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Two friends, one brother
S4E2 · Obscure Anti Argument
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Standard of Truth · Season 4 · Episode 2 · 1:12:43

Obscure Anti Argument

Arnold Potter, a Latter-day Saint in 1850s San Bernardino, declared himself 'Potter Christ,' reportedly tattooed it on his forehead, and by one account died leaping off a cliff to fly.

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The question ·
Recently we received a missionary reference from online. So we called him and he began to talk about someone named Arnold Potter and he claims to be the Mormon Christ. I'm not sure who he is or honestly what's happening.
Rigden (listener)

Gerrit's brother Dallin joins Gerrit and Richard for Idaho winters, irrigation pipe and spiders before Rigden, Richard's missionary son in Peru, asks who Arnold Potter was. Gerrit traces Potter from a faithful letter to Brigham Young, to excommunication in San Bernardino after he claimed to be Christ, to a pamphlet about an angel named Moroni carrying his manuscript, and to his 1870 newspaper prophecies from Council Bluffs. The story is funny, but Gerrit draws two serious lessons. Anyone who says they're Jesus isn't, and unsettled times make people open to anyone who promises answers. He closes on polygamy as the hardest topic for American Latter-day Saints, and on not taking a teacher's word over the prophets just because we like them.

Who comes upArnold PotterBrigham YoungJoseph SmithMoroni
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Two friends, one brother

Gerrit introduces his brother Dallin, the attorney worried about their gambling talk.

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Intro Welcome to the Standard of Truth Podcast. In this podcast, Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat and Professor Richard LeDuc explore the early history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the life and teachings of Prophet Joseph Smith. They examine the original historical sources and provide context for events of the past. They approach the history of the Church with faith, expertise and humor.
Gerrit Hi, welcome to another episode of the Standard of Truth podcast. I'm your host, Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat, and I'm joined by two friends, actually. So I know most of you thought I only had one friend. And in fact, I am cheating a little bit on the second one because I'm joined by my friend, Professor Richard LeDuc, and I'm joined by my other friend, but he's forced to be my friend because he's my brother, Dallin Dirkmaat, is also joining us.
Other Hello.
Richard Hello, Gerrit. It's nice to have him with us here as any time as an attorney, he's concerned that sometimes we're straying a little further than we ought.
Gerrit He said something about giving unlicensed gambling advice. It was very, I don't know.
Other Yeah, I know that Richard and Gerrit don't gamble, but I did make the comment to Gerrit, how does Richard always know the line though?
Gerrit I mean, guys. For entertainment purposes only, he reads betting lines from Caesar's. Those are the two things he reads.
Richard For entertainment purposes only. We correctly predicted obviously the college championship. Who would win the playoff? Who'd win the championship?
Gerrit I don't remember that. Was that on tape for people? Because I feel like-
Richard Oh, I don't know that we actually recorded it by now.
Gerrit Yeah.
Richard I do know that we accurately predicted it.
Gerrit So on Michigan, I mean, it was crazy.
Richard So like we said, we knew Michigan would win, we knew Washington would win, we knew that in the championship game that Michigan or Washington-
Gerrit I like, have a big pause. We're going to cut out whichever way like, wasn't it great to see Washington win? It was amazing the way they won. Then do the same thing with Michigan. Yeah, and if we end up leaving this in, you'll know that we're as bad of editors as we are at picking games. Although, speaking of picking games, we did have, we've had a couple of people tell us, thank you for our picks that are weeks after the game is over. The weird part is we're talking about it long after the game is over, still wrong on the picks. I mean, that's the funny part.
Richard Oh yeah. No, it's very exciting. We're excited for a full new season, season four, where we're going to be more correct on our sports picks several weeks in the rears. We have an actually very odd question, very interesting, very obscure question that we're being answered.
Gerrit Where would this odd question come from? Someone who's very odd?
Richard It is actually. It came from friend of the show Rigdon. I don't know what he's running into down in Peru, but boy.
Gerrit He's getting asked a question in Peru that Richard Turley wouldn't be asked by the Salt Lake Tribune. That's where we're at. He wouldn't have someone trying to do a vice report asking him a question like that.
Richard Friend of the show, the Salt Lake Tribune. We do have a couple of e-mails here in the Phebe Draper mailbag. This first one, and I do apologize if I mispronounced the name. I believe it's Danae. Apologize if that is not. If it's Dana where the E is silent, I apologize. As a person who regularly has his name slaughtered, I do apologize if I've mispronounced it. Dear Gerrit and Richard, I just want to say thank you for making me laugh. I wanted to show that my husband and I are doing our best to keep you on brand with captive audiences. Officer R, that's a reference to who regularly, while arresting people, plays our podcast while they're in the back and they cannot.
Gerrit We're waiting for the Supreme Court to hand down that that's cruel and unusual punishment, but still going through the appeals process.
Richard She sends a picture, by the way, and the picture is very, very funny. By the way, these are the kinds of things that I didn't talk to Gerrit about prior to the show. What I said, a fan page that allows for, because the best part about the podcast actually has nothing to do with Gerrit or myself. It's all of the people that listen to the show are absolutely hilarious. We'd love for a way to be able to communicate. We'll figure that out. We'll get to that probably November, December, March of next year. Anyway, so she's-
Gerrit We'll probably get that fan page up sometime around when we start doing polygamy. And I don't even mean on the show, I mean practicing it.
Richard Season 37.
Gerrit Season 37, that way we could explain ourselves in season 38.
Richard That's right. Anyway, so she sent the picture of her- These are our 15-year-old twin daughters who are clearly enthralled with your lecture on unreputable sources during one of our drives over the Christmas break. They could not have possibly seemed less interested. Yeah. I've got kids that aren't interested.
Gerrit It was either they were listening to our podcast or they had put in the best of the nitty-gritty dirt band and were playing it. It was one of the two, but they were already past Fishing in the Dark, so that's it. They had nothing else.
Richard I've been serving with youth in church callings for 20 years, so I know uninterested youth. I will tell you right now, I have never seen more disinterested. The picture is absolutely hilarious.
Gerrit Thank you for forcing captives to listen today.
Richard Today, I dropped off my college freshman daughter, so she could catch a ride with her cousin to Rexburg, Idaho. Rexburg, this time of year though, lovely, isn't it?
Gerrit Oh, lovely. Everyone says, if I could just get to Rexburg in January, I'd be happy.
Richard So, how does Shelley compare to Rexburg in terms of frigidness?
Other That's about the same. It's only a 40-minute drive, so it's pretty similar. We are slightly lower in elevation, but I don't think it's much different.
Richard So, just absolutely tropical, lovely.
Gerrit The crazy part is that, like, you know, Idaho is cold wherever you live. I get it. I get it. But you're from, like, the Caribbean side of Idaho, essentially, compared to where we live.
Richard It's the scene in Muppet's Christmas.
Gerrit Carol when they threaten the mice, and then they start shaking.
Richard That's what Nampa, Idaho, is compared to Shelly and Rexburg, Idaho.
Gerrit And that is funny because you're roughly the same latitude, but it's as if God was like, I'm only going to bless this side of the state. I mean, we never, in my memory, we never had a winter that didn't get below zero at some point. I mean, it always got at some point below zero. I'm guessing you only once in a great while went below zero.
Richard Yeah, we had, I think we had a stretch. Now again, this is me remembering with, you know, my being a third, this is a reminiscent account.
Gerrit And from a known liar. Well, you gotta look at all of the aspects of the source.
Other When people ask me how it was like to grow up in Eastern Idaho, and I do love it there, but I would tell them, hey, it was great, except for the wind, all the mosquitoes and the incredible cold.
Gerrit Other than that, it was great.
Richard Other than that, yeah.
Gerrit Oh, so if you only stayed inside, it was great. The problem was no one had any air conditioning and there was no cable TV. So yeah, you can stay inside. It's just that when you do...
Other I literally didn't know anyone growing up that had air conditioning growing up. It was unheard of. Are you serious?
Richard No one did. Swamp coolers?
Gerrit How you knew that someone was rich in Shelley is they would have air conditioning. And you would actually say things like, yeah, I went over to the, you know, I'll just make, I just say the so-and-so's because I don't want anyone in Shelley like, hey, we've always had air conditioning. No, you haven't. I know because I was in your houses at the dead of summer. I'm well aware you didn't have it. You can say you have it now. I get it. It's cheaper now, but back then you didn't have it. Anyway, you would know, you'd be like, oh yeah, we went over to the so-and-so's. Yeah, they have air conditioning. It makes it sound like we're from the depression.
Other I mean, people here and there would have a window unit. That's not the same thing. I was one of my 20s before I realized there was a thing called central air where the AC got pumped through the whole house. So that's more what I'm talking about.
Gerrit Well, my parents, they believed in the type of air conditioning that involved opening windows regardless of what was going on outside. Something really weird about Southeast Idaho. I don't know if it's because we're by, we were right by the Snake River, but there is an inordinate amount of bugs for a place that gets to negative 20 in the wintertime. How are the bugs not dying? I'll tell you what, you go outside on a summer night, there are so many moths and bugs that nats out. Oh yeah, how many times have I eaten nats? I mean, I feel like the parable, right? I couldn't strain it in that. If I tried to strain it in that, it would be a camel. There were so many. And spiders galore. Our house, hopefully when Renee listens to this, she realizes that this is all in good fun.
Gerrit I mean, we did survive, but we also survived when there was a considerable number of spiders. What would the spider ratio think?
Other I was insane. Hundreds and hundreds of spiders per square foot. It was like ragnophobia in our basement.
Gerrit Yeah, it was not, are you going to see a spider today? It's how close is that spider going to be to you? And what's your reaction time going to be on your shoe? I mean, it was great, but...
Other I didn't know exterminators were a thing either until I got older. That never happened either.
Gerrit Yeah, well, you know, I mean, they were busy spending all of their money helping educate us. No, I mean, look, we had a great childhood. I mean, we did, and we loved growing up there. But Dallin did want to throw a little shade, I think, on a previous story that was told, which, you know, just remember this is a biased source. Just remember that there's bias, there's confirmation bias. And on top of that, I'm pretty sure he has the wrong picks for the Florida State Georgia game.
Other No, on a previous episode, I was accused of throwing a certain Gerrit down the stairs. And I just want to say for all older brothers out there who know, you know he had it coming. I mean, I'm just going to say, hey, older brothers, we know. We know that he deserved it. I don't even remember what it was about, but I know he deserved it.
Gerrit You do remember mom, however, saying you're going to break the stairs.
Other I do remember that. It's been a family joke for quite some time now. Yeah, no, Eastern Idaho was great. I love it. I love all the people there. The best people in the world. I even wanted to move back there. I left pretty much when I was 18 and wanted to go back my entire life. I never made it. I still live in Arizona now. But yeah, it's a beautiful place.
Richard Mostly the opposite of Eastern Idaho.
Other Don't want to hurt any feelings.
Gerrit Yeah, he went to a place that is getting up to 120 in the summertime. The thing is, it got hot in Southeast Idaho.
Other It would get up to 100 degrees. And the deer flies would let you know that was biting you as you're working in the fields.
Gerrit Speaking of that, yeah, we would work in the fields, moving pipe. And there are, I mean, whatever plague Moses called down from Egypt got nothing on the amount of deer flies in Southeast Idaho. I mean, it was biblical. And if you've ever been bit by a deer, these are these flies that they suck your blood, they land on, they've got like little speckled wings and they got a big old sharp snaggletooth. They put it, it's not like a mosquito where it's like, hey, was I bit? If one of those things bite you, you feel it. Yeah, you're telling people where your grandmother hides her money.
Other Yeah, it doesn't itch after you get bit, but it hurts when they do bite. And we got really good as we moved the pipe across the field from the designated furrow from where they came to holding the pipe with one hand and with our offhand swinging it around us like crazy, smacking these suckers. They would come on heavy in July and August for sure.
Gerrit But yeah, we were getting paid the gigantic sum of 10 cents per giant irrigation pipe that we moved 50 feet. That's 14 years. Yeah, so you would go out and you would work for hours getting bit. It was always at 4 a.m. and you would come home at the end of working for 2 or 3 hours. You've made $9. And then the government's going to say, who's FICA? You know, you're going to lose a whole bunch from that.
Richard Yeah, well, to answer your question, 20 below.
Gerrit Is the cold?
Richard About 10 minutes ago, you asked me a question. So, by the way, Becky, she would say you were overpaid because she was paid nothing to do the same work.
Gerrit Yeah, but it was a family farm. We were hired laborers.
Other We were like the Smiths.
Gerrit We were being hired out because of our laborers. Because we didn't even find any seer stones.
Richard She also did not have air conditioning. They had a window unit.
Gerrit Did your family have air conditioning?
Richard My family did, yeah. Whoa! We were the Rockefellers.
Gerrit La-dee-dah, Your Highness. No wonder your last name is Duke.
Richard We had air conditioning.
Gerrit This has been a fun family reunion, but let's get to Rigdon's question.
Richard Well, so let me finish.
Gerrit No, no. I'd never let you finish.
Richard So she's driving with her cousin to Rexburgado feeling blue on the 45-minute drive back. Thank goodness it was Thursday, and I had the latest episode to listen to. I had a good chuckle over Rick Duke's top five list. I am aware I misspelled Duke, but Duke looks like it should be pronounced Duck. Sorry, it does, by the way. Everyone does that.
Gerrit We're going to hire a voiceover person, and by that I mean just anybody, to sing like Rick D's weekly top 40. We're going to have someone, Rick Dukes in the weekly email, something like that.
Richard Even though I did read Super Fudge, by the way, so with Super Fudge, not only did, it was my book report for four straight years, from third to sixth grade. Tales of a Fourth Grade, Nothing, Also, Classic, and Fudgeamania several times during my childhood. I couldn't have told you what the first line was for many of those books. As for the Pride and Prejudice quote, how dare Dr. Dirkmaat call himself a historian with a PhD and not know that quote for shame.
Gerrit I don't have a PhD in literature. I mean, I'd be making somehow be making more money, but I have a history PhD, but no, I look, I obviously, I've only read Pride and Prejudice once. I mean, I hate to admit that. I've read, you know, The Guns of August, which is a World War I history, probably like 15 times, but I've only read Pride and Prejudice once. I've read A Tale of Two Cities like, I don't know, a lot.
Richard Someday my husband and I would like to join you on one of your tours. Sadly, my elementary school principal husband can't get away for a weekend during the month of June. Washington State School Districts generally don't get out until mid-June, and we kind of need his income so we can continue paying for my addiction to the premium content.
Gerrit Wow, as we glut ourselves.
Richard As we glut ourselves. Thanks for the informative testimony building and humorous podcast that you share with us every week.
Gerrit Well, that's awesome, Dave. Thank you so much. And all I can say to your husband is, I mean, it's pretty easy to embezzle from the school district, isn't it? I mean, unless anyone from the school district's listening, but you said Washington, so I'm... Do we have any listeners in Washington besides today? Is that it?
Richard We have more listeners currently in China than we do in Washington.
Gerrit Right. One of our listeners took a trip to China and has said he's going to download as many things as he can when he's there. So you're going to see us rocking up the chart in the People's Republic. It's going to be a big deal.
Richard So this email comes to us from a friend of the show Rigdon. That's how he signs the email, by the way.
Gerrit Recently- He doesn't want to be known as your son.
Richard I don't blame him. I have a very negative Q rating in Peru. Recently we received a missionary reference from online. So we called him and he began to talk about someone named Arnold Potter and he claims to be the Mormon Christ. I'm not sure who he is or honestly what's happening. Now, before we get into that, Gerrit-
Gerrit He's that generally being on the mission in Peru. Cause he got some emergency transfer to like an area that looked like the moonscape.
Richard Well, I mean, he has been, I mean, he's only been out six months. I also didn't know what was going on. I don't have a top five, Gerrit, but I do have a top three, a Rick Duke's top three of-
Gerrit Oops, and the weekly top three.
Richard My favorite, my favorite Arnold's. So number three, Arnold Peters. Canadians might know him. He was on a radio soap opera for 31 years. He's my third favorite Arnold, Arnold Peters.
Gerrit I feel like you're setting the bar in a way that other Arnold's can't compete.
Richard Number two is Arnold Schwarzenegger. Yeah, Arnold Schwarzenegger. And my number one Arnold is Arnold Palmer.
Gerrit Right.
Richard While we don't drink tea, what he has contributed to both the drink and the golf game is legendary. So top.
Gerrit Very good. Top Arnold. So there were other Arnold's. I mean, what have you taken Arnold as a last name? Would Tom Arnold have made it?
Richard That really opens up a whole new world. You know what? Let me get the research staff on that. Let's get back to you on that.
Gerrit Okay, sounds good. Let's let the research staff, they've been kind of dogging it lately anyway. Well, let me just say this. When you talk about obscure questions, I believe I emailed Rigdon.
Richard Yeah, you did. You did respond and your response was, wow, that's the most obscure reference anyone has ever pulled out.
Gerrit Yeah, I mean, he's in Peru, by the way.
Other Like, he's getting matched by it.
Richard Yeah, it's great.
Gerrit Someone's like, hey, so why don't you tell me about this Arnold guy whose name was Jesus? And it wasn't Arnold towards the dagger. You know what I mean? It was, you know, it was, someone's using it as an attack. This story is too good to not tell. Now people listening are going to be saying, wait a minute, I joined this show for the poor gambling tips, even though we don't gamble. I joined this show for the banter that I then complain about. I joined this show for a lot of reasons. I don't join it to learn about someone from the 1850s who thought they were Jesus.
Richard Well, it is funny as well that we started season, season four started with a bang where you provided real value on the original preface to the Book of Mormon as people started the, start studying the Book of Mormon. And now we're to episode two, Arnold Potter.
Gerrit Yeah, I feel like that's gonna be super catchy. I feel like people are going to, I wanted to see the premium spike and this is what I think is going to do it. So let's talk about this Arnold Potter. Not a good golfer. So he's a member of the church that joins the church and he's actually a member of a branch in 1845 and is going to make his way across to Utah. Now up to this point, I don't know enough about him when he was in his younger days, but up to this point, he appears to be a faithful member. Now he's going to go down to San Bernardino. Now early on, San Bernardino was kind of like a Latter-day Saint enclave in Southern California. Many of the members of the Mormon battalion, some of them settled there. There were other Latter-day Saints who moved there.
Gerrit So you actually have a kind of really interesting early history of Latter-day Saints in San Bernardino, which might be more interesting than the history I'm about to tell, but it's not going to be more fun. So one of the first things we have in the Church Archives, I mean, like we have his name on lists and stuff like that. But one of the first things we have in the Church Archives is a letter, and there's a little bit of foreshadowing here, just a little bit, to Brigham Young. So my first time hearing about Arnold Potter, not to be confused with Harry Potter. What if I would have done your favorite Potters? I mean...
Richard Oh man. All right, we're gonna get the correct research staff on favorite Potters and favorite person with the last name Arnold.
Gerrit Yeah, there we go. Is because he writes a letter to Brigham Young. So it's in the Brigham Young correspondence from the 1850s. He writes this letter to Brigham Young, and at this point, you can tell the guy appears to be faithful. So let me just read this. It's a very brief letter. Let me read part of it for you.
Other I'm looking at it here on the screen. It's beautiful. He has beautiful writing. Yeah, it's gorgeous.
Gerrit Look, if you are going to later claim that you're the Messiah, you better get some calligraphy in. I've always said that. I've always, it's one of the things.
Richard You've always said that.
Gerrit Well, look, who's gonna believe that you happen to be the perfect son of God, but also can't form a Y very well? I mean, you've gotta have the ability to show it. San Bernardino, February 15th, 1856. To Brother Brigham Young, Dear Brother Young, I take my pen to address you a few lines to you. Okay, so he's already pretty poor on the grammar. To address you a few lines to you.
Other He was busy in clear of your class.
Gerrit Yeah, exactly. I have from the upper country, I've come from the upper country in the last July with my family and brother CC. Rich. That's Charles C. Rich. Charles Rich, the apostle called me on a mission. On what means I had to spare after paying my tithing, brother Rich has appointed me a mission to Australia. Now I know we have some very faithful Australian listeners. I mean, they're both faithful to the gospel and I think they also listen to the podcast sometimes. And so he is called to go as one of the early missionaries to go on a mission to Australia, to start soon after April conference. Again, this is 1856. My request to you is if it meets your approbation to appoint my nephew to go with him, to go with me and he is a good boy and full of faith.
Gerrit And as we have both agreed to go on a mission is appointed, I shall be ready soon as long, let's see here, as soon as, sorry, as soon as he can, as soon as we can after the conference. Sorry, there's kind of a smudge. It's hard to tell what that is. Myself and a brother William Bickmore is doing the best we can as teachers here this winter. Okay, so that sounds like a pretty faithful thing. I mean, it is a little, hey, do you mind if I bring my, bring my nephew with me, but that's not a terrible thing. Right, yours and the new covenant forever, Arnold Potter of 16th quorum of the seventies. Now, remember back then, there were even more quorums of the seventies than there are now, right? Today, we only look at the seventies as either being area authorities or general authorities, but the 70 was a much more diffused office in the church with local areas having seventies.
Gerrit Now, there were still important positions. I'm not saying they weren't. So it shows that, you know, look, he's at least at this point been judged to be someone who can be a part of an important quorum in the church. Now let's fast forward. I'm not even sure what to read next, but maybe we'll just cut right to it. In 1857, Charles C. Rich, the same person who called Arnold Potter on this mission, he is going to send a much more poorly written letter. And I mean both grammar and spelling. So if you thought I was struggling before reading this in the cursive, you are going, I mean, he is sounding some words out. So I'm gonna have to just hope that I know what it is that he's saying. And this is a letter to, again, the apostle who called him on this mission. It starts off pretty rough.
Gerrit Dear Brother Rich, I thought I would, but there's no T on the thought. It just says I though, but I think he meant to say thought. I thought I would trouble you with a few lines this mail. This leaves. Myself, so this mail, this leaves. He's trying to say the mail is leaving, and so I'm getting into the mail. Myself and my family are well, and I hope that you are well. Yours, well, yes, you can say you are well. That is rough. It's rough. He's leaving out letters everywhere. You know, he's spelling the way I did when I was doing phonics. Well, Brother Rich, this is, so this is the best. Sometimes, now look, sarcasm is very different in the 19th century, but sometimes there is some really good sarcasm. And here you get some great sarcasm. Well, Brother Rich, Christ is here. So he just writes it in the letter.
Gerrit Well, Brother Rich, Christ has suddenly come to San Bernardino, and the saints will not receive him. We have turned the infidel out and cut him off from the church. It is Arnold Potter that claims to be Potter Christ, a Potter Christ, the living God, the morning star. He is causing quite a stir among the apostates in this place. He is going to organize his church next Sunday. So I hear. So we thought it would be good to take the priesthood from him beforehand. So he's excommunicated, he loses the priesthood. Old Man Carpenter, I don't know who Old Man Carpenter is, but I like the fact that we actually do refer to people as, I mean, frankly, Old Man Potter sounds like the kind of person to be a villain in a Scooby-Doo episode, but it was Old Man Potter, and I would have got away with it without you meddling kids.
Gerrit Old Man Carpenter and William Kimball has joined, and the talk is that the Rube, I think it's Henry Hartford, but it's very poorly written. And a number too numerous to mention there is Assemble. Potter is getting revelation constant. So Potter's claiming to get revelation. I mean, the first revelation, he's claiming that he's in some way Jesus. So that's kind of a, I mean, I know we've done lots of episodes on how you can know whether or not someone is receiving false doctrine and trying to teach it to you. Here is actually the number one way. If anyone tells you they're Jesus, that's a full stop right there. You shouldn't have to say, what's your source on that? You should just have to say tip of the cap, and you're on your way. I mean, that's the end of the conversation. Someone says, you know, I just wanted to let you know that I'm Jesus, and then you say, okay, and you walk away.
Gerrit Anyway, so he's giving disciples, you know, too numerous to mention. I don't know how many it is. He put up a proclamation on the sixth of the day that we cut him off, assigning us our portion and also the Mormons in Salt Lake. He is seen Adam. Look at how he spells seen. Look at that. He spells it with something that looks like a cross between an S and a Z and one E and one N. So it looks like Zen, honestly. Yeah, it looks like he has a Zen garden. He's planted all kinds of great things in there. He has seen Adam and all of the great men that ever lived. He is going to Jackson County, Missouri in 12 months to build up Zion. It will be a lone thing for us if he gets up a crowd that talks of joining with him.
Gerrit We can spare them very well. So here he's being a little sarcastic. He's like, anyone who bullies this guy, we don't want. So anyone who follows someone who claims that they're Jesus, you know what? And you can go ahead and go back. We can spare them very well here. And I expect that they can take care of them in Jackson County. He is going to... This is probably the best part. And we know this is true from multiple sources. He is going to brand his disciples in the forehead with indelible ink tattoos. So that you see these, there will be no chance to apostatize for the mark will stay as long as the life. How about that? And then he tells us this is the brand. The first line, A.
Gerrit Potter Christ. Okay, so this is, you know, he's given a little bit of... You're going to have a little bit of the A in there. It doesn't say Arnold Potter Christ, but A. Potter Christ. Next line, The Living God. The Morning Star is the third line. And then a star and a cross are part of it. Richard's eyes. I wish everyone could see Richard's eyes right now. He looks like Florida State just got a first down. That's how studdy he is. He looks like what? They got a first down. The cross is to be between the eyes and the star over the left eye. Okay, so they're getting this tattooed on their forehead, but the cross goes between your eyes and the star goes over your left eye. The Morning Star and that way you know you're one of Potter Christ's followers. Now I will have to say that I don't actually know if all of his followers got thusly tattooed.
Gerrit We do have pretty good, I mean, we at least have multiple sources that talk about him later in life saying that he has this tattooed on his forehead. I mean, so if you think the person who's always commenting in gospel doctrine in your ward is a little bit out there, does he have that he's the living God tattooed on his forehead? And that should be our real measure before we start judging. That's how you know. He finishes the letter. He says, give my love to the... And he starts listing off all the different people that are where Rich is. So he gives that letter. Now, we don't have to just take Latter-day Saint sources from this. I mean, we want to be fair to a Potter Christ. Well, he makes it very easy for us because he writes a lot of things. I'm not going to read all of it. I mean, I know we love to read anti-Mormon literature on this podcast, but it is something that he called The Revelations of Potter Christ that he publishes in the 1870s.
Gerrit I'll just read some of this so you have an idea of how he said he became Christ. This little pamphlet, I'm quoting now, this is how he starts. Talk about your opening lines. This little pamphlet, I mean, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times. You might as well have done that. This little pamphlet is designed to go before and be the forerunner of the greatest events that were ever revealed to man since the foundation of the world, meaning the final close of the six gospel dispensation and the opening of the new covenant dispensation of the holy law to gather Israel from the four quarters of the earth to the holy Zion, the millennium kingdom of heaven. This pamphlet is also the glorious harbinger of the revealing to the world the first and second advent, so he's come twice, of Potter Christ, son of the living God, who has now succeeded his celestial father, Jesus, who was once our Christ, the gospel mediator, but is now God, the very eternal Father, and now reveals himself to me, his only son, in his new name, Abraham, who now is the great spiritual father of us all.
Gerrit Now, look, he started slow with this pamphlet, but I feel like he ramped it up at the end. I feel like he dug in there and really, I mean, outside of Dene's kids, who's not listening at this point? I mean, probably most people. I mean, Dene's husband, nobody's listening. I hope though, if you're still listening in Australia, though, you're getting another shout out here. My son informed me that there was a girl his age, Kai's age, he was 15. I believe Sadie was her name, that she listens to every episode of the podcast. And I thought, wow, I'm sorry, Kai, for ruining your reputation among other 15 year olds. I, Potter, received the title of Christ. This is me quoting him again. This is not me talking. Let me quote him again. I, Potter, received the title of Christ on the 15th day of August, 1856, on my outward bound voyage to Australia, sent there by the Mormon authorities to preach the gospel.
Gerrit I then on that day commenced my purifying and quickening change, or in other words, to turn my mortal body into a spiritual body. This change was affected in three days, the same time Jesus was in passing his. Jesus being an example of mine, and not only of mine, but of 140,000 who are soon to be reclaimed by the same quickening change. This change gave me a spiritual body. The question may be asked, in what particular way did I receive this change? Were you wondering, Richard, how his body changed to make him Jesus?
Richard It was my number one question.
Gerrit Okay, that was after, what are the other famous Potters?
Richard I do have a list when you're ready.
Gerrit Okay, well, let's get through this first. I answer in this brief pamphlet, this brief pamphlet is not designed to be open to the great mysteries of the glorious resurrection, but only to prepare the way for the coming forth of a fullness of all mysteries contained in the Bible from Genesis to the end of John's Revelations. This great work now in manuscript written and is to immediately follow the going forth of this pamphlet. The title of this book is The Midnight Cry. It will wake up all slumbering Christians of all sects and denominations and prepare them for the hour of God's judgments. Now ready to burst over the heads of a sinful world, for darkness now covers the earth and gross darkness the minds of the people. I should now return to the subject of my immortal change. Suffice it is to say, I lost every drop of my mortal blood, yet I did not die. My resurrection angel, and that he has in parentheses Christ, his resurrection angel, seems to be kind of disputing Joseph Smith's teachings on angels at this point.
Gerrit My resurrection angel Christ entered my body as fast as my mortal blood left it. This angel is the spirit called in scripture, the Holy Ghost. The same spirit that quickened Jesus' body. This spirit was what made Jesus the Christ by quickening him. This spirit also done the same by me. So this quickening revealed, this is a published pamphlet by the way, he chose to use that grammar. So this quickening revealed to me that I was the very person that Paul calls the last Adam. Then, being the last Adam, a quickening spirit, I traced my spirit lineage back through 22 mortal bodies to the first Adam in Eden's garden. Then I saw plainly, according to Paul, that I held the title Christ, Lord from heaven, being a quickened spirit. I mean, where is the crazy on this level at this point?
Gerrit What's your crazy meter?
Richard Well, I will tell you, in fairness to him, I served my mission in Riverside, California, and I'm acquainted with San Bernardino. That'll do it to folks. It'll do it more than you'd think. I believe I may have mentioned on my mission in Desert Hot Springs, we had a person just outside of that area that would walk around town with a six-foot crucifix strapped to their forehead. The sun drives you to madness.
Gerrit Yeah. Were they tattooing it on their forehead?
Richard I wouldn't have been surprised.
Gerrit I'm not going to read the whole thing, but he goes into this huge discussion about how he received a bunch of revelations that he's written 400 entirely new millennial hymns and 640 pages of this new book that he's written. But this is kind of the fun part. You could call this Moroni Addendum Part II or Moroni Part III. Where else was Moroni? Well, here he is. In San Bernardino? Well, no, because he went to San Francisco to publish his book.
Richard Well, okay. Well, so there we go. From San Bernardino to San Francisco, it's going to happen.
Gerrit Yeah. Everyone who's ever made that trip will end up, you're going to end up thinking that Moroni visited him.
Richard 100%.
Gerrit Anyway, we arrived there. A holy angel, Moroni by name, visited me and took my manuscript and said, you have written the holy law to govern Zion, the millennial kingdom of heaven, and this law must first be preached to Zion in the spirit world, or as Peter terms it, to the spirits in prison or the spirit land. Moroni also explained to me that Joseph Smith opened the sixth gospel dispensation. Here at his death, he was sent to open the sixth dispensation in Hades, the spirit land. And after having closed his gospel mission in Hades, which was much sooner and easier accomplished than his earthly mission, he, Joseph, was now ready to obey the holy law of the dispensation of the fullness of times and preach it to the spirit that had obeyed the preparatory gospel there in Hades. Then, says the spirit angel, when this is fulfilled, the Holy Spirit angel, Gabriel, bring down to earth again the holy celestial law in direct fulfillment of Revelation, all printed in a book. This book is then the same that John 8 on the Isle of Patmos, then a figure of the book, but now a glorious reality, a real literal book, will Gabriel bring to Potter Christ Zion now founded and set up on this earth.
Gerrit As I have said, this celestial book is to govern Israel, not to gather them. The midnight cry is to do that. I want to finish because I want to talk about that, but I want to finish this next paragraph. Then, while on the ship Osprey, on my return, so he goes to Australia, obviously he's crazy, and everyone's like, all right, and you're going to go back home. On my return, the spirit called Michael, the Archangel, brought me a written revelation or communication. This writing commanded me to found or set up the Kingdom of Heaven on the banks of the Esdow, a stream in Lower California. This I did on September 25th in 1857 in direct fulfillment of Daniel. The Kingdom, God says, shall break in pieces all other kingdoms and stand forever. He's going to go on with a whole bunch of stuff. I'm obviously liberally editing things out of different pages. But one of my favorite parts about this is that he had already written 400 hymns as part of a giant manuscript that was 640 pages and 37 chapters long.
Gerrit As he went to publish it, Moroni showed up and said, hey, can I borrow your homework? You can't publish it yet, because we've got to go preach this to all the spirits in prison first. So he doesn't publish this, because it's being taken to the spirit world.
Richard Well, so, Gerrit, my understanding is that many of those hymns will make their way into the new hymn book that the Church is producing.
Gerrit I can only assume that all of the current followers of Potter Christ are hopeful that the new hymn book contains each of that. So, look, this guy is going to claim to receive revelation. He's going to be kind of a a thorn. He's not going to have very many people to follow. I mean, look, newspapers are tough because they hate Mormons all the way around. And so they are going to point to him as, hey, how about that Mormon Potter Christ there? He's eventually going, he says he's going to go to Jackson County. He actually moves back to Iowa because once you've been in Iowa, especially Western Iowa, you're going back. You know, you can't, if you've been in Council Bluffs in the wintertime, you're going back.
Richard I was going to say that as it is election season, there's really, it's politicians and Potter Christ followers in Western Iowa. That's the main majority of people that are there.
Gerrit Yeah, well, so he moves back eventually to Council Bluffs, and he lives in the area with several followers for several decades. And into the 1870s, there's actually people that are referencing him. There's newspapers, especially when he would make some of his more provocative well, he would make predictions as a prophet. He is going to claim that the end of the world is coming in 1872. Well, at least that the Second Coming is going to happen. Now, this may be read by many of the Latter-day Saints so as to say to them, look for Zion's land in Jackson County to be redeemed on August 14th, 1870. Now, that is a very precise date. Then is the gathering of the elect of Israel to be speedily commenced.
Gerrit My solemn advice to the Mormons, even those who have lands there that they claim, is to stay away and let Father Adam redeem those lands by judgment from heaven. The Shiloh is what he calls Father Adam. Then in 1872, Jesus Abraham comes to Zion with all the Holy Spirits. With the power and great glory, and he that watcheth not for him shall be cut off. Then the Great Father finds the 140,000 all gathered, and then the great change or redemption from the earth takes place. Even the whole congregation of the elect, male and female, 288,000 is then redeemed and receive the Holy Seal in their foreheads. I'm guessing the tattoo of Potter Christ. He's going to go on and talk a little bit more about this. Obviously, he's going to talk about this kind of stuff all the time. And he's going to try to tie it to the current events of the time.
Gerrit I now make a few remarks on our great national events. Remember, this is 1870. There will shortly be another dreadful war, more dreadful than the one between the north and the south, not half as long. The two main engines that will cause this collision are first, the Cuba question, which the democracy, and they are right, the democracy is capitalized, it's a way of talking about the democratic party, are trying hard to press, and they will accomplish their ends. The other is the Alabama claims, which the radicals, soon as they find, cannot carry the sway over the democracy will press against England in such a manner as to cause a collision. This the radicals will do to secure the Irish votes with a promise to assist them by an invasion of Canada. I say to all my readers in the name of God, the radicals will do anything the moment they find their case desperate. They are already meditating desperate remedies, and they will be used to accomplish their ends.
Gerrit If the next war is not inaugurated this year, it will be in early 1871, because Zion is to be redeemed in the midst of a dreadful war. This war will be both foreign and domestic, or what is called a civil war. Okay, so on the heels of the actual American Civil War, which had just ended in 1865, in 1870, Potter Christ is arguing that the next year there is going to be an outbreak of an even greater civil war, but it's also going to be a war with Britain and a war with Spain. He's pulling from the headlines of the things that are important, that are a big deal, but none of the things that he's pulling from the headline actually come to fruition. When he talks about the Alabama controversy, it's actually a controversy surrounding a Confederate ship, well, the Confederates would call it a privateer, but of course the United States government never recognized the Confederacy, so it's just a pirate ship, essentially, but it was outfitted in Britain.
Gerrit And so the United States was pressing its claim saying, hey, it's against maritime law that you guys signed to outfit privateers if you're a neutral nation and yet you built, you provided the funding for, you brought the armaments for, very successful Confederate privateer Alabama. So look, it's in all the papers and it is a big deal and the United States and Britain are going back and forth. But to think that those two were going to go to war over that, I mean, that's, you're, this is going to be a spoiler alert for many of our listeners. There wasn't a second civil war in 1871. Now, I know there's a lot of people saying, wait a minute, wasn't there one? No, there wasn't. And in fact, there wasn't a second civil war in the 19th century. And the United States doesn't go to war with Britain, though, of course, there's all kinds of political shenanigans.
Gerrit One of the reasons why I thought I would share this isn't just because it's crazy. And I think it's fine to say that it's crazy. Wait, wait, wait. There's one more thing you got to read. Because if you thought you didn't love Potter Christ before, you're going to love him now. This is what's going to bring you to him, right? I know Richard's been, you've been sitting on the edge. You're waiting to go down with that parlay. You need this information for you to do it. Slavery, this is Potter Christ, will again be restored at the close of the Second War. And it will again be broken up by the last little horn or power in 1875 and 1876. So he's claiming that slavery is going to be restored to the United States essentially six, seven years after it was abolished, with the 13th Amendment. Again, for those of you who aren't the greatest students of American history, that didn't happen. And so, yeah, he's all over the place. But why I wanted to spend a little bit of time on this.
Gerrit First of all, it's a little bit fun and a little bit crazy. It's utterly improbable that a missionary in Peru has someone ask him a question about this. I mean, that's someone who's... I mean, you're so deep into anti-Mormon subreddits at this point. I mean, you're... You have to have a scuba tank with you. I mean, you're going to get the bends on the way out.
Richard So I literally did... I talked to one of my other sons today, right? And he had heard some things from people at school. And we were having a general conversation about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. And I told him, I said, son, I can promise you that all the things that your friends are saying that they've heard, that I have heard all of those things and I have read all of those things. I take back what I said.
Gerrit Okay, so now you're like, you know what? There is some anti-Mormon things I haven't read.
Richard Well, I've never heard of this. This was brand new to me.
Gerrit I mean, it was obviously pretty obscure. He did get some wider newspaper accounts. So for instance, in August of 1870, an Iowa newspaper is going to note. Him. It's going to talk about his prophecies and a prophet claiming this war. Now, why was that? Well, that's because even though his publication says that the real next war is going to be the second American Civil War, unbeknownst to him, he didn't see this one coming, that there actually would be a major war in Europe. This is the Franco-Prussian War. For those of you who are Napoleon III aficionados, this is what caused the downfall of the Napoleon III Second Empire of France. I don't know if we have any listeners in France. I'm almost certain we don't, unless we have someone traveling through France currently.
Richard We are huge in Quebec, huge in Quebec.
Gerrit Well, only when you're there. We have gotten zero Quebecois emails that I am aware of, but we're waiting for it. And so this is a big deal that the Franco-Prussian War essentially solidifies German unification. Germany was not Germany before it was Prussia, and it becomes the greater, the Empire of Germany at the end of it. And also it forces the French into kind of a secondary role. The Germans take Paris. In fact, the Germans not only take Paris, they impose reparations on the French in the Franco-Prussian War. It's one of the reasons why the French at the end of World War I, which is going to happen, you know, three and a half decades later, they are going to insist that the Germans pay them reparations because they're going back to what they've been doing, paying reparations. So there's a lot we could talk about on that, but that would probably be more of the premium podcast or something that Danae's daughters would be even more asleep for.
Gerrit But this local newspaper, you know, apparently, you know, in Council Bluffs, this guy hurries and starts saying, Oh yeah, I actually prophesied of this war too. It's not in his, it's not in his, in his, in his pamphlet here, but this war has started up the usual brood of prophets, all who claim it as their own. Iowa has one of these individuals with the goggles of divination. His name is Potter Christ and he lives in Council Bluffs. He thus informs the nonpareil, that's a newspaper, that the war has come to the, according to the program that he laid down in 1865. Ah, then he talks about, you know, various things about this prophecy, saying that, you know, an angel told them about it. A second woe opens. My instructing angel wishes declarations to be put in print in the two Council Bluffs papers daily and weekly so that all may understand God has now commenced his speedy fulfillment of the prophecy so long ago written, and now judgment will not tarry.
Gerrit Yours respectfully, Potter Christ. Council Bluffs, July 22nd, 1870. So he does get this mention and eventually he's going to die and people are going to, you know, refer to him as, you know, kind of a lunatic. So the question is, he died? Yeah, he dies a couple years later.
Other Well, he told us he got the immortal spirit.
Gerrit Well, so that's one of the kickers. I mean, one of the mysteries of Potter godliness is how it is that when you've been resurrected and that you have no blood in you and you don't have the ability to die, that you could then die. That is one of the great, it's one of the great questions.
Other Unsolved mystery, I guess.
Gerrit Yes, unsolved mystery. At least according to one account, the way he dies is by swinging himself off of a cliff saying that he's going to fly. Yeah, I mean, and he didn't. And so anyway, look, why is this relevant to Latter-day Saints today? There's a couple of reasons. First of all, like I said, point one to take away from this. If anyone tells you they're Jesus, they aren't. So that's the number one. If you have friends telling you, but as ridiculous as that sounds, we have multiple apostate groups that have apostatized from the church in the last decade who claim that they, not the apostles, not the prophet, are in regular physical contact and communication with Jesus. That Jesus is appearing to them, not inspiring, but that Jesus is appearing to them dozens of times, over and over and over and over again.
Gerrit And because we're believers, because we're Latter-day Saints, we're looking for more answers about what's going on. We live in a time where things seem unsettled. Those are the kinds of things that are appealing to people. Potter lived in a world where things were pretty rough for the Latter-day Saints, right? It's during the time that he's claiming that he's going to be a prophet, that the United States is sending an army out to Utah to quote, cut out this black cancer sore, this loathsome ulcer from the nation. It comes at a time when anti-Mormonism on a federal public level is as high as it could be with Buchanan sending the army out to occupy Utah. Now, we all know that that army didn't in fact end up killing a bunch of Latter-day Saints, but no one in 1857 knows that.
Gerrit In fact, many of the soldiers who are on their way out there, we have their letters. They think they're going to go out and kill Mormons. So we should probably, you know, that assumption is not terrible. And so it seems like the church is being pressed very hard from without. And it's at those times when Satan, working, you know, co-opting with people that are willing to try to get gain off of the backs of others, will have someone else claim, hey, things are rough right now, but you want to know why? It's because a whole bunch of the stuff that you believe is right, except for some of the main key ones that are causing you problems right now. Luckily, God's called me to be a new prophet, or in this case, Christ, and that's why, you know, and I can help bring you away from this difficulty.
Gerrit Oh, things are a problem in Utah? Well, me and my followers are going to go back to Iowa. Won't be a problem there, right? This idea of escaping. The more, I don't know, controversial or difficult aspects of belief is something that false prophets are going to hit on again and again and again and again in the history of the church. From the very beginning, you have people who have a hard time with the idea that we are going to give up everything and move to the middle of nowhere in Missouri. And so what do you have? A false prophet who arises and says, Hey, we don't have to go there. Guess what? A lot of people want to believe that. Because it's exactly what they already want to believe. This similar is going to happen as Joseph reveals and receives more. The people who saw Joseph Smith as a prophet right up until he received things like work for the dead.
Gerrit Oh, he was a true prophet right up to that. He was a true prophet right up until he taught about eternal ceilings and marriage for eternity or plural marriage. And we see this same kind of attempts to undermine both the current Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the history of both Brigham Young and Joseph Smith by attempting to rewrite the history of what took place. For these modern apostate groups, one of their favorite things to argue is that Joseph Smith never ever ever taught or practiced plural marriage. Brigham Young invented that after he got to Utah. In fact, as you'll recall in one of our previous episodes, there's been a, calling it a documentary, it's a little bit too, there was a film produced that claimed that Joseph was in fact murdered by his friends, John Taylor and Willard Richards at the behest of Brigham Young in order to bring about these various false doctrines.
Gerrit Now, no historian believes that. No one who has a PhD, who's actually studied and has work that's published not by themselves, believes that, whether they're a Latter-day Saint or not. But that doesn't stop people from making that claim. Why do they make that claim? They make that claim because the hardest part about being a Latter-day Saint in America in the 21st century is dealing with the fact that Latter-day Saints used to practice plural marriage. That's, I would guess, you know, we could do a quick survey here among Dallin and Richard. How often when people find out that you're a Latter-day Saint and they want to talk more than just running away from you, does polygamy come up? What would you say?
Other Well, the conversation goes beyond just a few phrases. It almost always comes up. How many wives you got? Oh, you got just one wife? Everyone knows that.
Gerrit Richard, how many wives do you have?
Richard It's immediate. It's, yeah. In fact, they don't even need to know that I'm a Latter-day Saint. They just need to know that I live in Utah or in Down's case that he lives in Queens Creek and I'm sure that it's coming up. It's more Gilbert than Gilbert.
Gerrit Right. It is clearly the most difficult thing for a modern, again, American Latter-day Saint to deal with. I mean, look, there are Latter-day Saints in places all over the world where this is not the number one issue for them. There are many other issues that are important that arise from their culture and questions that they have. Because remember, we always ask questions on the basis of the culture and the existing knowledge and values that we have and where we're from. Our questions are different depending on where we're from and when we're from. And so wouldn't it be great if we could just simply say that Joseph Smith never taught about polygamy? And then that way, polygamy is all someone else's mistake. Never mind the fact that you can't find either a Latter-day Saint or a non-Latter-day Saint historian that would agree with that argument. Never mind the hundreds of sources that demonstrate the opposite. Never mind the contemporary sources that demonstrate the opposite. It's what people want to believe. And what people want to believe is incredibly powerful.
Gerrit When people suggest things to us, that it's something that we already want to believe, we let our guards down. We let them down because, oh man, this makes me feel good. As someone is going off on some cultural, political, religious point that we agree with, we don't have our guards all the way up. We don't have them up because this person is speaking to our current beliefs. One of the things that you find in the Book of Mormon over and over and over again, as you study it this year, is that there is division that comes not from outside of the church. Look, granted there's some wars with the Lamanites and Nephites. No one's claiming the Book of Mormon is free from warfare, okay? But you look at the major apostasies that take place. Right? You look at people like Sherem and Korihor.
Gerrit They aren't Lamanites coming in to preach a different gospel. In fact, they're people who are coming from within the church who are claiming something different about belief. And because they come from within, they're far more persuasive. Now, I'm not going to say that every person who is setting themselves up for a light knows that they're doing a deception. Sometimes people are genuinely deceived. But I think this is as good a time as any, and we do it all the time on this podcast, to remind people listening, God has already given us the way of knowing whether or not something is true and important for our salvation. He's already given revelations, saying that he will send his word to his prophets. So if you have a neighbor who says, I had an angel appear to me last night, and they took my 500-page book that I was writing, that I was going to publish, but they're taking it to the spirit world so that they can convert everyone in the spirit world, and then I'm going to publish it.
Gerrit Even if they're a great guy, even if she's a wonderful teacher, remember, that's not how God said he would give revelation. He said he would give it through his prophets, and the first question that every person claiming some kind of specialized doctrine or inspiration or revelation, the first question they have to answer is why did God send Moroni, in this case, to you and not to the current leader of the church when God has already said that my generation will have, this generation will have my word through you? And as Joseph teaches, this is a rule in the church so that you don't get to see, that you don't accept any teachings, visions or visitations from anyone claiming to have authority over the leaders of the church.
Gerrit Joseph was as clear as he possibly could be. He wrote it in letter, he gave it in sermons, he received revelations from the Lord saying, and still you have people that will say, well yeah, but in my case it's different. Yeah, I don't see that addendum to Joseph's revelation or his letter where he says, oh, except in the case where your natural blood is drained out of you over the three day journey on the ship to Australia and you're resurrected while you're sitting there, except in that case. I know that sometimes we get attracted to the more, we get attracted to the things that are a little more esoteric because they're exciting to us. Because wouldn't it be cool if this connection and this book also had something to do with this? And while I am as curious as the next person, I'm willing to read all kinds of things. It's very important that we know where we draw our lines. True doctrine, true doctrine only comes from the prophet of God.
Gerrit Now that doesn't mean that there aren't some great ideas that someone has on a self-help video. They might, they might be wonderful ideas. But if it was saving doctrine, if it was essential doctrine, if it was doctrine that you needed to believe, if it was from the Lord, it's not coming from a TikTok. It's not coming from a YouTube channel. It's not coming from someone's ex, either their ex or from the former Twitter. It's coming from the prophet of God. And so hopefully as we study, we always have that a little bit in the back of our mind. Most of the people who have ever been deceived, at some point in their lives say, well, I would never be deceived. That's why you have to stay close to the teachings of the current prophet and apostles of the church. That you can't meander in the wilderness of what was said 100 years ago as a way to try to argue against what's being said currently.
Gerrit That you don't take the argument of someone who's a really smart historian, even if it were me, I'm not, so that doesn't apply to me, and say that that's over the prophet of God. It's not. It can't be. So hopefully everyone had a fun time with this. Got a little bit of Dallin back in here. Thank you for joining us.
Other I got to say something this time. My buddy Scott is a good member. FBI agent made fun of me last time when I was on the show about two years ago that I got introduced and never said anything. But thanks for having me back.
Gerrit That's why we don't have guests. Because if we have them on, I will start talking about a false Christ apostate. And the next thing you know, Rigdon has his answer for his mission. But really want to thank everyone for joining us. I hope as you study the Book of Mormon both this week and throughout the coming year, that the Spirit testifies to you all the more powerfully. That these words do not come from men. Those words are miraculous. They were given by the gift and power of God as Joseph Smith translated it. And you can know that the Book of Mormon is true as you read it. The truth of it jumps off of the page and the Spirit speaks to our souls. So thank you so much for joining us.
Intro Thank you for listening to the Standard of Truth podcast hosted by historian Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat. If you know anybody that could benefit from the material in this episode, please share it with them. And for more resources, visit standardoftruth.com. Until next time.

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So I know most of you thought I only had one friend.

GerritBanter

The weird part is we're talking about it long after the game is over, still wrong on the picks.

GerritBanter

Well, my parents, they believed in the type of air conditioning that involved opening windows regardless of what was going on outside.

GerritBanter

Well, look, who's gonna believe that you happen to be the perfect son of God, but also can't form a Y very well?

GerritBanter

If anyone tells you they're Jesus, that's a full stop right there. You shouldn't have to say, what's your source on that?

GerritInsight

I mean, so if you think the person who's always commenting in gospel doctrine in your ward is a little bit out there, does he have that he's the living God tattooed on his forehead?

GerritBanter

The sun drives you to madness.

RichardBanter

I mean, you're so deep into anti-Mormon subreddits at this point. I mean, you're... You have to have a scuba tank with you.

GerritBanter

When people suggest things to us, that it's something that we already want to believe, we let our guards down.

GerritInsight

It's not coming from a TikTok. It's not coming from a YouTube channel.

GerritInsight

More from this episode

Claim checkThings people say, and what the episode shows.

Claim check

What critics say, and what the episode found
Joseph Smith never taught or practiced plural marriage; Brigham Young invented it in Utah.
A dramatic personal revelation or angelic visit can outrank what the prophet teaches.
Take it to classReady to use in a lesson or a talk.

Take it to class

Ready to copy into a lesson or a text

If anyone tells you they're Jesus, they aren't. That one needs no further source checking.

False prophets show up when times feel unsettled and offer an escape from whatever part of the faith is hardest right now.

We let our guard down when someone tells us what we already want to believe; Sherem and Korihor came from inside the church, which made them more persuasive.

True doctrine comes from the prophet of God, not from a TikTok, a YouTube channel, or even a really smart historian.

Banter binThe funniest moments in this episode.

Banter bin

The running jokes, for people who skip ahead
Gerrit has two friendsMost listeners thought he had one, and the second is his brother, so he's forced to be (0:38).
Picks weeks after the gamesDallin worries about unlicensed gambling advice; the hosts predict games long after they're over and are still wrong (1:24-3:05).
Officer RDanae keeps the show on brand with captive audiences, like Officer R's patrol car; the Supreme Court is still weighing cruel and unusual (3:56, 4:44).
IdahoShelley vs. Rexburg vs. Nampa, the Caribbean side of Idaho, 20 below, no air conditioning, spiders by the hundreds per square foot (6:29-11:03).
You're going to break the stairsDallin defends throwing Gerrit down the stairs: older brothers know he had it coming (11:39, 12:05).
Deer flies and moving pipeA plague worse than Egypt, for ten cents a pipe; Becky did it for nothing (12:52-14:31).
La-dee-dah, the LeDucs had ACRichard's family had air conditioning, like the Rockefellers (15:02, 15:08).
Rick Dukes' weekly top threeRichard's favorite Arnolds: Arnold Peters, Schwarzenegger and Palmer, with the research staff assigned to famous Potters (19:02-20:23, 23:30).
The crack research staffAssigned to Tom Arnold and favorite Potters; they've been dogging it lately (20:17, 20:23).
The Moroni seriesPotter's Moroni visit could be Moroni Addendum Part II or Moroni Part III (41:32).
We’re huge in…Quebec, but only when Richard is there; zero Quebecois emails so far (54:38, 54:41).
That's why we don't have guestsDallin finally gets a word in two years after his silent first appearance (71:17, 71:28).
The Phebe Draper Palmer Brown MailbagSend Gerrit and Richard your question.

The Phebe Draper Palmer Brown Mailbag

Your question could be next week’s episode
Questions from Litners drive a lot of episodes. Send yours. If it makes the show, Richard reads it on air.
Go deeperWhere to read more.

Go deeper

Deep dives the episode points toward
Early Latter-day Saint San Bernardino, settled partly by Mormon Battalion veterans (21:50).
The Alabama claims dispute between the United States and Britain after the Civil War (49:14).
The Franco-Prussian War, German unification and the reparations that echoed after World War I (53:38).
Modern apostate groups claiming regular visits from Jesus, and how they compare with Potter (57:37).
SOT Litner · S4E2.