In this week’s edition, RFM and Bill sit down with Dan McClellan, former scripture translation supervisor for the LDS Church.

Dan received his bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University in ancient Near Eastern studies, where he focused on Biblical Hebrew and minored in Classical Greek. He completed a master of studies in Jewish studies at the University of Oxford in July of 2010 and a master of arts in biblical studies at Trinity Western University just outside of Vancouver, BC. His areas of specialization are Second Temple Judaism, early Israelite religion, and textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible.

RESOURCES:

https://rsc.byu.edu/author/mcclellan-daniel-o

https://www.tiktok.com/@maklelan?lang=endanielomcclellan.com/

https://hcommons.org/members/maklelan/

https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-20-no-2-2019/far-it-translated-correctly-bible-translation-church

Years ago Jonathan Streeter wrote a blog post titled “Fix your faith crisis with this one weird trick!” that was deeply influential on Bill. So tonight we bring Streeter into the studio to discuss Wood Tools vs Steel Tools and tom recognize when wood tools are being used.

RESOURCES:

https://thoughtsonthingsandstuff.com/

This General Conference had lots of interesting twists and turns that have now had time to ruminate in the minds of RFM and Bill Reel. And this weeks episode involves a dive into the Mormon phenomena known as the April 2023 General Conference of the LDS Church.

RESOURCES OF TALKS DISCUSSED:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYdM8WyYM – Elder Ahmad S. Corbitt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWYXk_7uLbU – Elder Vern R. Stanfill
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0jTa8FG7A8 – Elder Allen D. Haynie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9freQw16qY – Elder Carl B. Cook
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLplozLahP4 – Elder Gerrit W. Gong
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQwObipvTJc – Elder D. Todd Christofferson
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSmP5tnSevI – Elder Neil L. Andersen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQghSMOOYz4 – President Russell M. Nelson

Joseph Smith’s First Vision ushered in the restoration of the Gospel. It had Heavenly Father and His Son coming through the Heavens to visit the young boy in the spring of 1820. This vision leads to the founding of Mormonism. But what is not as well known is that in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, everyone and their brother was having visions and many of them appear to be very similar to Joseph Smith’s. So in this week’s episode Bill and RFM do a comparative analysis on those other Visions to see what can be gleaned and its no small thing what they find.

Youtube Video Version
https://youtube.com/live/Qpl11qiv-28

Outline with Document Images Included
https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/comments/126qmkg/joseph_smiths_first_vision_in_context_a/
https://www.reddit.com/r/exmormon/comments/126nnbx/joseph_smiths_first_vision_in_context_a/

RESOURCES:
https://web.archive.org/web/20180710083455/https://thoughtsonthingsandstuff.com/theophany-mine/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burned-over_district
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Great_Awakening https://archive.org/details/lifecon00smit/page/n13/mode/2up
http://www.mormonstudiespodcast.org/joseph-smith-elias-smith-and-wilford-poulson/
https://archive.org/details/TheReligiousExperienceOfNorrisStearns
http://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/changech6.htm
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/elders-journal-july-1838/16
https://www.watchman.org/articles/mormonism/piecing-together-the-first-vision/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Vision
https://rsc.byu.edu/exploring-first-vision/significance-joseph-smiths-first-vision-mormon-thought
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/site/accounts-of-the-first-vision
https://mit.irr.org/joseph-smiths-changing-first-vision-accounts
https://www.mormonstories.org/truth-claims/joseph-smith/first-vision/
https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/the-prognostication-of-asa-wild/
http://boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/SChamberlain.html
https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/the-visionary-world-of-joseph-smith/
http://www.mormonhandbook.com/home/first-vision-plagiarized.html
https://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn83032054/1831-02-01/ed-1/seq-5/ 
https://archive.org/details/SketchOfExperiencesOfSolomonChamberlin/mode/2up?view=theater&q=apo 
http://boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/SChamberlain.html 
https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p16003coll15/id/40132
https://www.mormonstories.org/podcast/first-vision/ 
https://youtu.be/WB3iwEX8WhY?t=1306
https://rsc.byu.edu/exploring-first-vision/earliest-documented-accounts-joseph-smiths-first-vision
https://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2041501

Tonight RFM and Bill take a look at how both Top Church Leadership and local leaders extend pressure for dissenting voices to be silent. The episode will include individual stories along with the general instruction by top leaders to diminish dissenting voices and at times to altogether silence them.

RESOURCES:

Oaks “Its Wrong to Criticize Leaders” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxyiHLg59ks

Oaks “Questions Are Honored, Opposition is Not” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPeIgjZ0EQg&t=746s

Ballard – “Women don’t talk too much” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlQ4h6tGbnE

Bruce R McConkie – Echo what I Say or be Silent – https://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/mcconkie-to-eugene-england/

RFM has received the the video and audio from his second information request and report back regarding what was turned over by law enforcement. Once again we learn new details that both add clarity and complexity to this case.

BONUS AUDIO: We inserted the cut up audio clips of all three witnesses that we had audio interviews of focusing only on the moment in the hotel room where the traumatic event likely occurred. Notice Bonnie’s admitting she heard the youngest kid but then struggles to answer finally stating she did not hear Derek or the parents in spite of all the yelling and screaming that both parents acknowledge along the way. After her clip are multiple clips of Hana and Nolan where Nolan stammers about what he awoke to finally imposing over multiple points in the interview that Hana was already awake and out of bed dealing with Derek when he awoke out of his sleep but juxtaposed against Hana who intimates at two different points in the interview that her and Nolan seem to have awoke together to the crying of the child and both in an escalated voice tell him to be quiet. Nolan also at one point claims he yelled at Derek to be quiet but how can such be when Hana in both her interview and her re-enactment indicates she screams at Derek in Bed that “he is not breathing”

Many are going through great lengths to justify the massive hoards of wealth the Church has accumulated on the backs of its believers, even going as far as to use scripture. But do these scriptures REALLY justify the accumulation of wealth as the Church and its members would have you believe?

In this week’s episode we discuss the recent news of the Temple Changes and just how far the original Endowment has been altered. And the Second half of the show will involve the recent legal settlement with the LDS Church and it’s Ensign Peak Advisors and culminating with RFM’s lightbulb moment sensing that the Landscape of Mormonism has changed and his novel idea around such.

Temple Changes Resources:

https://religionnews.com/2023/02/10/more-jesus-less-touching-14-changes-to-the-mormon-temple-endowment-ceremony/ 

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/02/09/lds-temple-ceremonies-change/

SEC Alleged Fraud RESOURCES:

SEC Report – https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2023/34-96951.pdf 

SEC Press statement – https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-35 

https://bycommonconsent.com/2023/02/21/the-church-the-investment-advisor-and-the-sec/

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/09/27/heres-deeper-look-how-lds/

https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/09/27/heres-deeper-look-how-lds/

On June 27th 1844, Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet, was martyred at Carthage Jail by a mob. Or at least that is how the generally accepted story goes. In the last 8 months, Justin Griffin (Director & Producer) and Steve Sorensen (Film Maker), have shared their research that maybe things are not what we have been told. They present their experts, their research, and their conclusions that it was in fact John Taylor and Willard Richards that in fact murdered their own prophet in cold blood. RFM and Bill take a look at their research and the testimony of their experts to see what can be seen with a critical eye. Is this research true? Was Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith killed by their friends?

RESOURCES:

whokilledjosephsmith.com

https://www.youtube.com/@jgriffWKJS

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3961&context=byusq

https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/john-tayl

On this week’s episode we sit down with Brent Bokovoy, Writer and Director of the upcoming film “Ronald’s Little Factory”, and we discuss all the twists and turns in Mormon Cinema including your favorites, along with movies you have likely forgotten, as well as one’s you never heard of. We finish out the episode discussing the upcoming film “Ronald’s Little Factory”. Boyd K Packer would have been proud!

RESOURCES:

Ronald’s Little Factory Trailer 1 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcsMBJ6kk6w
Ronald’s Little Factory – The Why behind the Film – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhFnlp9qjc4

EARLY MORMON CINEMA
* A Mormon Maid
* A Victim Of The Mormons
* Brigham Young
LDS PRODUCED CINEMA
* Johny Lingo
* The Pump
*  Legacy
* The Testaments
MODERN MORMON CINEMA
* Virginia
* God’s Army
*  Brigham City
* States of Grace
* The Singles Ward
* The RM
* Baptists At The Barbecue
* Sons Of Provo
* The Home Teachers
* Mobsters And Mormons
* The Book of Mormon Movie
* The Other Side of Heaven
* The Best Two Years
* Saints And Soldiers
* Once I Was A Beehive
POST MORMON CINEMA
* Plan 10 From Outer Space
* Orgazmo
* South Park Episode
* The Book Of Mormon Musical
* Latter Days
* Trapped By The Mormons
* Big Love
* Angels In America
* September Dawn
* The Book Of Zombie
* Electrick Children
* The Falls
* Missionary
* Room 104
SHORT FILMS
* Bad Mormons
* Killer Missionaries
* The Touch Of The Master’s Hand
DOCUMENTARIES
* 8 The Mormon Proposition
* Believer
* Tabloid
RECENT
* Murder Among The Mormons
* Keep Sweet And Obey
* Under The Banner Of Heaven
* Sins of Our Mother
*  Mormon No More
* Abducted In Plain Sight
* A Friend of the Family