“It was necessary that I should go.”

But, first:  Yesterday evening, at 7 PM Utah time, another new episode of our series of Witnesses-related video “Insights” went up on the website of the Interpreter Foundation:

Witnesses of the Book of Mormon — Insights Episode 30: No Matter the Consequence

If the Book of Mormon was a fraud, why would supposed insiders to such a fraud allow themselves to suffer incredible hardship and pain, why would they face down mobs and actually risk their lives to continue insisting it was true?

This is the thirtieth in a series compiled from the many interviews conducted during the course of the Witnesses film project. This series of mini-films is being released each Saturday at 7pm MDT. These additional resources are hosted by Camrey Bagley Fox, who played Emma Smith in Witnesses, as she introduces and visits with a variety of experts. These individuals answer questions or address accusations against the witnesses, also helping viewers understand the context of the times in which the witnesses lived. This week we feature Daniel C. Peterson, President of the Interpreter Foundation and Executive Producer of Witnesses. For more information, go to https://witnessesofthebookofmormon.org/ or watch the documentary movie Undaunted.

Short clips from this episode are also available on TikTok and Instagram.

Be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel at https://youtube.interpreterfoundation.org/ and our other social media channels on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.

And — oh yes — here’s something else:  Videos of the presentations that were given at the Interpreter Foundation’s 2022 Temple on Mount Zion Conference (the Sixth Matthew B. Brown Memorial Conference, which was held on 4-5 November 2022) are now available at no charge on YouTube.  They include:

C. Wilfred Griggs: “The Temple and the Sacred in Ancient Christianity”

Margaret Barker: “The Lead Books Found in Jordan”

Samuel Zinner: “Discussion of Margaret Barker’s Paper”

T.K. Plant: “She Took the Veil and Covered Herself”

Stephen O. Smoot: “Temple Themes in the Book of Abraham”

Samuel Zinner: “The Cosmic Temple of Divine Names”

David Calabro: “Discussion of Samuel Zinner’s Paper”

David J. Larsen: “Psalm 89 in the Dead Sea Scrolls”

Jeffrey M. Bradshaw and Matthew L. Bowen: “Jacob’s Temple Journey to Haran and Back”

Rebecca Stay: “Eastward in Genesis 2-4: An Exercise in Visual Discovery”

Matthew L. Bowen and Jeffrey M. Bradshaw: “From Jared to Jacob”

Stephen D. Ricks: “Temples beyond Jerusalem”

David Calabro: “Ancient Israelite Temple Ritual through the Telescope of Restoration Scripture”

Spencer Kraus: “That I May Lift Up My Eyes”

John S. Thompson: “How Luke’s Gospel Portrays Jesus as the Exodus or Way of the Temple”

In 1987, Leon R. Hartshorn published a compilation entitled Remarkable Stories from the Lives of Latter-day Saint Women.  Earlier today, I came across two apparent excerpts from it that I’ll share here.  Both of them focus on Lydia Goldthwaite, who was born in Sutton, Massachusetts, on 9 June 1812 and who eventually married my collateral relative Newell Knight in Kirtland, Ohio, on 23 November 1835.  He himself had been born on 13 September 1800 in Marlboro, Vermont, and — one of the leaders of a small group of Latter-day Saint refugees — he would die of exposure on 11 January 1847 at Camp Ponca, Iowa, months before any of the exiled Saints had crossed the Rocky Mountains to the Great Basin West.  His death left Lydia with seven young children to care for.  She lived until 3 April 1884, passing away in St. George, Utah:

The day after Lydia’s baptism the Nickerson family and others were gathered around the fireplace in the parlor listening to the Prophet’s words when . . .  “I would be so glad if someone who has been baptized could receive the gift of tongues as the ancient Saints did and speak to us,” said Moses Nickerson. “If one of you will rise up and open your mouth it shall be filled, and you shall speak in tongues,” replied the Prophet. Everyone then turned as by a common instinct to Lydia and said with one voice, “Sister Lydia, rise up.” And then the great glory of God was manifested to this weak but trusting girl. She was enveloped as with a flame, and unable longer to retain her seat, she rose and her mouth was filled with the praises of God and his glory. The spirit of tongues was upon her, and she was clothed in a shining light, so bright that all present saw it with great distinctness above the light of the fire and the candles.”

The second incident obviously occurs many years thereafter.  I’m still thinking of the sudden and unexpected passing of Kent Budge, which (I’m told) leaves his wife with some exceptional challenges pertaining to their children.  So I take some comfort in this account:

Several days after Newel had died Lydia returned from a meeting and “sat down in her home full of sad thoughts. How could she, who had never taken any care except that which falls to every woman’s share, prepare herself and family to return to Winter Quarters and from thence take journey a thousand miles into the Rocky Mountains? The burden weighed her very spirit down until she cried out in her pain, “Oh Newel, why hast thou left me!” As she spoke, he stood by her side, with a lovely smile on his face, and said; “Be calm, let no sorrow overcome you. It was necessary that I should go. I was needed behind the veil. . . . You cannot fully comprehend it now; but the time will come when you shall know why I left you and our little ones. therefore, dry up your tears. Be patient, I will go before you and protect you in your journeyings. And you and your little ones shall never perish for lack of food.”