Sidney Rigdon's Apostasy Part 1

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 my friend, Professor Richard LeDuc.

Richard Hello, Gerrit. Thanks for having me back. Normally, when we do an episode, you spend four or five hours in research and collecting, but you sent a text to me. You've been down a Sydney Rigdon sermon rabbit hole, and you were very angry. I think on this one, I swear you've spent eight plus, 10 plus hours.

Gerrit I spent a little bit of time. It's just reading some Sydney Rigdon stuff.

Richard Normally, we record, lately, we've been doing the week of, but-

Gerrit The week of sounds, let's be a little bit more precise.

Richard Seven, eight hours before it drops.

Gerrit Seconds.

Richard We get up at four in the morning, so it drops at six. By the way, we've got a quick email here from Renee in the Phebe Draper Palmer Brown mailbag. Gerrit, one thing though I have noticed is I'm looking here in my computer and I can see myself. I didn't realize that my face was crooked until I started wearing glasses. I thought my ears were properly proportioned and that my nose wasn't wasn't jacked up and apparently broken. But now the glasses hang off the side of my face and I've got a, I've got a Brian Williams crooked face and I never knew it until now.

Gerrit Is it possible that A, the glasses themselves are crooked?

Richard I have three pairs of glasses and they're all doing it.

Gerrit So is it possible B, that you, the only reason you notice now isn't because the glasses are on crooked, but because you can now see yourself in the mirror when you look in the mirror.

Richard It's possible. But if I don't set it on my ear, my ears are off by about an inch. I don't know what that is in metric. 37 centimeters, I don't know what it is, but it's about an inch. What was the person that was a certain number of height, and I had him at a foot and a half? I can't remember what that was.

Gerrit I can't remember. I can't remember.

Richard The stupid thing I said recently.

Gerrit Your dalliance with the metric system for the proper English system, the imperial system.

Richard Well, the bummer is, is we joked around about getting in here and talking about the Oklahoma State BYU game, but the game hasn't happened yet. I'm sure it's going to be freezing, and I don't think BYU is going to cover by nine and a half, but I do think they will win.

Gerrit What a great time, though, to put in our parlays, to be like, I think that Chase Roberts is going to have a touchdown, that there's going to be one fumble recovery inside the 20.

Richard Those are some specific props, man. You're getting that from, like I said, a bookie. You're not picking that up at MGM.

Gerrit Every person I talk to about this is someone with a more Italian New Jersey accent than the last. Each time you talk to someone about it.

Richard How Italian is it? His name is Sal or more Italian than Sal?

Gerrit Yeah. It's Sal Paolantonio. Yeah.

Richard From ESPN?

Gerrit Yeah. Do you think they had him start up the ESPN bookie? Because ESPN-

Richard ESPN vets.

Gerrit Yeah.

Richard They started ESPN vets.

Gerrit Yeah.

Richard They started ESPN vets.

Gerrit You think they talked to him first?

Richard I think he's been running numbers for some time.

Gerrit Yeah. Yeah. It's too bad Jimmy the Greek is no longer around, right?

Richard God rest his soul. Good old Jimmy. Good old racist Jimmy the Greek.

Gerrit Racist Jimmy. Okay. Well, go ahead.

Richard Well, so this email comes to us from Renee.

Gerrit Not Gerrit's mom, Renee.

Richard Not Gerrit's mom, Renee.

Gerrit Right now, my mom is listening and she's like, I don't remember sending them an email.

Richard Maybe it is from your mom. You know what?

Gerrit Maybe it's from my mom.

Richard A bunch of reasons you need to reply to my email in question is the subject. My name is Renee. Misspelled in relation to your mom's name, Gerrit. But still, I'm a retired English teacher like your mom.

Gerrit Oh, all right.

Richard And I majored in history, but couldn't get a teaching job in that field because I didn't coach anything. That's a lot.

Gerrit Oh, all right.

Richard And I majored in history, but couldn't get a teaching job in that field because I didn't coach anything. That's a lot.

Gerrit Wow. Boy, that is, that is a deep cut.

Richard Yeah.

Gerrit If there happens to be any history teachers listening who have never coached, let us know.

Richard Yeah.

Gerrit If there happens to be any history teachers listening who have never coached, let us know.

Richard They don't exist. I was born and raised in Southeastern Idaho, the gate city, if you will. I met the man who hired you, Gerrit, to work on the Joseph Smith Papers, because during the Q&A, I dropped your name, and oh my, did he praise you as unique and masterful, or words like those?

Gerrit Wow.

Richard How about that?

Gerrit Wow.

Richard How about that?

Gerrit That guy I hired to do PR for me, and pretend he's the run of the joke.

Richard He hired you.

Gerrit Yeah. I don't even know who she would be referring to, because who would have a positive response to that?

Richard I can't think of anyone.

Gerrit I can't either.

Richard Richard, I do not know who originally hired you to co-host this podcast, but I am putting my crack research team on that query. What's funny is that, what's hilarious is, Gerrit, you and I attended the Book of Mormon Central?

Gerrit It was a Scripture Central sponsored, Latter-day Saint social media and podcasters conference.

Richard Influencers.

Gerrit Influencers, sorry.

Richard You and I were invited to that.

Gerrit Well, I mean, I think that they already had the pizza ordered.

Richard It was hilarious. First of all, when we showed up, you had a name tag printed off ready for you. They didn't have one for me. It was the most on-brand thing that I've ever attended.

Gerrit I believe my name was spelled wrong though, wasn't it?

Richard Oh, your name was spelled very wrong. Absolutely.

Gerrit It all was spelled wrong.

Richard It is spelled wrong. What was funny is that they sent people around and they were interviewing different influencers. Now, as an influencer myself, my wife actually, in the morning, as we were getting ready for the day, she asked me a question about president Nelson preparing for General Conference. My response is, well, I don't know, but I'll ask him today, the influencer.

Gerrit Right. You assumed that he'd be there.

Richard Yeah. Well, that was the joke. So somebody came up to me, and because this question here, Renee's asking, I don't know who hired you to go host the show. It's a very fair question. Someone asked me a similar question at that thing. And so I said, well, about 24 years ago, I lived in the same kind of apartment as Gerrit, and that's why I'm here today.

Gerrit I mean, look, it's an unfair question because, I mean, when someone says who hired you, the implication is that someone's being paid. And when someone isn't being paid, it's a much, I mean, who hired you, it's more like who showed up when I put the free internship side outside the door. It's an unpaid internship.

Richard Well, so anyway, it's a very nice question, Renee. I get the crack research staff. She said, I have read Pilgrim's Progress and Les Miserables, the latter to find out if the vile impregnator of Fontaine, an unworthy father of Cosette, received a comeuppance of the worst kind. FYI for Richard, he did not. But I hope his future lies somewhere in the depths of Dante's Inferno. Very nice. I do have a question. It's the opposite of what I said originally. I said, I do not have one.

Gerrit Well, as an English teacher, she wouldn't even notice that.

Richard I do not have one. You know what? Actually, you know what? I do. I do have a question. Some time ago, by the way, I did get a positive response from friend of the show, Laura, who said she felt that the recording of the robot version of me reading the email was creepy, but it was read better and pronounced.

Gerrit Yeah, it was technically proficient, but also made it seem like we were a cult.

Richard Yes, so some time ago, a friend lightly cursed president Joseph Fielding Smith for destroying some pages of Joseph Smith's history, not wanting to upset the faith of the saints. Do you have any idea of what he may be referring to? And is there enough truth to the rumor to send Gerrit into a hurlbut frenzy? I am hopeful. See, Gerrit, people do like the angry Gerrit.

Gerrit What's a hurlbut frenzy? Just me being mad or me becoming like philosophy hurlbut and I just start fornicating and apostatizing.

Richard You just, you want to wash yourself in the blood of somebody.

Gerrit So yeah, in order to become a hurlbut, you have to be willing to try to commit murder. You have to be a pathological liar and you have to be a multiple times fornicator.

Richard I believe in a recent episode you called him a fornicating fornicator.

Gerrit Yeah. Yeah. He's a fornicating fornicator. So this question is, this is something to get bandied about a lot more earlier than it does now, this question. And it's actually a reference to the 1832 Joseph Smith history. So the 1832 Joseph Smith history was in one of Joseph Smith's letter books. And at some point, we don't know. Several of the pages, the pages that contained that history became detached from the remainder of the letter book. Now, we know that they go into the letter book because they fit right in. And, you know, the lines going across, you can see very clearly that it fits to it. Well, there was a researcher who claimed to have a conversation with someone who worked at the church history back then, you know, the archives.

Gerrit And that from that conversation, what he extrapolated out was that these pages that contained the 1832 history were in existence. They were separated from the letter book and that they were actually in the First Presidency's vault. So, what arose after that was Gerald and Sandra Tanner, surprisingly not the biggest friends of Mormon-dom, making the argument, they're the ones who founded Lighthouse Ministries and spent much of the 60s, 70s, and 80s, and 90s, and then, you know, not as much anymore, attacking the church through various things. So, the claim was that Joseph F. Smith, who was the church historian at the time, so he was an apostle, and then he was made a church historian, that, well, he must have deliberately removed those pages from the book, and the reason why he did it was because the 1832 account of the First Vision is not, it doesn't say all of the things that are in the Joseph Smith history, doesn't specifically delineate the father and son, Joseph says more things in it than he does about, you know, that he's lead up to it.

Gerrit And so the claim is that Joseph, that Joseph F. Smith in his role as church, in his role as church historian, as well as an apostle, excised those pages out of the letterbook. Now, if your friend is saying that he destroyed pages, as in got rid of them and destroyed them, and they don't exist anymore from the letterbook, then your friend probably has less research capacity than your friend thinks they do. That's not a claim that anyone is making. The claim is that because these pages at some point became detached from the larger 19th century letterbook, that well, when did they become detached? Well, it must have happened during the time period that Joseph F. Smith had them in his possession when he was the church historian. So therefore, Joseph F. Smith must have himself cut them out.

Gerrit And now that I've decided that he's the one who cut them out, I'm also going to decide that the reason why he cut them out was because he didn't want anyone to lose their testimony over the 1832 history. So now I'm on my eighth level of speculation, right? So I do know that the pages were cut out at some point. You can tell because they were excised. But you can't tell the reason why they were cut out. And so, or who did it, or when. You have no idea. You do know that in the 1930s, or sometime thereafter, one of the pages was repaired, corrected, because they used clear cellophane tape. You know, like scotch tape, essentially, which every archivist listening right now, first of all, isn't listening. But if they were listening, would be leaping out of the nearest window, regardless of what floor they're on.

Gerrit They put scotch tape on a document. Nah, they'd be leaping out. They wouldn't be able to handle the idea of the documents being abused thus. But look, in the early 1900s, people clearly didn't have the same archival training. They didn't have the same reverence for older documents. So that's where that comes from. I mean, it's a pretty weak statement from your friend. I mean, so look, there was an article published in Dialogue where someone laid out the case that it must have been Joseph F. Smith who cut it out and then further laid out the case that the reason why he cut it out was because of the different account of the First Vision. Is that possible? I mean, it's certainly possible. I mean, is it a possible series of events? Yes. Do I know with assertitude any of those things?

Gerrit I mean, heavens, Joseph Smith's journal has a different account of the First Vision as well. I don't see that one getting cut out. You know, I mean, it's weird to both provide the speculation as well as the reason behind the speculation. I mean, so here you have I don't know who did it, but I'm pretty sure it was this guy. And I don't know when he did it, but I'm pretty sure he did it during this time period. And I don't know when he did it, and I don't know who did it, but I'm pretty sure it was him, and he did it during this time. And the reason why did it is also this. And the evidence that you have is that one antagonistic researcher claimed to have a conversation with someone at the church history archives who told him information that led him to believe that was the case, but didn't say, Joseph Smith cut this out.

Gerrit Now, that's the most convoluted, boring, frankly, idiotic thing I've ever said on this podcast. I mean, maybe not. I probably-

Richard No, no, no, no. You said way dumber stuff.

Gerrit Yeah, okay. But yeah, Renee, so your friend is reading some pretty deep, weird stuff.

Richard So I've actually seen it in these. As a Latter-day Saint influencer, Gerrit, I'm hip to the kids and I actually have seen it on the Instagrams as well. As you get older, you just put S's on the end of things, the Internet's Instagram, the Internet's the webs. So I actually have seen it in several different places over the past couple of weeks. So it's something that's shooting up the charts.

Gerrit Yeah, it just gets regurgitated over and over again. I mean, one of the reasons why it kind of faded out for a little while was, well, if you're making the argument that the church is trying to hide the 1832 history, well, the church is doing a really bad job of it because they published it, they created transcripts of it, they created images of it, they put it on front and center on their website, they teach it to every single student in the church's curriculum. So if you are going to seminary and institute, if you're going to adult institute classes, if you're taking any church courses anywhere, you will learn about the 1832 history and you'll read it word for word. So it's one of those things where it's like, yeah, the church is trying to hide it. Yeah, they're trying to hide it, except that they're doing the most to publicize it of anyone that there is. So I guess it's a poor job hiding it. I for one probably wouldn't hide it in the seminary manual or in the Doctrine and Covenants manual.

Gerrit It seems like those wouldn't be the places to hide it.

Richard I don't know. I attended seminary. I think it's a pretty safe place to hide it.

Gerrit Actually, you know what? I stand corrected.

Richard Yeah.

Gerrit So it's one of those things that's speculation. So it really shouldn't trouble people too much in the sense that there are all kinds of things in what is now called the First Presidency Vault that we actually don't know why they were there. And the church has really gone through a process of transferring a lot of those things back into the Church History Library. But look, Joseph Smith was the church historian for decades. He then not only becomes an apostle, becomes a member of the First Presidency, and then he becomes the prophet. So, you know, he stopped doing super active history work while he was the prophet, even though he's the one responsible for a bunch of our church history sites that we were able to reacquire. And so, you know, the items that he had, there was a vault that was built for him to place those items that he was working with as a historian in his office, basically.

Richard Yeah.

Gerrit So it's one of those things that's speculation. So it really shouldn't trouble people too much in the sense that there are all kinds of things in what is now called the First Presidency Vault that we actually don't know why they were there. And the church has really gone through a process of transferring a lot of those things back into the Church History Library. But look, Joseph Smith was the church historian for decades. He then not only becomes an apostle, becomes a member of the First Presidency, and then he becomes the prophet. So, you know, he stopped doing super active history work while he was the prophet, even though he's the one responsible for a bunch of our church history sites that we were able to reacquire. And so, you know, the items that he had, there was a vault that was built for him to place those items that he was working with as a historian in his office, basically.

Gerrit Well when he died, it left a kind of, you know, it's not like he had an index card of, oh, I have this in the vault because it has temple ceremony stuff in it. You know, he didn't have like an index notation card of why things were in the vault. And so were these things in this vault because he was just working on them at the time? Were they in the vault because they were so precious that he didn't think they should be in general circulation, like the seer stone? Were they in the vault because it was sacred, private, and confidential, and people shouldn't have access to it? Were they in the vault because they were, he was working on it that day when he stopped opening his vault? I mean, you actually don't know. And this is what's really common with anti-Mormon attacks. There are a lot of ways that that could be the case.

Gerrit Only one of them is the most nefarious. They actually, all of the other reasons all have the same amount of information, like we legitimately have no idea who cut them out, right? We legitimately don't know when they were cut out. We legitimately don't know why they were being stored. We legitimately don't know answers to any of the questions you would need. But what an anti-Mormon does is they fill in the blanks of those questions with whatever the most nefarious possibility could be. And then they present it to you as, oh yeah, I've got real proof that it's this. So yeah, I mean, it's a mystery for Archivists. It's entirely possible that he did that. But maybe Joseph F. Smith excised it out because, I don't know, it was his uncle that wrote it. That it was a great sample of early Joseph Smith handwriting, and he wanted to keep it close to himself.

Gerrit The argument that he cut it out because he didn't like what it said and didn't want people to know about it, that is, I mean, that's speculation on top of speculation. It's taking people's current world view and trying to project it backwards and say, oh, I'm sure that's what he did. I'm sure that's what, I mean, you know what? And maybe he did. It is possible. But I mean, I'm gonna give him the benefit of the doubt that he knows what he's doing more so than someone who's attacking without even any evidence to start with.

Richard Rene does go on to just say, this is actually my favorite part of the entire email. Though, well, second favorite part, my favorite part is coming up. Though you were an acquired taste, that's very good. I have come to love you both. I have been listening for I don't know how long, but after Litners became my beloved reference, I had to listen to many of past podcasts to find the primary source of its beginnings. That journey is what converted me, and in my zeal, I signed up for the paid content. How about that?

Gerrit Hey, we say that to everybody. If it doesn't seem like it's your cup of tea, it probably isn't, but also, we do have some inside jokes like a lot of podcasts do, just because we're best friends and we joke around, and when we make mistakes, we make fun of ourselves, and it's very easy, and we make a lot of mistakes. And so there's a lot of things like Litners, which is actually a mockery of my inability to say the word listener. Richard decided it was so funny that he would just keep repeating it over and over and over again, because I didn't have the ability to enunciate properly, that, well, you know what? This is an ongoing joke.

Richard Well, it's easy. I've never made a mistake on the podcast in pronouncing a word or in reading. Although her PS does say, if this email makes the cut and you read it online, please assign it to your dyslexic co-host. He needs the practice. Now, I assume that's you, certainly not me.

Gerrit Yeah, because I'm your co-host.

Richard That's right, and dyslexic.

Gerrit Yeah, because he tells you that at the influencer conference, he was like, you know what? But what he really does is like, well, you know what I mean? I taught Gerrit everything that he knows. I was the one who said, you know what? Let's take a look at the 1832 history and when those pages were cut out. Speaking of arguments, when we last left you, we were talking about Sydney Rigdon.

Richard So Gerrit, I know we want to jump to Sydney Rigdon, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I did not put in a plug for the tour that is coming up in June. So we have June 22nd through the 28th, Missouri Nauvoo, we're about two-thirds full on that. And Sunday or August 3rd through the 9th in Palmyra Kirtland. We're doing Missouri Nauvoo in June because Missouri Nauvoo in August sounds like the worst thing anyone's ever heard of.

Gerrit Yeah. I mean, Nauvoo in August is only outdone by Nauvoo in January and February. You'll notice there aren't a whole lot of people taking Christmas tours to Nauvoo.

Richard Just riding around on sleighs, horse-drawn sleighs.

Gerrit You know what? Let's see if we can get a, let's see if we can get together a Christmas tour of Nauvoo.

Richard Oh, that's, that's, I will be out of town.

Gerrit Well, yeah, you'll be in Nauvoo with me. Yeah. I mean, what better way to, and we could have, you know, we could eat, you know, things they would have eaten back then, you know, some, some figgy pudding and.

Richard I could dress up, I could dress up like, oh, who's, who's Joseph Smith's bodyguard that was really kind of a bodyguard?

Gerrit You mean Porter Rockwell?

Richard Oh, Porter Rockwell. You dress up like Porter Rockwell, come into the dinner, you know, make the whole scene.

Gerrit Yeah, but people think you're a drunk Missourian.

Richard And he probably was.

Gerrit Yeah. I mean, I mean, the drunk part was probably yes.

Richard The not really a no.

Gerrit Yeah. Missourian no, but he had been held illegally in Missouri. So there's that. Yeah. So we love it if people can join the tour that we've had great experiences. We still communicate with the people on each of these tours because they're just such amazing people have had quite a few people ask. You know, we've actually had some people who've gone on both tours and we have other people who've like, well, you know, I've been to the sites like 10 times you ever do. Do you ever do anything else? I'm like, first of all, you should want to go back to where these sacred things happen more than 10 times. So people have asked, we've actually had quite a few people ask, well, do you ever do any like cruises? Well, so with Standard of Truth podcast, we have not yet branched out into the cruise world, but I am leading a cruise for Bountiful Travel. It's a footsteps of Paul Cruise next May. The first, it's May 18th.

Gerrit And, you know, it's pretty awesome. I mean, you...

Richard Yeah, that sounds awesome.

Gerrit Yeah, it is.

Richard Like you're hitting like Ephesus and...

Gerrit Well, you go Istanbul, Turkey, Ephesus, Turkey, Mykonos, which is a Greek island, rhodes, where the Colossus was, right? The great wonder of the ancient world. And then Santorini. And then we're gonna go to Alexandria and Egypt. And so several days there. So you should check it out. Then we're gonna go to Athens. So we're gonna be following the footsteps of the Apostle Paul. We're gonna again be with a group of like-minded people. So for those people who are like, I don't know if I want to do something else. Or like I said, we have multiple people say, well, don't you ever do any cruises? Go to Bountiful Travel's website and look under their cruises. And I'm gonna be the speaker.

Richard I will not be contributing much for the rest of this. I'll find the link and put it in the description of this episode as you're about to crash.

Gerrit When I start talking about Sydney Rigdon, you're gonna go dark?

Richard Well, I mean, you were texting me saying, hey, we should record like right now. Like I'm really mad. We should do it right now. So I've got a feeling I'm just gonna kind of lay out and then I'm gonna look through the New Testament to see when Santorini came up.

Gerrit I don't remember that. Paul was shipwrecked on an island.

Richard I mean, it couldn't have been Santorini?

Gerrit It was Mykonos. I love the idea of Paul sitting with a margarita on the beach in Mykonos. And he's just like, we gotta get this letter off to the Galatians. I'm so tired of their garbage. I marvel that you are so soon removed.

Richard That's great.

Gerrit Yeah. I don't know that Paul would enjoy our humor. He didn't seem to be quite as humor filled as Joseph Smith.

Richard Saul would have loved it.

Gerrit Yeah. Oh yeah. Well, I don't know. He was pretty taciturn as well. I think it's either way, Saul or Paul, or did you mean Saul, the person who tried to murder David? You meant King Saul.

Richard I meant King Saul.

Gerrit He loved the good joke. King Saul, he was always funnin, doing things to try to have David murdered. I mean, yeah, he was hilarious. His friends always thought of him as funny. So we're back to this conversation. We've had people wanting us to do the succession for quite some time. And so I thought, you know, leading off of the movie Six Days in August, we'd at least talk a little bit about the Sydney Rigdon claim. And that's the one that's the most well known to Latter-day Saints, even though it has a much smaller impact both in the long run and even in the short term. It's a really big deal early on, but it becomes less of a big deal as, spoiler alert, as Rigdon's church falls apart.

Gerrit And then Rigdon eventually gets excommunicated from his own church, which is, I mean, you're going to see the reason why I'm so happy about that as we get further into this. So we talked about how Brigham Young, in our last episode, we talked about Brigham Young was cautioning the saints and that they needed to do what Joseph wanted them to do. And remember, we stopped off with that if God had closed the heavens, right, if we were no longer getting revelation, that I would not give the ashes of rye straw for the salvation of the church. If God has ceased to speak by the Holy Ghost or revelation, there is no salvation. But this is not the case. There seems to be a disposition by many to leave Nauvoo and to go into the wilderness or somewhere else. But what if we should go into the wilderness?

Gerrit What? And we should ask God to give us an endowment. And he should ask if we were driven from Nauvoo and who drove you? The devil drove us would be the answer. Well, he might say, did you not know that I have power over the devil? Yes, but one said that I would not give a jackknife for all of Nauvoo. And another said I would not give a pair of mules for the best farm in Hancock County. And I was afraid. Would the Lord give an endowment to the people that would be frightened away from their duty? Those that are wishing to lead parties contrary to the council, I would not wish them damned worse than to have a company after their own liking. For they will soon quarrel among themselves. And if we should go into the wilderness and ask the Lord to give us an endowment, He might ask us saying, Did I not give you rock in Nauvoo to build the temple with? Yes. Did I not through the providence, my providence furnish men to quarry and to cut the stone to prepare it for the buildings?

Gerrit Yes. Did I not give you the means to build the temple there? Yes. Very well. Had you died in Nauvoo on the walls of the temple or in your fields, I would have taken you to myself and raised up men to officiate for you and you would have enjoyed the highest glory. Did you make a sacrifice by tithing? No. Well, I don't wonder that you did not believe I had power over the devil. And then Brigham says, such may go away. I want to have the faithful stay here to settle the city. So one thing that's really clear is Brigham Young is not saying you can't leave and go do what you want. You're always welcome to leave and go do what you want, but you're not welcome to leave and go do what you want and say it's the will of the Lord through the quorum of the 12th. That's the problem. Everyone is always free to leave and enter Nauvoo. However, they want.

Gerrit But if you're going to leave Nauvoo like James Emmett and whisper to people that actually I'm doing what the apostles told me to do, they're the ones who sent me on a secret mission to like come out to Iowa. Well, well, that that's not OK. And again, we relate this to apostasies that are even current in the church today that people will claim they have some kind of insider access to an apostle, to a 70, to a sealer. And they told me thus and so. And don't worry, I'm the only one who knows it because no one else knows it. That kind of stuff has always happened. Brigham goes on to say, Joseph has always been preserved until now, but he has now sealed his testimony with his blood. And his testament should now be put in force while the testator lived. It was all in his hands, but he is dead. There is no remission of sins without the shedding of blood.

Gerrit You will soon wake up and know, things as they are, that there has been a great debt paid. There will be no need for more blood of the saints being shed at present. And by and by, you will understand and see that all is right. Woe, woe, woe unto all who have shed the blood of the saints and the Lord's anointed. It must needs be that offenses come, but woe unto that man through whom they come. To those who would go away from this place, I would say, wait until the time comes. I will give you the key. North and South America is Zion. And as soon as the temple is done, as soon as you get your endowment, you can go and build up stakes. But don't be in haste. Wait until the Lord says to go. If you have the Spirit of God, you can discover right from wrong. When all is right with the priesthood, a man rises up and speaks in the Spirit of God.

Gerrit And just right, all will say amen. But when a man rises up and talks as smooth as oil, if he is not right, there will be many queries about it and it will not edify the body. I give this as a key. You may go all over North and South America and build up stakes when the time comes. The whole continent of America must be organized into districts and presiding elders appointed over each district. Richard's working with one of these presiding elders over a district right now in his Sweetwater Rescue temple trip, right?

Richard You know what? Can I interrupt Brigham just for a quick second?

Gerrit I mean, is he going to lose the anger that he has and the verve?

Richard I don't think so. Line of the Lord, I don't think so. The listeners, the Litners to the podcast have helped us raise enough money to take every single person who can go to the temple.

Gerrit Wow.

Richard To the temple.

Gerrit From that district in Argentina?

Richard From that district in Rio Gallegos, 100 people are going to be able to go to the temple. Just, I mean...

Gerrit And to remind the listeners, it's more than a two day bus ride to the temple. Yeah. It's a 70-month salary, right? For someone to go.

Richard It's something like, based on average salary, it's 76 hours round trip on a bus, and it is based on average salary, 8-10 months salary, if you spent all of your salary to go. And the listeners to this podcast raised over $38,000 to be able to send every single person that could go that hadn't been to the temple.

Gerrit That is amazing.

Richard Youth, ceilings, own endowment, missionaries.

Gerrit Thank you so much. I mean, not everyone even left their name with their donation, right? It's insane. It's anonymous and...

Richard I was texting you just, just, I mean, a couple of days ago saying, I can't believe this silly little podcast. Just the Litners to the podcast are just the absolute greatest people ever. To raise that much money in like three weeks to cover the cost. We actually just bought all the plane tickets just today for everybody to go.

Gerrit In fact, the people got together at a district conference.

Richard Yeah. Yeah.

Gerrit And all, and sent a video message back to, basically to all the people who donated. So we're going to make that, we're going to make that so people can watch that. Do you have a link?

Richard Yeah, it's awesome. I'll put the link to the video there. They don't know the podcast. They don't know the, I mean, we're not, we're not shooting up the charts in Southern Argentina.

Gerrit This is going to surprise an awful lot of people that in Spanish-speaking countries, we are not the podcast of choice.

Richard We are not.

Gerrit Yeah.

Richard Parts, parts of Peru and parts of Spain, but that's, that's the list. But I, I, I literally, Gerrit, I, I mean, I just can't, I just can't believe. It has just been the most incredible thing. And so we're going down the 20th or the Thanksgiving week. And, and we're going to, we're going to be down with them and it's just going to be so, so awesome. Anyway, I literally, I can't say thank you enough. I literally can't believe it.

Gerrit Yeah.

Richard Parts, parts of Peru and parts of Spain, but that's, that's the list. But I, I, I literally, Gerrit, I, I mean, I just can't, I just can't believe. It has just been the most incredible thing. And so we're going down the 20th or the Thanksgiving week. And, and we're going to, we're going to be down with them and it's just going to be so, so awesome. Anyway, I literally, I can't say thank you enough. I literally can't believe it.

Gerrit We really are so grateful for everybody. I mean, to me, that's showing someone. I mean, it is easy to do the charity when, when, when you're, you get to personally be there and you get to see what's going on. Or when you're helping out someone in your ward and you know, you know them. We have listeners who have never been to Argentina, who don't know one person there, who gave thousands of dollars so that a family could go and be sealed that wasn't sealed before. I mean, the podcast is fun. And you might say it's not really that fun. But this is Zion, the people who love other people more than they love themselves. And it is a good place to insert this in Brigham Young's sermon, because you have an awful lot of people who want you to only focus on yourself or even your own country.

Gerrit And Brigham Young is teaching something that he learned from Joseph near the end of Joseph's life, that it wasn't just Missouri that was Zion. It wasn't just that little temple plot that was Zion. And it wasn't just the United States that was Zion. All of North and South America was Zion. And when Joseph taught that, Brigham did like a, you know, he like, you know, cocked his head twice. What was that? Let me write that down. I mean, because no one had thought of that. Imagine, imagine the idea back when we didn't have any converts in South America. Brigham Young is just laying out there. All of this is Zion. And now, members today, oh, sure, we bad mouthed Brigham Young right and left. And we just passed right over the top of the fact that here he is in 1844 telling everyone that the work is going to grow in South America and there's going to be stakes and districts built there.

Gerrit And, oh yeah, yeah, oh, he's not really a prophet though. Oh, okay, yeah, because everyone knew that was going to happen. Nobody knew that was going to happen. In fact, people make fun of him for saying that that's going to happen. And it's almost like he's a prophet because he knew what was going to happen. And we as members today are able to participate in the continued spreading of that work. So I echo Richard, I can't thank our listeners enough. One of the things that Brigham says there is that, look, yeah, you know what, the people who are who are, he doesn't say dumb enough. What does he say? I mean, essentially, the people who are of the type that are either cowards that are afraid they're going to be killed while they're trying to build the temple or that they are persuaded by false prophets to follow them out. Good riddance. Okay, we don't want you anyway, because we've got a lot more difficult things to do than building this temple.

Gerrit We've got to walk 1700 miles to the new place we're going. So if you don't want to follow the prophet, then just leave. That was essentially what he was saying there. But this was all of this sermon, you know, so you don't have to go back to the last episode. And look, the sermon goes on. It's a very, very lengthy, lengthy sermon. But all of that was, you know, just a week or so after a week and a half, after the August meeting where the church selected Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve. And the power of the Quorum of the Twelve in taking control as the keys they'd received. You know, Sydney Rigdon, they try to reach out to Sydney.

Gerrit He's there in Nauvoo for the next couple of weeks, and they reach out and they reach out and they reach out. And it's easy for people who don't know the backstory to be like, yeah, it's obviously just Brigham Young is trying to like have his own power and stuff. The problem with Sydney Rigdon was not especially that there was a conflict between who should rule the First Presidency or the quorum of the 12th. That was a technical issue. The real problem, the real thing driving it, and what I wanted to talk a little bit about today, but I've already spent so much time that I'm not even have a lot of time to talk about it today, which is, you know, just keep people coming back for more. Is that what we do, Richard?

Richard Or just- They keep coming back for the Sydney Rigdon sermons that you lose your mind about.

Gerrit Yeah, they want that.

Richard They do.

Gerrit Yeah. Me like Kirk Cousins coming out of the locker room. You like that. You like that. Yeah. So the real issue is that Brigham Young has discerned in his conversations with Sydney Rigdon that this isn't just about who's in control. It's about the fact that Sydney Rigdon believes Joseph was wrong in the doctrines he was teaching. And I've said it before, I'll say it again. The most motivating factor that there is in Brigham Young's life is Joseph Smith. If Joseph taught it, Brigham embraced it. And he didn't understand, he embraced it. If he did understand, that whole conversation about North and South America being Zion, that's not in the Doctrine and Covenants. So why is Brigham Young teaching it over and over and over again in that sermon?

Gerrit Wouldn't it be much more helpful for Brigham Young to teach that only Missouri and wherever the church moves is Zion? That would be the smart thing to say. You've got a whole bunch of people trying to leave in one of them going to Texas. Maybe you should say, actually, there is no Zion outside of wherever the church goes. It would have been helpful. But in fact, that's not what Joseph taught. What Joseph taught was that all of North and South America was the land of Zion. And Brigham relates that. And so in Brigham's journal, there's an entry, September 3rd of 1844, where again, they are trying to get Sydney Rigdon to conciliate with him, even though he operated in bad faith, even though he hurried and got to Nauvoo and tried to hold secret meetings to get himself appointed. And even though he did a lot of things to undermine, they're trying to retain Sydney Rigdon.

Gerrit And so they meet with him. Tuesday, September 3rd, so this is just a week and a half later, had an interview with Brother Rigdon. He said that he had power and authority above the 12, and he did not consider himself bound to their council. So that's what he told them in the morning. So that should have been enough to like, okay, that's the end. They meet with him again, trying to persuade him. In the evening, the 12 had a council with him again, and he was far from being or feeling an interest with the 12. After a long conversation, Brother Rigdon's license was demanded of him, and he would not give them up. And this is the part that really sparks the separation. Keep in mind that we are two months away from when Joseph was murdered.

Gerrit I mean, well, a little over, because Joseph was murdered at the end of June, and we're now the very first week of September. Sydney Rigdon tells the Quorum that the church has not been led for a long time by the Lord, and that he should come out and tell all about the secrets of the church. Now, that may not sound like fighting words to you. They are fighting words to Brigham Young, because a long time hasn't elapsed since Joseph died. Joseph just barely died. So Sydney Rigdon is not making a reference to, oh yeah, Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve. They haven't led the church right for the two weeks they've been leading it. Sydney Rigdon is clearly making a direct reference to what Joseph taught.

Gerrit And he's saying that Joseph was wrong. The unforgivable sin for Brigham Young is speaking badly about Joseph Smith. The unforgivable sin for Brigham Young is to claim that Joseph was wrong in his revelations. Now I say that Brigham did forgive people who did that, but to him, that was a rubicon that Sydney Rigdon crossed. Look, Sydney Rigdon hurried to Nauvoo, tried to get there before everyone else, tried to hold a bunch of secret meetings, tried to put himself up as the guardian of the church, excluded the quorum of the 12 from his meetings. That wasn't enough for Brigham Young to say, get out of here, we excommunicate you. They spent the next two weeks begging him to reconcile. Sydney Rigdon says in this meeting, the church has not been led for a long time by the Lord.

Gerrit And Brigham Young is, all right, and seen. We are done here. If you think that Joseph Smith was wrong in what he taught, you can get you and your Rigdon self out of this place. And in fact, this is reflected in what Brigham Young will teach in the general conference that will follow shortly thereafter, where September 15th. So this conversation was on September 3rd, and Rigdon is going to leave Nauvoo. And Brigham Young is going to get up and speak at this conference. So this is the first conference that took place after Sydney Rigdon has left, after they've had the argument over who should lead the church or who had the right to lead the church.

Gerrit He says, Brigham says, among other things. I have frequently thought lately of Paul's words when he said, much every way, some for Paul and some for Apollo's and some for Cephas and some for Christ. And I believe there are a great many here for Christ. I will make the application of Paul's words to us. Much every way, some for Joseph and Hyrum, the Book of Mormon and the Doctrine and Covenants, the Temple and Joseph's measures, and some for Lyman White, and some for James Emmett, and some for Sydney Rigdon, and I suppose some for the Twelve. The business of the day will result in this thing. All those who are for Joseph and Hyrum, the Book of Mormon, the Book of Doctrine and Covenants, the Temple and Joseph's measures, and for the Twelve, they being one party, will be called upon to manifest their principles openly and boldly.

Gerrit We then wish all those who are of opposite parties to enjoy the same liberty, and to be as decided and as bold and to show their principles as boldly, and to be as decided as they are in their secret meetings and in their private councils. If they are for Sydney Rigdon and believe he is the leader of the people, we wish them to manifest it as freely as they do in other places, because this will form another party. We want all those who are for Lyman White and his measures to show themselves openly and boldly, and all those for James Emmett and his measures to show themselves. We wish them to withdraw today without fear and to be as bold as they are in other places. They may as well show themselves boldly, for I know where they live and I know their names, and I can point them out if necessary. Those who wish to Terry and to build up the city and to build the temple and to carry out the measures and revelations of our martyred prophet, we wish to know who they are.

Gerrit Now, all those who decline, going either way, but secretly slander the character of Joseph Smith and the Twelve, my fellowship will be withdrawn from them without any further ceremony. If there are not more than ten men who hang on to the truth and on to Joseph and the temple and are willing to do right in all things, let me be one of that number. If there should be but ten left and their lives should be threatened with destruction by mobs, the temple not built, and because they are determined to do right, let me be one that is martyred. Brigham Young is clearly trying to say here, Joseph said we had to build the temple before we left. Joseph said we had to build the temple in order to receive an endowment.

Gerrit I know there's lots of people who want to go away, but we are going to do what it is that the Lord has commanded us to do. And we're not going to claim that Joseph Smith was somehow wrong. Brigham will go on to say, all I ask of men and women to do is if they believe in Sydney Rigdon and want him to lead them, I want that they should be bold enough to go with him and not say they want to tarry with the church. They say they believe in Joseph Smith and at the same time, all their operations are to destroy and tear down what he has built up. And then Brigham says something that, you know, frankly, it works its way into to what is, you know, baptismal and temple recommend questions today.

Gerrit Brigham says, it is a test of our fellowship to believe and confess that Joseph lived and died a prophet of God in good standing. And I don't want anyone to fellowship the 12 who says that Joseph is fallen. That is, again, a very good example of how Brigham Young believed that if you don't believe Joseph Smith's a prophet, if you believe that Joseph died as a fallen prophet, if you believe that there's something that led to Joseph's murder, I don't want you. I don't want you. He's going to go on to say that Sydney Rigdon cannot hold the keys without Joseph. If he had held the keys with Joseph and been faithful, he would be with us. The 12 do not apostatize. They carry the keys of the kingdom wherever they go.

Gerrit And so here, this aspect of Brigham Young's life becomes very, it comes into very clear relief. Brigham Young believes that you can't be a Latter-day Saint and believe that Joseph Smith became a fallen prophet. Now, I want to get into, what does Sydney Rigdon say on his side of the ledger? Because no sooner does Sydney Rigdon leave, that he very quickly begins to publish his own newspaper. In fact, on the same day that this conference is going on, Sydney Rigdon is going to publish in Pittsburgh, probably at the oldest ward ever in the history of... The Pittsburgh Second Ward. Yeah, the Pittsburgh Second Ward, the oldest ward that has ever been existence in the church.

Gerrit He's going to resurrect a former Latter-day Saint newspaper called The Messenger and Advocate. And so he's going to use that title, and he's going to start his first issue on October 15th, 1844. And he is going to express lots of things in there that, you know, obviously attack the 12 and claim that he has the true calling. Multiple letters are published claiming that the apostles are wrong. What's really interesting is you go through the sermons that Sydney Rigdon gives in this paper. And I won't read them all because I got to tell you, they are tedious. I mean, he is, is that while Sydney Rigdon will early on in these first issues, all of the things that he attacks are the 12th.

Gerrit He attacks the Quorum of the 12th. He doesn't attack Joseph Smith, even though we know because of Brigham Young's Journal, that he did attack Joseph Smith in private council with Quorum of the 12th. But he doesn't do that in these earliest issues. In these earliest issues, everything is about how the Quorum of the 12th have introduced false doctrines, and that the proper right of succession was to the First Presidency, not to the Quorum of the 12th. Well, he gets a letter in this first issue. He receives a letter from a group of people that are following him, that first of all say, we're only going to follow the First Presidency, which is Sydney Rigdon. Of course, they apparently don't know that Emma Saliman is also in the First Presidency, but apparently they only think Sydney Rigdon.

Gerrit They go on to say, having learned, so this is a group of saints in Beaver County. Having learned that certain persons calling themselves saints do teach the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, or in other words, spiritual lives, professedly by divine authority, thus turning the grace of our Lord into lasciviousness. This, therefore, is to say to such persons and to all men that we neither believe or receive a doctrine so repugnant to the Word of God, and that we hold no fellowship with those who would justify such an abomination. And we earnestly justify, sorry, we earnestly exhort the saints in every place to set their faces against so pernicious a doctrine. besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith, virtue, and virtue knowledge. So that's a letter written by a church leader to Sydney Rigdon that he publishes in his paper, and then he publishes his response.

Gerrit And I'm so happy that the people with you have shown their uncompromising attachment to virtue and holy principles since the world began, all the dispensations. So this is Sydney Rigdon talking here. All the dispensations delivered to the men of living God have been thrown into confusion by the introduction of doctrines and practices, which were at war with godliness and subversive of all that was good and noble. Hence the distraction of the religious world. He goes on to say that, I have been informed that that someone in the town had been attempted to teach the doctrine of spiritual life. Now, notice they're using the term spiritual wifery. This is an incredibly loaded term, because that's what John C. Bennett called his profligate adultery rather than celestial marriage or plural marriage.

Gerrit Because John C. Bennett argued that he essentially had the right to sleep with whoever you want as long as they were a believer. Of course, that's not how plural marriage is being practiced in Nauvoo. But by using that pejorative of spiritual wifery, that's not accidental. Sydney Rigdon knows very well that John C. Bennett's false corruption was called spiritual wifery. So what does he call what's going on in Nauvoo? He calls it the same thing, even though he knows it's not the same thing. Because that is such a heavily laden term. It would seem impossible, this is him continuing, that there could be found a set of men and women in this age of the world with the revelations of gods in their hand, who could invent and propagate doctrines so ruinous to society, so debasing and demoralizing as the doctrine of a man having a plurality of wives.

Gerrit For it is the existence of this strange doctrine, worse than the strange fire offered upon the altar by corrupted Israel, that was the root of all evils which have followed and are following in the church, and the very mention of it, of which we could not fail to redden the cheek of decency with a blush. Now, you'll notice in that paragraph, there's an implication that this has been introduced not like yesterday. I mean, again, he's railing against this idea of plural marriage, we're two and a half months removed from Joseph being murdered. So, he isn't saying it yet. You don't notice that he's saying it. He's still blaming the 12 for teaching this doctrine. But he isn't really trying to separate out, why is the 12 teaching this doctrine? And if you're claiming, this doctrine has led to the divisions in the church, well, there weren't any divisions until Joseph was murdered.

Gerrit So are you claiming that Brigham Young, like, got the letter in Boston that Joseph was murdered and was like, great, we can now start practicing polygamy? Got back to Nauvoo in August and immediately started practicing it as much as he possibly could, like all polygamists are want to do. It's clear that that's not what Sydney Rigdon is alluding to. He's not saying the words Joseph Smith introduced it, but he's saying that the root of all the evils that have followed in the church have come from the introduction of that doctrine. Again, he's not writing to idiots. All of the people that he's writing to are people who are members of the church or were members of the church. They all know about the John C. Bennett heresy. They also all know that the that the Nauvoo expositor, one of the attacks made on Joseph was that he had introduced plural marriage into the church.

Gerrit So when Sydney Rigdon says all the evils that have followed since that was introduced, well, who do you think is he saying that introduced it? Now, he's going to keep referencing the 12 because they are his real enemies. For instance, he's going to talk about Paul talking about silly women laden with lust led away by diverse lusts and claim that that's who the women are who are practicing polygamy. So he does a real bang up job of protecting the women there. But he goes on to say that the 12 and their adherence have entered into the houses and led silly women astray. It is a fact susceptible of the highest proof. The conclusion is that they affected the ruin of silly females by or through a form of godliness.

Gerrit Now, here again, he is going to make an illusion, an illusion to Joseph, but he is not going to say the words Joseph. Now remember, this is brand new. Sydney Rigdon's primary claim, in fact, the entire first part of this newspaper is a gigantic letter from one of Rigdon's sycophants who is laying out point for point for point using the Doctrine and Covenants, how it is that Sydney Rigdon is the rightful leader of the church and not the 12th. So it's referencing Joseph Smith constantly in it. Here notice this subtle illusion. Paul says that the corruption that he has described was to take place in the last days. Now from this, the people of the last days are authorized to call anything of the kind which makes its appearance. It matters not by whom these corruptions were introduced.

Gerrit Prophet, apostle, evangelist or pastor, whosoever introduces them has an account to settle with Paul in the great day when the affairs of the universe shall be adjusted before the umpire who cannot err. For either these doctrines and practices are corruptions, or else Paul stands charged with a departure from the truth. Now, why do you think he included that? It matters not by whom these corruptions were introduced. Prophet, apostle, evangelist. They were not calling the Quorum of the Twelve prophets at the time. You know, we do ordain prophets, apostles today as prophets, seers and revelators. But that is not how they reference. In fact, it's a capital P prophet. It matters not by whom these corruptions were introduced. Prophet, do you see the subtle jab there, Richard?

Richard Yeah, I can see. It's interesting in the movie Six Days in August, right? Sydney Rigdon is not a very beloved character toward the end. And me not knowing very much about the details as you're describing here, I can very much see how that would be the case.

Gerrit Yeah. And this is a warm up. Let me just leave off here. We've gone too long and we always do because that's what we are want to do. It is a fact well known that the 12 and their inherence have endeavored to carry on this spiritual wife business. That, that now, now maybe he's referencing, because he says in secret, you know, so maybe the carry on is that, oh, you're trying to do this out of anyone knowing, which is certainly true. They're not doing it publicly. That, I hardly need to mention it here, that they've gone to the most shameful and desperate lengths to keep it from the public. Again, we're two months removed from Joseph being murdered. Is he saying that all of these polygamous marriages have taken place in the last two months? Obviously, he's not saying that.

Gerrit First, insulting these innocent females. And, when they resented the insult, these monsters in human shape would assail their characters by lying and perjuries and a multitude of desperate men to help them to affect the ruin of those whom they insulted. And all this to enable them to keep these corrupt practices from the view of the world. I could bring facts which can be established in any court of justice in relation to these vile abominations practiced under the garb of religion that would make humanity blush. No falsehood too great and no perjury too daring in order to conceal these heaven-daring abuses of mankind. But I say in the language of Paul, they shall go no further for their fall is shall now be made manifest and will not cease until it is manifest unto all.

Gerrit So the issue is that as he rails against polygamy, Sydney Rigdon certainly knows that Joseph was practicing polygamy. And yet, he's trying to draw adherence to him on the basis of he was robbed of his rightful claims and that the 12 are practicing polygamy. There's a couple of illusions in there to the fact that the 12 aren't the ones who came up with this. But early on, Sydney Rigdon is trying to lead people with a flaxen cord until he can bind them with strong chains. Because what we're going to talk about in our next episode, if people haven't completely stopped listening because they don't want to listen to this. I did say the word polygamy though, I mean, right?

Richard Yeah. We've received several emails from one particular listener that...

Gerrit Yeah, Nate emailed us multiple times on this very question about whether or not Joseph taught plural marriage.

Richard There you go.

Gerrit And I think he kind of found his answer before he got around to it because we talked about it on another episode. But, you know what, Nate? You'll enjoy this when you get to it, that we're talking about it. So we'll talk more about what happens going forward with Sydney Rigdon and these claims in our next episode. 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.

Sidney Rigdon's Apostasy Part 1

Chapters

Transcript

Quote board

Source shelf

Renee's email to the Phebe Draper Palmer Brown Mailbag

Joseph Smith's 1832 history, in his first letterbook

Dialogue article arguing the church historian removed the 1832 history pages (author not named on air)

Brigham Young, discourse in the Grove, Nauvoo, August 18, 1844 (continued from the last episode)

Hebrews 9:16-17, 22 (identified, not cited on air)

Matthew 18:7 (identified, not cited on air)

Brigham Young, August 18, 1844, on North and South America as Zion

Sweetwater Rescue temple trip for the Rio Gallegos district, Argentina

Brigham Young's journal, September 3, 1844

Brigham Young at the general conference, Nauvoo, September 15, 1844

1 Corinthians 1:12

Brigham Young, September 15, 1844, on fellowship

Messenger and Advocate (Sidney Rigdon's revived paper, Pittsburgh), first issue, October 15, 1844

Letter from Rigdon's followers in Beaver County, in the Messenger and Advocate

Sidney Rigdon's reply, Messenger and Advocate, 1844

2 Timothy 3:6 (identified, not cited on air)

Sidney Rigdon, Messenger and Advocate, on corruptions 'introduced' by a prophet

Episode quiz

What does Richard blame on his new glasses?

Fun with Numbers

From 1832 to 1844

Money said on air

Putting numbers to words

What this episode talks about more than usual

Names said most

Signature words

More from this episode

Claim check

Take it to class

Banter bin

The Phebe Draper Palmer Brown Mailbag

Go deeper

Sidney Rigdon's Apostasy Part 1

Crooked glasses, Italian bookies

Renee's email to the Phebe Draper Palmer Brown Mailbag

Joseph Smith's 1832 history, in his first letterbook

Dialogue article arguing the church historian removed the 1832 history pages (author not named on air)

Brigham Young, discourse in the Grove, Nauvoo, August 18, 1844 (continued from the last episode)

Hebrews 9:16-17, 22 (identified, not cited on air)

Matthew 18:7 (identified, not cited on air)

Brigham Young, August 18, 1844, on North and South America as Zion

Sweetwater Rescue temple trip for the Rio Gallegos district, Argentina

Brigham Young's journal, September 3, 1844

Brigham Young at the general conference, Nauvoo, September 15, 1844

1 Corinthians 1:12

Brigham Young, September 15, 1844, on fellowship

Messenger and Advocate (Sidney Rigdon's revived paper, Pittsburgh), first issue, October 15, 1844

Letter from Rigdon's followers in Beaver County, in the Messenger and Advocate

Sidney Rigdon's reply, Messenger and Advocate, 1844

2 Timothy 3:6 (identified, not cited on air)

Sidney Rigdon, Messenger and Advocate, on corruptions 'introduced' by a prophet

What does Richard blame on his new glasses?

From 1832 to 1844

Money said on air

Putting numbers to words

What this episode talks about more than usual

Names said most

Signature words