chaos in the streets and political insults thrown back and forth in 2020, author of The Invitation to the Shining City, GM Jarrard, had turned to “binge-watching” the new TV series, The Chosen.

“While I was engrossed in the series by Dallas Jenkins, I felt real kinship with the people at the time of Christ who were under Roman rule. It occurred to me that we take our freedoms for granted, and that despite the promise of America being the ‘Shining City on the Hill,’ our way of life, even our freedoms are in peril. We need to remember what we learned in elementary school when we memorized the Pledge of Allegiance about being ‘one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.'”

“The Chosen was the catalyst that started my writing The Invitation.”

“And, unlike our forebears, like the Pilgrims, the Puritans or the Pioneers, there is no New World to flee to. My book, The Invitation to the Shining City, proposes such an ‘exit strategy.’ Using the theme of John Winthrop’s speech to his fellow Puritans while en route to New England on the ship Arabella, I cite his vision to establish a place where [we] ‘follow the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God. For this end, we must be knit together, in this work, as one man.’”

The book poses the question, “If there were a place, as the Puritan founder of Boston first described it, where the people were of one heart, one mind, live in righteousness and lift one another’s burdens, what would you be willing to pay to go there?”

Chapter One begins in Israel two years after its establishment in 1948 on the beach in Caesarea, right below Herod’s aqueduct. Jonathan Blum, a military attaché with the U.S. Embassy and a veteran of the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, accepts a strange meeting with a mysterious man named John who has approached him about an intriguing job offer. He is given his invitation.

In a surprising turn of events, Jonathan accepts the position, one where he will eventually become the mentor to a young couple, Joey and Dana Kunz. When they finally give in to a request from the husband’s 90-year-old grandmother to take her to a place “to rehabilitate in the hot springs at a Grand Hotel and Spa,” their world is turned upside down. They discover that “grandma” does more than rehabilitate, and so does everyone around her.

When the couple inquires about the “entrance fee,” they learn that to live there, you have to be invited. To quality for an invitation, they commit to gather others to join them. But, along the way, they encounter opposition in the form of media attacks, charges of embezzlement and even a kidnapping. The real challenge comes from within–to qualify, Joey has to make the same decision that the young prince in the New Testament couldn’t make: to sell all that he had and give it to the poor and follow the Savior. The Kunz’s story of opportunity and opposition gives renewed hope to readers in a time of chaos where there is no ‘new world’ to flee to.

In the words of the Prophet Elisha to his apprentice as the young man’s eyes were opened and he could see legions of angels round about, “they that be with us are more tha they that be with them.” (2 Kings 6:16)

Yes, the book is fiction. But, it reminds people of faith what God has been telling people for generations.

As Paul said, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

The 364-page paperback edition is available upon request from bookstores or at Amazon and at www.bn.com. Its suggested retail price is $16.95. The online version is $7.99. Resellers may obtain wholesale copies at Ingram Books.

An audio book is in production. For more information, e-mail the author, G.M. Jarrard at [email protected]

In 2005, the author GM Jarrard published this small memoir in tribute to his father and now is releasing it in segments as an audio book. This podcast includes the first three chapters. A "Jack Mormon," in case you didn't know, was originally a term used derisively by enemies of the Latter-day Saints to mean friends of "The Mormons" who gave them aid and comfort. In fact, one of the original martyrs of the Church was, in fact, a "Jack Mormon" who was beaten and clubbed to death near Nauvoo, Illinois, after pulling out a shotgun to defend Mormons in distress. His name was Ezekial Johnson whose body is buried in the Nauvoo Cemetery. He was, in fact, the third great-grandfather of the author, G.M. Jarrard, and was the father of pioneer songwriter Joel Hills Johnson ("High on a Mountain Top"). This whimsical opening to this small volume reflects on the author's reminiscing of growing up as the son of a "Jack Mormon," Jack E. Jarrard, who later became the Editor of the LDS Church News and traveling editor who followed in the tracks of LDS President Spencer W. Kimball, writing stories and taking photos. Jarrard reminds listeners that welcoming so-called "Inactive Members" and helping them simply make U-turns is the best way to share the Gospel and bring families together.

Retired broadcast executive, entrepreneur and returned mission president in Ireland, Don Gull, shares his insights about the time he spent in China with his wife, Dana, first teaching advanced business courses in economics at Nankai University near Beijing. Later, Don served with his wife in Hong Kong as the executive secretary to the Asia Area presidency. In all, he and Sister Gull spent four years in that fascinating country, the place that Winston Churchill called “a riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”

In this podcast, Brother Gull tells about an experience he had as a mission president at a mission presidents’ seminar in London when President Russell M. Nelson, then a fairly new apostle, arrived after flying in from China. In a day and time when China is in the headlines, Don Gull’s recounting of his experience is a timely and hopeful message, especially now that a temple was announced in Shanghai at the 2020 General Conference.

In this episode, Latter Day Radio host GM Jarrard welcomes Brian Westover, the trades exhibit manager at the "This Is The Place Heritage Park," for a virtual tour of this historical gem east of Salt Lake City. Situated at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, the park is built around the original monument dedicated here in 1947 at the 100th anniversary of the Mormon pioneers arriving in the valley. Legend has it that Brigham Young arose from a sick bed in the back of an open-air carriage and said, as he viewed the valley below, "this is the right place, move on." And move on he and his fellow pioneers did. Within just a few years, a vibrant pioneer community was thriving in the valley below, after a number of set backs–including an invasion by crickets and rescue by flocks of seagulls. Within a couple of decades, pioneers had spread out from this point all over the Intermountain West. The park is filled with pioneer buildings, some original, some re-created, in an effort to help visitors visualize the lifestyle, the rigors and the trades of the mid 19th-century. Westover's responsibilities include managing the various tradesmen, including a blacksmith shop, a tin shop, wool spinning and even gold panning. A small train takes visitors on a familiarization tour around the village, stopping along the way, including a visit at the actual Brigham Young summer home at the west end. The park is a testament to the courage, self-sufficiency and creativity of the early Saints in the West.

Ancient language and religious history expert Bruce Porter and host GM Jarrard look at the sad trend of members leaving the faith over critics’ charges about the origin of the Book of Abraham. They examine what the Book of Mormon predicts about events in the last days and relate them to Elder Holland’s 2009 conference address, “Safety for the Soul.” Bruce explains what the word “translation” means as described by the Prophet Joseph Smith, especially as it relates to modern scripture like the Book of Mormon, the Book of Moses and the Book of Abraham. And they remind listeners about the importance of “holding to the rod” and especially about reading “the assigned materials.” Brother Porter has traveled and lived in Israel and has graduate degrees from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and is an expert in religious history and ancient texts and has taught for years in the Church Education System.

In this podcast, Bruce Porter and GM Jarrard sift through ancient scripture and examine the promises God has made with His children about living in lands of promise, from Israel to the United States. Bruce points out that both the Old Testament and the Book of Mormon are records of fallen peoples…peoples who were given great blessings and promises IF ONLY they would be obedient to God’s laws. He explains that covenants are attached like deeds to these special places, much like a mortgage–if you don’t pay your mortgage you can’t remain on that property. So it was with Israel, and so it is today with us here in the United States of America. Porter and Jarrard then make the case for standing up for righteous principles and defending our Constitutional guarantees if we are to keep this Republic and protect our freedom.

In November of 2018, we broadcast this segment on “the latest on Family Search” on KLO AM1430 and featured Gregg Richardson, the “Experience Manager” for Family Search at the high-tech HQ in Lehi. We admit that in the world of technology, 2018 was a long time ago. Nevertheless, Brother Richardson’s enthusiasm and knowledge are infectious, and we are sharing this with you now as another Latter Day Radio “Faith-affirming Podcast.”

When you stop and reflect for a moment on that technology and the growth in interest in genealogy and searching for our ancestors, it really is a fulfillment of prophecy. Consider the very unique position that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints occupies when it comes to this movement–and it IS a movement, not just a hobby or avocation. Dozens of other private organizations and corporations, most notably ancestry.com have sprung up since the invention and adoption of the Internet. Every year, RootsTech gathers people from all over the globe; if you’ve ever attended, you can be blown away by what’s happening everywhere. And, the center of it is right here, at the headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

So, before we take all this progress for granted, remember the words of the Angel Moroni to the young prophet Joseph Smith (this is the entire second section of the Doctrine and Covenants):

D&C 2:1 Behold, I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of aElijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and bdreadful day of the Lord.

2 And ahe shall plant in the hearts of the children the bpromises made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their fathers.

3 If it were not so, the whole aearth would be utterly wasted at his coming.

This are nearly the exact words of Malachi in the last book of the Old Testament. And in no other church in the Judeo-Christian world had there every been any interest shown in these verses until Joseph heard them uttered by an angelic visitor. And do you think the young 24-year old Joseph Smith knew at that time what the angel meant?

Of course not. But, today we know and we are seeing the very fulfillment of prophecy that he received in the upstairs bedroom of a frontier farmhouse in 1823. Without this revealed knowledge and power (temple keys and authority), Christ’s coming would be for naught. And, since it’s coming sooner than we had thought just a few months ago, it gives us even more to be thankful for, don’t you think?

It helps put it all into perspective, doesn’t it?

GM JARRARD

In this podcast, Latter Day Radio host Martin Tanner discusses a recent book with his guest, prolific LDS author Gerald Lund, who wrote the Work and the Glory series and many other fiction and nonfiction books for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Conducted live on the air on KLO AM1430 in 2018, this interview focuses on a question that Lund was asked in a fireside years earlier: “Why doesn’t God answer my prayers?” His book examines the question and then provides answers from many different perspectives and sheds light on the many ways that God does, in fact, respond to prayers.

In another segment, a successful high-tech LDS business owner, Ryan Williams, tells how he and a missionary companion in Guatemala years ago turned their friendship and a love for the people they taught first into a successful online travel business, and then into a foundation that builds and supplies desks to schools in that central American country. Williams also recounts how his travel business took thousands of members to the Rome Temple since its opening in 2019 while employing young return missionaries in Italy and the surrounding areas.