Standard of Truth

Joseph Smith, the "Mormon Muhammad." First, Vinny, Sal, and Tony set the Notre Dame–Miami line in a Vegas back room, and Betty writes that a BYU professor praised Gerrit's work debunking the Nancy Rigdon letter. 

Then back to Galatians 1:8 and the claim that a gospel from an angel must be false. We read the earliest press on the Saints: an 1831 report that Mormons think Joseph is Jesus and that Christ will return in Philadelphia, a Presbyterian's letter from Ohio, and Mormonism Unveiled comparing Saints bound for Missouri to pilgrims at Muhammad's tomb. 

The New York Herald ran the Muhammad line for years, printed Joseph's poetic version of D&C 76 while mocking him, and by 1855 said the only way out was over the corpse of Mormondom or of Christianity.

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We meant to get to Muhammad. Instead, this became the Lord's Prayer episode. Elder Harris writes from Brazil, asking why so many people there recite the Our Father. We open Matthew 6, where Jesus warns against praying to be seen and against vain repetitions, then gives a prayer, since your Father knows what you need before you ask. 

We cover the Joseph Smith Translation's "suffer us not to be led into temptation," the Didache telling early Christians to pray it three times a day, and the Puritans' 1645 opening prayer about their own vileness. Plus Cromwell in Ireland, John Calvin cough drops, and how new the sinner's prayer is. We end on why a Catholic reciting it is an act of faith, and a reminder that nothing separates you from the love of Christ.

If you are interested in joining us in 2027 in Palmyra and Kirtland, August 1st through August 7th, click on the link below and reserve your spot:

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In part two of our Galatians 1:8 series, we return to the claim that an angel bringing “another gospel” proves Mormonism false. Gerrit then the argument back to 1831, reading from Abner Cole’s Palmyra Reflector and Alexander Campbell. Both compared Joseph Smith to Muhammad before the Church was even a year old. We also talk about why quick social media charts misrepresent what most Christians actually believe. 

If you are interested in joining us in 2027 in Palmyra and Kirtland, August 1st through August 7th, click on the link below and reserve your spot:

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A missionary in the Philippines asks why early Saints never made the sign of the cross. A new dad, writing from the delivery room, asks about Joseph Smith’s politics and how they compare with President Oaks’s recent address. Gerrit explains the political manifesto, why Moses Thatcher was removed from the Twelve, and how sugar beets pushed Church leaders toward tariffs. 

Then they take on a viral meme that groups Joseph Smith with Muhammad under Galatians 1:8. Gerrit walks through angels bringing new messages, from Abraham to John’s Revelation, and asks where the Bible says revelation ended.

If you are interested in joining us in 2027 in Palmyra and Kirtland, August 1st through August 7th, click on the link below and reserve your spot:

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We break down the October 2026 General Conference. The heart of the episode: President Christofferson's address on gambling. Richard debuts a montage of the duo's many tongue-in-cheek nods to President Hinckley's 2005 talk.

If you are interested in joining us in 2027 in Palmyra and Kirtland, August 1st through August 7th, click on the link below and reserve your spot:

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Heidi writes mid-labor to ask about D&C 76: does rejecting the gospel in this life really cap you at the terrestrial kingdom? We discuss that we simply don't know what fully constitutes a person's opportunity to accept Christ, and that a bitter, door-slammed missionary is nobody's final judge. Joseph Smith's own teachings point to a far more merciful God. 

That flows into a heavyweight take on "after all we can do" (2 Nephi 25:23): Pelagius, Calvinism vs. Arminianism, evangelicalism's assurance-of-salvation hybrid, and President Oaks's "Have You Been Saved?" The through-line: we're saved only by grace, and living prophets, not proof-texts, tell us how that grace applies.

If you are interested in joining us in 2027 in Palmyra and Kirtland, August 1st through August 7th, click on the link below and reserve your spot:

https://pci.jotform.com/form/261567888174171

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We crack open an all-missionary mailbag with letters from the Philippines, Cincinnati, and beyond. Then the big question: was Cincinnati really cursed by Joseph Smith? We dig into D&C 61, trace how "well nigh ripened for destruction" shifted across the manuscript versions, and follow Orson F. Whitney's later meetinghouse dedication, settling the folklore with actual sources (plus a spirited defense of five-way chili). 

A tender Yom Kippur reflection on grace we don't deserve gives way to the 1831 Lockport Balance's "Gold Bible" hit piece, where an over/under on "Joe" mentions reveals how casually, and confidently, falsehoods get printed.

Broadcasting from Medellín, Pablo Escobar's 200 feral hippos and all

If you are interested in joining us in 2027 in Palmyra and Kirtland, August 1st through August 7th, click on the link below and reserve your spot:

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We celebrate 10 million downloads, the arrival of video recordings of the podcast, and a missionary listener who has built a four-generation podcast family tree using "phone checks" on exchanges. 

After Nauvoo and before St. George, where did the Saints receive their endowments? Gerrit walks through the Council House, the Endowment House, and Addison Pratt's 1849 endowment atop Ensign Peak, and why exceptions belong to God and His prophets, not to us. A listener shares how the podcast helped a friend through a faith crisis. Gerrit also reads a Shaker elder's 1830 journal account of Oliver Cowdery's visit: an early description of translation by spectacles and hat, and a rejection of the Book of Mormon because it fails to preach celibacy.

If you are interested in joining us in 2027 in Palmyra and Kirtland, August 1st through August 7th, click on the link below and reserve your spot:

Sign up for our free monthly email: ⁠ ⁠⁠https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com⁠⁠ (https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com/)

If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email us at: ⁠⁠[email protected]

If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email us at: ⁠⁠[email protected]

The heart of the episode is a Lyceum dive into a March 16, 1841 discourse of Joseph Smith on the Second Coming and the Millennium. Joseph taught that the wicked won't all be destroyed at Christ's coming, that non-members will remain through the Millennium, and that Christ will come and go rather than reside on earth continuously. We trace how Brigham Young echoed these ideas in Civil War-era sermons, contrast pre-, post-, and amillennial views, and close on the expansive, near-universal scope of salvation in Latter-day Saint theology.

We also talk about college football, the perils of a name like "Kjersta," and the news that Richard’s son (Elder Parker LeDuc) finally requested podcast access after 34 days in the Mexico MTC (while Kai skips the overbooked Philippine MTC entirely and heads straight to the field). 

If you are interested in joining us in 2027 in Palmyra and Kirtland, August 1st through August 7th, click on the link below and reserve your spot:

https://pci.jotform.com/form/261567888174171

Sign up for our free monthly email: ⁠ ⁠⁠https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com⁠⁠ (https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com/)

If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email us at: ⁠⁠[email protected]

Richard hadn't showered in days, his water heater's dead, and his family staged an intervention over his baggy clothes. We read emails from listeners and missionaries, including an elder serving in the California Ontario Mission, whose Gen Z slang ("capping," "yapping") had us reaching for a translation guide. Then we got into apostate #8: Ezra Booth. A former Methodist minister and early high priest, Booth apostatized barely a year into the Church and published the first widely reprinted insider attacks on Joseph Smith, fuel for Eber Howe's Mormonism Unveiled. We dug into Sidney Rigdon's public debate challenge, D&C 71, and why Booth grasped prophetic authority better than today's splinter movements. The takeaway, vet your sources and stay close to the prophets.

If you are interested in joining us in 2027 in Palmyra and Kirtland, August 1st through August 7th, click on the link below and reserve your spot:

Sign up for our free monthly email: ⁠ ⁠⁠https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com⁠⁠ (https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com/)

If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email us at: ⁠⁠[email protected]