This episode of Mormonism Live, we dive into a forgotten battlefield of Utah history — the Black Hawk War — a brutal and devastating conflict between Mormon settlers and Native American tribes that has been largely buried under pioneer myths and whitewashed storytelling. Far from a few isolated raids, the Black Hawk War (1865–1872) was Utah’s deadliest and most destructive conflict, costing hundreds of lives, displacing entire tribes, and forcing Mormon settlements to be abandoned across southern Utah. We’ll explore how this violent chapter unfolded, why the LDS Church worked so hard to minimize it, and the staggering story of Antonga Black Hawk — the baptized Ute leader who fought for his people’s survival and whose remains were later put on public display like a trophy. In this episode, we ask the uncomfortable questions: How did religious manifest destiny fuel the bloodshed? Why was this “war” covered up for so long? And what does reckoning with this history reveal about Mormonism’s legacy of colonization? Get ready — this is the real Mormon history they never taught you in Sunday School.

A fake email account bearing Bill Reel’s name was used to manipulate and deceive—an incident that has raised serious questions about digital ethics, privacy violations, and personal targeting within the post-Mormon space. In this episode, we break down what happened, how the deception unfolded, and why the details point in a very specific direction. From curious inconsistencies to insider-level knowledge, the clues reveal more than the perpetrator may have intended. We’ll walk you through the timeline, the evidence we’ve collected, and the larger implications for trust and accountability in our community. This isn’t just a personal issue—it’s a story that reflects the lengths some will go to silence or sabotage others. Join us as we put the puzzle pieces together and invite you to consider what the facts reveal.

When Joseph Smith died in 1844, the Restoration shattered like a glass dropped from heaven. What followed was a century-spanning explosion of rival prophets, breakaway churches, polygamist kingdoms, angelic messages, and more than one self-crowned king.

In this episode of Mormonism Live, Bill Reel and Radio Free Mormon take you on a deep dive into the wild and fractured world of LDS splinter groups. From the well-known Community of Christ and FLDS to obscure sects like the Cutlerites, Strangites, Bickertonites, and Church of the Firstborn of the Lamb of God, we explore who these groups are, what they believe, and why they broke away from the main LDS Church.

We’ll examine their truth claims, theological quirks, and historical oddities—temple rites in basements, prophets behind bars, reincarnated Nephites, and the never-ending quest for Zion. Whether you’re a seasoned ex-Mormon or just religion-curious, this episode unpacks the Restoration’s lesser-known heirs with humor, history, and a healthy dose of skepticism.

May 10th Event in Saint George – https://donorbox.org/events/760180

Help support Bill Reel & Radio Free Mormon in making informative entertaining content that shines a light on truth and leads with transparency. DONATE VIA DONORBOX! https://donorbox.org/mormonism-live

Join our Mailing List – subscribepage.io/MormonDiscussion

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mormon-discussions-podcasts-full-lineup/id562296100
https://open.spotify.com/show/0lEZJF0ZH6ccoteUP9Z4Fu

Instagram: /https://www.instagram.com/mormondiscussion/
TikTok: @mormondiscussion https://www.tiktok.com/@mormondiscussion
Mormon Discussion Merch store https://www.exmoshirts.com/collections/mormondiscussions
Mormon Discussions Website – https://mormondiscussions.org/

Contact Bill Reel, RFM, and the Mormon Discussions Team: [email protected]

[Mormonism Live: 227] Welcome to the alternate reality where Joseph Smith never practiced polygamy, the angels with swords were just metaphors, and dozens of wives—including teenagers and already-married women—somehow just… didn’t exist. In this week’s episode of Mormonism Live, Bill Reel and Radio Free Mormon are joined by Mormonism Historian Dan Vogel as they dive headfirst into the bizarre and baffling claims of the “Polygamy Deniers”—a fringe group, but growing number of Mormon defenders who insist, against overwhelming historical evidence, that Joseph Smith was monogamous. Armed with logic, primary sources, and just the right amount of snark, we dismantle the contorted reasoning and cherry-picked narratives that fuel this historical revisionism.

Why deny what the historical record screams? What tactics do these deniers use to twist facts into faith-promoting fiction? And why does this matter for modern Mormonism? Join us for a wild ride through the land of bad apologetics, historical amnesia, and the desperate need to preserve a prophet’s purity—no matter the cost to truth. This is one you won’t want to miss.

Come hangout with RFM & Bill in Southern Utah on May 10th – https://donorbox.org/events/760180

Evidence Joseph Smith Practiced Polygamy
Part 1 – https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/144aaam/the_evidence_laid_out_that_joseph_smith_was_the/
Part 2 – https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/144ahjo/the_evidence_laid_out_that_joseph_smith_was_the/
Part 3 https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/144aqlr/the_evidence_laid_out_that_joseph_smith_was_the/

Mormonism & The Charles Anthon Affair

The Strange Meeting That Shaped a Scripture In this episode, we unravel one of the most curious and consequential moments in early Mormon history: the mysterious encounter between Martin Harris and Professor Charles Anthon. Was it a miraculous fulfillment of prophecy… or a carefully staged attempt to lend scholarly credibility to Joseph Smith’s golden plates? We dive into: The origins of the Anthon Transcript and the infamous “Caractors” document Conflicting accounts: Harris’s prophetic tale vs. Anthon’s fraud accusation The strange mix of languages alleged on the Book of Mormon—Egyptian, Chaldaic, Assyriac, Arabic—and what they really meant A compelling theory: Did Joseph Smith lift characters from Adam Clarke’s Bible commentary to impress the experts? Join us as we explore the tangled web of faith, deception, and linguistic sleight of hand that helped launch a movement. Was Professor Anthon duped? Did Harris hear what he wanted to hear? And could this whole event have been engineered to fulfill Isaiah’s “sealed book” prophecy? This is Mormonism & The Charles Anthon Affair — and the questions it raises are just as fascinating as the answers.

Help support Bill Reel & Radio Free Mormon in making informative entertaining content that shines a light on truth and leads with transparency. 

DONATE VIA DONORBOX! https://donorbox.org/mormonism-live

Join our Mailing List – subscribepage.io/MormonDiscussion 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mormon-discussions-podcasts-full-lineup/id562296100

https://open.spotify.com/show/0lEZJF0ZH6ccoteUP9Z4Fu

Instagram: /https://www.instagram.com/mormondiscussion/

TikTok: @mormondiscussion https://www.tiktok.com/@mormondiscussion

Mormon Discussion Merch store https://www.exmoshirts.com/collections/mormondiscussions

Mormon Discussions Website – https://mormondiscussions.org/

Contact Bill Reel, RFM, and the Mormon Discussions Team:

[email protected]

[Mormonism Live 225] What if one of the most foundational parts of the Book of Mormon wasn’t ancient at all—but lifted from a 19th-century Methodist Bible commentary? In this episode, Mormonism Live dives into what may be the most significant academic finding in Mormon studies in decades: compelling evidence that Joseph Smith used Adam Clarke’s biblical commentary—a massive, scholarly work from the early 1800s—as a source while “translating” Isaiah into the Book of Mormon. Based on Colby Townsend’s stunning new paper, we break down direct textual connections, show how Smith edited Isaiah using Clarke’s scholarly notes, and explore what this means for the Church’s truth claims, the notion of “translation,” and the very origin story of the Book of Mormon. This episode could change the conversation around Joseph Smith’s methods forever. Don’t miss this deep dive into what looks like the scholarly smoking gun behind one of Mormonism’s sacred texts.

RESOURCE:
Colby Townsend’s Paper – https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/jbr-2024-0001/html
Interview with Haley Lemmon Wilson https://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/2018/05/haley-lemmon-joseph-smith-translation-revelation-plagiarism

Help support Bill Reel & Radio Free Mormon in making informative entertaining content that shines a light on truth and leads with transparency. 

DONATE VIA DONORBOX! https://donorbox.org/mormonism-live

Join our Mailing List – subscribepage.io/MormonDiscussion 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mormon-discussions-podcasts-full-lineup/id562296100

https://open.spotify.com/show/0lEZJF0ZH6ccoteUP9Z4Fu

Instagram: /https://www.instagram.com/mormondiscussion/

TikTok: @mormondiscussion https://www.tiktok.com/@mormondiscussion

Mormon Discussion Merch store https://www.exmoshirts.com/collections/mormondiscussions
Mormon Discussions Website – https://mormondiscussions.org/

Contact Bill Reel, RFM, and the Mormon Discussions Team:

[email protected]

What happens when your faith tells you that your identity is a flaw to be corrected? In this episode, we sit down with Sam Nieves, a conversion therapy survivor, board member of the Conversion Therapy Survivor Network, and a clinically trained therapist with a background in Cognitive Psychology. Sam takes us deep into his lived experience growing up in Mormonism, where his sexuality and even his skin color were framed through a toxic theology of righteousness. In a LDS/Mormon belief system where “becoming white and delightsome” was once literal doctrine, Sam learned early on to associate purity with whiteness—and straightness. That twisted framework blurred lines in deeply harmful ways, pushing him into the shadows of shame and eventually into conversion therapy. Sam will walk us through the devastating process—how it was initiated, including messaging from MTC leadership, and how it affected his psyche, his sense of self, and his path to healing. This episode doesn’t just expose what goes on behind the closed doors of so-called “conversion therapy”—it empowers vulnerable listeners to recognize red flags and find help. Sam shares insights from both his trauma and his training, offering critical resources and language for anyone caught in similar webs of psychological and spiritual manipulation. Warning: This conversation includes themes of trauma, homophobia, and racial messaging within religious contexts. But it also includes truth, clarity, and hope.
RESOURCES:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/ctsn-exmo-booth-for-utah-pride-2025 

How do U.S. churches take advantage of tax exemptions, and should this be allowed? These and other issues are investigated by filmmaker Nathan Apffel in his upcoming documentary series, “The Religion Business.” And why does Nathan consider the LDS Church to be “the most terrifying” of them all? Join us and find out! [Mormonism Live 223]

RESOURCES:

Instagram: @religionbusiness

https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/controversial-documentary-sheds-light-on-lack-of-accountability-within-religion-301955128.html

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt21070076/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6tDPn5nQ7k

Help support Bill Reel & Radio Free Mormon in making informative entertaining content that shines a light on truth and leads with transparency.

DONATE VIA DONORBOX! https://donorbox.org/mormonism-live

Join our Mailing List – subscribepage.io/MormonDiscussion

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mormon-discussions-podcasts-full-lineup/id562296100

https://open.spotify.com/show/0lEZJF0ZH6ccoteUP9Z4Fu

Instagram: /https://www.instagram.com/mormondiscussion/

TikTok: @mormondiscussion https://www.tiktok.com/@mormondiscussion

Mormon Discussion Merch store https://www.exmoshirts.com/collections/mormondiscussions Mormon Discussions Website – https://mormondiscussions.org/

Contact Bill Reel, RFM, and the Mormon Discussions Team: [email protected]

[Mormonism Live 222] Faith, Finances, and Fraud? Buckle up, because this episode dives into one of the wildest financial moments in Mormon history! (And that’s saying a lot) What happens when a prophet ventures into banking? In the 1830s, Joseph Smith and other early Mormon leaders launched the Kirtland Safety Society, a financial institution built on faith, community trust, and a vision of economic independence. But within just a year, the bank collapsed, leaving behind lawsuits, financial ruin, and a crisis of leadership that sent shockwaves through the early Church. In this episode, we explore: Why Joseph Smith and his followers believed a church-backed bank was the key to building Zion The economic struggles and high-risk decisions that led to the bank’s rapid downfall The legal challenges and accusations of fraud that forced Joseph Smith to flee Kirtland How this financial collapse tested the faith of early believers and reshaped Mormon history Was the Kirtland Safety Society a bold but doomed experiment? A victim of economic turmoil? Or was something more questionable at play? Join us as we unpack the rise and fall of Mormonism’s most infamous financial venture and the lessons it still holds today. No matter where you stand, this is a story worth hearing.

Help support Bill Reel & Radio Free Mormon in making informative entertaining content that shines a light on truth and leads with transparency. 

DONATE VIA DONORBOX! https://donorbox.org/mormonism-live

Join our Mailing List – subscribepage.io/MormonDiscussion 

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/mormon-discussions-podcasts-full-lineup/id562296100

https://open.spotify.com/show/0lEZJF0ZH6ccoteUP9Z4Fu

Instagram: /https://www.instagram.com/mormondiscussion/

TikTok: @mormondiscussion https://www.tiktok.com/@mormondiscussion

Mormon Discussion Merch store https://www.exmoshirts.com/collections/mormondiscussions
Mormon Discussions Website – https://mormondiscussions.org/

Contact Bill Reel, RFM, and the Mormon Discussions Team:

[email protected]

INSIDE THE LDS CHURCH: CONFIDENTIAL RECORDS & THE SCMC EXPOSED! In this bombshell episode, a former Mormon Church employee who worked with confidential records and the Strengthening Church Members Committee (SCMC) comes forward to expose the behind-the-scenes machinations of the LDS Church. From secret surveillance of members to how the Church tracks and manages dissent, to how the Church handles those who ask their names to be removed, this insider reveals shocking details that the Church doesn’t want you to know.

PLEASE CONSIDER DONATING https://mormonismlive.org/Donate-To-Mormonism-Live/

What really happens behind closed doors?

How does the LDS Church monitor and control members?

What’s in those confidential records?

Does the Strengthening Church Members Committee actually spy on people?

This is one Mormonism Live episode you cannot afford to miss. Share this video, spread the truth, and join us in the comments for a deep dive into the secrets of the LDS Church.

Subscribe & hit the bell so you don’t miss future episodes exposing Mormonism’s hidden truths!