I attended the funeral this morning of my friend James Brown Allen, who passed away recently in his ninety-eighth year. In my experience, the faith-filled funeral services of good people are among the best and most inspirational of meetings, and this one was no exception. Neal Lambert, like the Allens a resident of the Jamestown Assisted Living Center, was the first speaker. They had known each other since the days when, as young men, they had worked in the... Read more
We were fortunate in casting a remarkable “Joseph Smith” (aka Paul Wuthrich, whom many of you will also know through his leading role in Escape from Germany) in our movie Witnesses. And we knew that we would need to be similarly fortunate in our casting of a Brigham Young for Six Days in August. Paul Wuthrich will reprise his role as Joseph Smith in Six Days in August. However — spoiler alert! — he does not last through the... Read more
IMPORTANT: For those who are in Utah Valley, or who may or can be in the vicinity on the evening of Wednesday, 25 September, I would like to announce a major fireside. It will take place at the SCERA Center for the Arts, in Orem. I hope that you will make plans to be there: “Unveiling History: Six Days in August Fireside.” A good time will be had by all. I expect that many Latter-day Saints are aware of... Read more
Two new articles have gone up on the website of the never-changing and completely dead website of the Interpreter Foundation: “The Man with No Name: The Story of the Brother of Jared as an Anti-Babel Polemic,” written by Walker Wright Abstract: Within the text of the Book of Mormon, the name of Jared’s brother is never revealed. Various reasons have been offered for the lack of a name, but nothing conclusive has been offered. Taking a cue from the... Read more
Somehow I missed it when it occurred, but an article written by . . . well, written by me went up a couple of days ago in Meridian Magazine: “Hearing Wilford Woodruff’s Testimony in His Own Voice.” I hope that you’ll read it. And I hope that you’ll enjoy it. Also in the “me section” of this blog: I joined in the recording of an audio podcast earlier today with Scott Woodward and Casey Griffiths for their “Church History... Read more
As the release date for Six Days in August approaches, I find myself thinking about the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum, the Patriarch. Thomas Sharp and his conspirators down in Warsaw to the south, and the mob that did the deed in Carthage to the east, thought that, by murdering Joseph and Hyrum, they had put an end to “Mormonism.” Now, though, Thomas Sharp and his cronies are completely forgotten — except as evil... Read more
This is a stunning story about the converting power of the Book of Mormon and about the motivating power of personal faith: “Refugee walks 728 miles to be baptized after reading Book of Mormon: Amos Makulu walked across Tanzania to be baptized as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Now in New York, he is instrumental in creating a Swahili-speaking branch.” It offers yet another example of the fascinating stories that are emerging out of... Read more
Last night, my wife and I watched a video — not quite an hour long — entitled Pioneers of Africa. Directed by Marcy Brown and produced at least partially under the auspices of Brigham Young University, it’s about the limited, tentative, and awkward approaches of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to the continent of Africa prior to the 1978 revelation on priesthood, and about the history of African Latter-day Saints thereafter up to the time of... Read more
On 28 August 2024, I recorded a lecture in connection with the Interpreter Foundation’s approaching Mesoamerica tour. It was entitled “The Importance, and Non-Importance, of Knowing the Geography of the Book of Mormon,” and it is now up on the Interpreter Foundation website. Truth be told, it wasn’t one of my better outings — though it might still be preferable to an equivalent amount of time spent watching old reruns of The Young and the Restless or just about... Read more
I’ve fallen a bit behind, so it’s high time to catch up: These two pieces appeared on Friday on the Interpreter Foundation’s completely comatose website: “Restoring Melchizedek Priesthood,” written by John S. Thompson Abstract: Church historical sources make four differing claims as to when, how, and by whom Melchizedek priesthood was restored. These seemingly conflicting sources have led to many theories about what happened, including the idea that Joseph Smith changed his narrative and rewrote history as his ideas... Read more
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