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:

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]

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]

In this episode, we continue our deep dive into Ezra Booth's anti-Mormon letters from October 1831, examining how this early apostate mounted his attack against our fledgling church. What fascinates us most is that Booth personally witnessed miracles, including Elsa Johnson's arm being healed, yet later dismissed such spiritual experiences as delusion or deliberate fraud. 

We highlight striking logical contradictions in his arguments: he claims only Joseph saw angels, then attacks witness testimonies about seeing them. His scattershot approach, depicting believers as liars, crazy, or stupid, mirrors modern anti-Mormon rhetoric perfectly. Ironically, Booth himself confirms early church members used "Melchizedek priesthood" language and testified of spiritual experiences, undermining later revisionist claims these were later developments.

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]

We open with incredible news from Sweetwater Rescue: a second Kyulu Stake group reached the Nairobi Kenya Temple and set a record for the most endowments performed in an African temple in a single day.

Gerrit answers a litner’s question on whether or not Brigham Young secretly altered Joseph Smith’s journals to invent polygamy, a claim popular among denialists. Gerrit's dander meter climbs as he unpacks what "revised history" actually meant, why the sources hold up, and the irony of the charge coming from the Bickertonite tradition, which rejects nearly everything Joseph taught after the Book of Mormon.

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]

This episode of the Standard of Truth continues discussing the apostasy of Ezra Booth, a former Methodist minister who joined the early Church after witnessing Joseph Smith heal Elsa Johnson’s arm. 

Gerrit traces Booth’s journey to Missouri in 1831, his disillusionment upon finding the future site of Zion to be a rough frontier town, and his subsequent public renunciation of the faith through nine letters published in the Ohio Star. 

We examine how Booth reframed Mormonism as a deliberate deception rather than sincere belief, and how anti-Mormon arguments shifted from “converts are biblically ignorant” to “converts are insane” once educated ministers joined.

Link to the Norm McDonald’s Better Than Ezra joke:

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]

In this episode we dive deeper into Ezra Booth, ranked #8 in the "Great Apostate Hall of Shame." Once a prominent Methodist minister leading anti-Masonry campaigns in Ohio, Booth's conversion to Mormonism shocked his community and sparked heated newspaper responses. 

We examine his miraculous experiences witnessing the instant healing of Eliza Johnson and attending the historic June 1831 ordination of high priesthood in Kirtland, where Satan allegedly manifested to disrupt proceedings. Yet despite these profound spiritual experiences, Booth would soon apostatize, becoming one of the Church's most vocal and cruel enemies. The episode explores how even those who witness divine power can fall away, emphasizing the importance of daily spiritual practice.

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]

In this episode, Gerrit pays a heartfelt tribute to Eric Smith, a beloved Joseph Smith Papers colleague and devoted listener who recently passed after a long battle with cancer, complete with the legendary tales of stolen break-room milk and a service missionary's knuckle-deep Oreo heist. 

The mailbag delivers a live-show love story, a a testimony-strengthening note from Kimberly, and a listener's run-in with anti-Mormon radio. That sparks a robust discussion on how critics caricature Latter-day Saint belief without ever reading Doctrine and Covenants 76. Poor Ezra Booth gets bumped yet again.

Gina and Eric’s Cancer Relief Fund

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]

Richard braves self-diagnosed tuberculosis as he and Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat dig into the mailbag: identical twins listening from two different Zions, an ambitious MTC zone leader, and a great question from Joni. Did a prophet really call Del Parson's red-robe painting the most accurate likeness of Christ? Gerrit explains why that's folklore, and why the anti-Catholic climate of the Second Great Awakening made images of Jesus and even crosses on churches, unthinkable for early American Protestants. 

Then the Great Apostates Hall of Shame lands at #8: Ezra Booth, the Methodist minister converted by a miraculous healing in the Hiram, Ohio home, who reportedly walked away once he realized the Restored Church offered no paid clergy.

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]