Sic Et Non

  We’re surrounded in this remote area of southeastern Utah by magnificent vistas and fascinating geology.  And yet, one of the great things here, with the three other couples who have come here with us, as well as elsewhere is time spent simply talking, sharing stories, reflecting on our deepest believes.  I always think, in […]

  Yet another new item has been posted on the moribund website of the Interpreter Foundation:  Nibley Lectures: Come, Follow Me Book of Mormon Lesson 38: “Lift Up Your Head and Be of Good Cheer”: 3 Nephi 1-7. This week for Come, Follow Me lesson 38 covering 3 Nephi 1-7, we have lectures 80, 81, […]

  I attended the funeral this morning of my friend James Brown Allen, who passed away recently in his ninety-eighth year.  In my experience, the faith-filled funeral services of good people are among the best and most inspirational of meetings, and this one was no exception. Neal Lambert, like the Allens a resident of the […]

  We were fortunate in casting a remarkable “Joseph Smith” (aka Paul Wuthrich, whom many of you will also know through his leading role in Escape from Germany) in our movie Witnesses.  And we knew that we would need to be similarly fortunate in our casting of a Brigham Young for Six Days in August. […]

  IMPORTANT:  For those who are in Utah Valley, or who may or can be in the vicinity on the evening of Wednesday, 25 September, I would like to announce a major fireside.  It will take place at the SCERA Center for the Arts, in Orem.  I hope that you will make plans to be […]

  Two new articles have gone up on the website of the never-changing and completely dead website of the Interpreter Foundation: “The Man with No Name: The Story of the Brother of Jared as an Anti-Babel Polemic,” written by Walker Wright Abstract: Within the text of the Book of Mormon, the name of Jared’s brother […]

  Somehow I missed it when it occurred, but an article written by . . .  well, written by me went up a couple of days ago in Meridian Magazine:  “Hearing Wilford Woodruff’s Testimony in His Own Voice.”  I hope that you’ll read it.  And I hope that you’ll enjoy it. Also in the “me […]

  As the release date for Six Days in August approaches, I find myself thinking about the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, the Patriarch. Thomas Sharp and his conspirators down in Warsaw to the south, and the mob that did the deed in Carthage to the east, thought that, by […]

  This is a stunning story about the converting power of the Book of Mormon and about the motivating power of personal faith:  “Refugee walks 728 miles to be baptized after reading Book of Mormon: Amos Makulu walked across Tanzania to be baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now […]

  Last night, my wife and I watched a video — not quite an hour long — entitled Pioneers of Africa.  Directed by Marcy Brown and produced at least partially under the auspices of Brigham Young University, it’s about the limited, tentative, and awkward approaches of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to […]

  On 28 August 2024, I recorded a lecture in connection with the Interpreter Foundation’s approaching Mesoamerica tour.  It was entitled “The Importance, and Non-Importance, of Knowing the Geography of the Book of Mormon,” and it is now up on the Interpreter Foundation website.  Truth be told, it wasn’t one of my better outings — […]

  I’ve fallen a bit behind, so it’s high time to catch up: These two pieces appeared on Friday on the Interpreter Foundation’s completely comatose website: “Restoring Melchizedek Priesthood,” written by John S. Thompson Abstract: Church historical sources make four differing claims as to when, how, and by whom Melchizedek priesthood was restored. These seemingly […]

  One or two folks have shown up on my blog attacking Brigham Young as greedy and corrupt.  Brigham enriched himself, they say, by giving himself interest-free loans from Church funds in order to establish businesses.  The lesson, supposedly, is that, if you want to become rich, you should become the head of a church. […]

  Somewhat spontaneously — we didn’t make the decision until last night — we drove down to Cedar City today to catch as much as we’re able to catch of this year’s Utah Shakespeare Festival.  Owing to our crammed travel schedule last season, we were unable to attend.  Prior to that, though, we hadn’t missed […]

  Mark Goodman, James Jordan, Russ Richins, and I had already been talking, while we were still working on Witnesses and Undaunted: Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, about what, if anything, we would like to do next.  We were actually pretty sure that, if we could, we wanted to do another film.  But what […]

  Professor John Turner, a member of the faculty at Virginia’s George Mason University who is not a Latter-day Saint, is the focus of the newest very short video clip (“Ask God Whether It is True”) from the Interpreter Foundation.  These clips have been drawn from the 2022 Interpreter Foundation docudrama Undaunted: Witnesses of the […]

  Correcting the falsehoods regularly purveyed by my Malevolent Stalker and his handful of zealous disciples over at the Peterson Obsession Board could easily be a full-time job if I permitted it to be.  Sometimes, though, I do find it advisable to publicly contradict their allegations and accusations.  Now is one of those times.  I’ll […]

  In our priesthood meeting today, we considered the address given by Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles at the most recent annual General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  It is entitled “Covenant Confidence through Jesus Christ.”  The passage in his remarks that most stood out […]

  I’m pleased to report that a full video recording of the lectures given on Saturday, 10 August 2024, by Royal Skousen (“The Innovative and Revolutionary Book of Mormon Critical Text Project”) and Stanford Carmack (““The Archaic Language of the Original Book of Mormon”) has now been posted on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:  “The […]

  It’s Friday, so — once again, as happens with tiresome regularity, new materials have appeared on the website of the Interpreter Foundation: ““That They May Know That They Are Not Cast Off Forever”: Jewish Lectionary Elements in the Book of Mormon,” written by Bradley J. Kramer Abstract: It is not uncommon for Jews who […]