Informed Saints

Did Joseph Smith ever reveal where the Book of Mormon took place? The very first missionaries told reporters that Lehi landed in Chile, and that the Nephites' final battle ran all the way from Panama to New York. So where did that picture come from, and has the question ever been settled by revelation? Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot sit down with Matt Roper, veteran Book of Mormon researcher at Scripture Central (formerly with FARMS and BYU's Maxwell Institute). Together they trace nearly two centuries of what prophets, apostles, missionaries, and members have said about Book of Mormon geography. The conversation draws on Matt's article "Limited Geography and the Book of Mormon: Historical Antecedents and Early Interpretations," published in The FARMS Review (2004). Whether you lean Heartland, Mesoamerica, or haven't picked a map at all, this is the shared history behind every model. ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye Further Readings: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/book-of-mormon-geography https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1637&context=msr&fbclid=IwY2xjaw https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1821&context=msr&fbclid=IwY2xjaw https://cdn.interpreterfoundation.org/jnlpdf/roper-v16-2015-pp161-205-PDF.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjaw https://www.plonialmonimormon.com/2019/06/a-review-of-the-annotated-edition-of-the-book-of-mormon-part-3a.html?fbclid=IwY2xjaw https://scripturecentral.org/archive/periodicals/magazine-article/editorial-thoughts-book-mormon-geography https://scripturecentral.org/archive/books/book/geography-book-mormon-events-source-book?fbclid=IwY2xjaw https://archive.org/details/brighamyounguniv00wilk/page/160/mode/2up https://scripturecentral.org/knowhy/why-did-the-lord-command-the-three-witnesses-to-rely-upon-his-word https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1525&context=jbms&fbclid=IwY2xjaw https://cdn.interpreterfoundation.org/jnlpdf/roperetal-v17-2016-pp13-61-PDF.pdf https://interpreterfoundation.org/journal/zarahemla-revisted-nevilles-newest-novel If you love digging into the history and evidence behind the Book of Mormon, subscribe and join us for the next episode. Study deeply, believe boldly. <...

We're diving into the top highlights and reveals of the October 2026 General Conference, including a surprising address from President Christofferson on the spiritual dangers of gambling. ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by: The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye https://ancientamerica.org/ ===Discover=== If any of our thoughts resonated with you, consider learning more about the single most influential book in our lives. https://www.discoverbookofmormon.org/ ===Content Disclaimer=== The views expressed represent ours alone and do not necessarily reflect the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. #lds #mormon #livestream #churchofjesuschrist

Everyone knows where the Hill Cumorah is… right? Joseph Smith received the gold plates from a hill in upstate New York. But is that the same hill where Mormon hid the Nephite records and the Nephites made their last stand in Mormon 6? It's one of the most debated questions in Book of Mormon geography, and the history behind it may surprise you. In this episode of Informed Saints, Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot walk through what the Book of Mormon itself says about Cumorah, trace when the New York hill first came to be called by that name, and look at what the Church has officially said. Along the way they draw on the Joseph Smith Papers, the Church's "Book of Mormon Geography" statement, and the Hill Cumorah issue of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, including archaeologist John E. Clark's assessment of the site. Chapters: 0:00 The Hill Cumorah background 5:35 Is it in New York? 12:00 Assessing the sources 16:57 What’s from Joseph Smith? 21:21 David Whitmer sources 25:27 The Church’s position 28:00 What the BoM says? 35:15 Looking at the archeology 42:50 Another candidate in Mexico 47:00 Conclusion - Learning more ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye Further Readings: Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Hill Cumorah issue: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol13/iss1/ "Book of Mormon Geography," Gospel Topics: www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/book-of-mormon-geography Our Book of Mormon geography episode with Brant Gardner: https://youtu.be/lHEAG87wh9Y https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/hill-cumorah-site-guide/03-curators-notes https://scripturecentral.org/archive/books/book/introduction-study-book-mormon https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/MStar/id/27175/ https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/lucy-mack-smith-history-1844-1845/41 https://interpreterfoundation.org/journal/the-cowdery-conundrum-olivers-aborted-attempt-to-describe-joseph-smiths-first-vision-in-1834-and-1835 https://bhroberts.org/records/pWTXhj-mc2Zjf/w_w_phelps_identifies_the_hill_cumorah_as_being_in_new_york https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-1838-1856-volume-a-1-23-december-1805-30-august-1834/9 https://bookofmormonresources.blogspot.com/2016/10/ramahcumorah.html https://bhroberts.org/records/zrSENb-yN34Vd/heber_c_kimball_recounts_the_cumorah_cave

The first sacrament meeting of the Restoration was held on a Tuesday. Latter-day Saints once drank homemade currant wine from a shared cup, sang hymns one line at a time because half the congregation couldn't read, and listened to music playing during the administration of the sacrament. Almost everything we picture when we say the word "church" is younger than we think. Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot trace nearly two centuries of change in Latter-day Saint Sabbath worship — from open-air preaching in the Nauvoo grove to the 2026 two-hour block. There is no single standard history of this subject yet, so this episode pulls the thread together from separate histories of the sacrament, the Relief Society, the Sunday School, the Aaronic Priesthood, Primary, and the Young Women — including Justin Bray's work on the early sacrament. Chapters: 0:00 Intro - Current Church Schedule Changes 6:16 Sacrament Meeting History 14:22 The Sacrament History 32:12 Relief Society & Youth Program Changes 36:36 Sunday School Changes 42:42 Young Men’s & Women’s 49:00 Age Categories 53:25 Conclusion - Inspired Direction ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye Church Changes Bibliography “https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/sacrament-meetings?lang=eng,” in Church History Topics. “https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/sunday-school?lang=eng,” in Church History Topics. “https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/young-women-organizations?lang=eng,” in Church History Topics. “https://churchhistorylibrary.churchofjesuschrist.org/guides/young-women-organization?lang=eng,” Church History Library Research Guides. “https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/relief-society?lang=eng,” in Church History Topics. Janene Wolsey Baadsgaard, “https://www.thechurchnews.com/1999/3/20/23249076/cover-story-sunday-school-grew-from-humble-start/,” Church News (March 20, 1999). Justin R. Bray, “https://rsc.byu.edu/you-shall-have-my-word/lords-supper-early-mormonism,” in You Shall Have My Word: Exploring the Text of the Doctrine and Covenants, ed. Scott C. Esplin, Richard O. Cowan, and Rachel Cope (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2012), 64–74. Justin R. Bray, "https://rsc.byu.edu/sacred-time/sabbath-sacrament-latter-day-saints," in Sacred Time: The Sabbath as a Perpetual Covenant, ed. Gaye Strathearn (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book), 207–42. Rachel Cope, "https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-15-no-3-2014/thoughts-reclaiming-history-relief-society," Religious Educator 15, no. 3 (2014): 91–101. William Hartley, https://byustudies.byu.edu/online-book/my-fellow-servants-essays-on-the-history-of-the-priesthood/from-men-to-boys, in My Fellow Servants: Essays on the History of the Priesthood (Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 2010). William Hartley, https://byustudies.byu.edu/online-book/my-fellow-servants-essays-on-the-history-of-the-priesthood/mormon-sundays, in My Fellow Servants: Essays on the History of the Priesthood (Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 2010). Glen M. Leonard, “https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/1974/12/125-years-of-the-sunday-classroom?lang=eng,” Ensign (December 1974). Janet Peterson, “https://rsc.byu.edu/firm-foundation/young-women-zion-organizational-history,” in David J. Whittaker and Arnold K. Garr, eds., A Firm Foundation: Church Organization and Administration (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 2011), 277–94. Mary Jane Woodger, “https://rsc.b...

A widely shared chart in an edition of an annotated Book of Mormon claims the characters Joseph Smith copied from the gold plates match an old Native American hieroglyphic script. But when one researcher traced every glyph back to its source, the trail led somewhere no one expected — to the most infamous forger in Latter-day Saint history. In this episode, Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot sit down with Jerry Grover: an independent Book of Mormon researcher, geologist, and author of a book on the "characters document”. They walk through his new paper, published by the Interpreter Foundation, examining the claimed match between the gold plates characters and Mi'kmaq (Micmac) hieroglyphs. ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye In this episode: • What the "characters document" actually is — and why it isn't the Anthon transcript • John Whitmer's handwriting, an 1887 photograph, and a New York broadside • The documented origin of Mi'kmaq hieroglyphics: a 17th-century Catholic priest, birch bark, and Catholic prayers • Why 10–14 look-alikes out of roughly 4,000 glyphs isn't statistically meaningful • Mark Hofmann's forged "Anthon transcript" — and how its glyphs ended up in a modern comparison chart • The Brazil phone call: "Come authenticate our gold plates" • Wayne May's This Land, the Annotated Book of Mormon, and why citations matter • A hopeful precedent: the photo that was corrected in an earlier edition Read Jerry Grover's new paper at interpreterfoundation.org : https://interpreterfoundation.org/journal/mikmaq-meldrum-may-and-mark Further Resources: bmslr.org https://bmslr.org/translation-of-the-caractors-document/ www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/appendix-2-document-1-characters-copied-by-john-whitmer-circa-1829-1831/1 ensignpeakfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/The-“Caractors”-Document.pdf www.plonialmonimormon.com/2019/06/a-review-of-the-annotated-edition-of-the-book-of-mormon-part-2.html Subscribe for more faithful scholarship on the Book of Mormon and Latter-day Saint history. Study deeply, believe boldly. ===Discover=== If any of our thoughts resonated with you, consider learning more about the single most influential book in our lives. https://www.discoverbookofmormon.org/ ===Content Disclaimer=== The views expressed represent ours alone and do not necessarily reflect the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. #BookOfMormon #LDS #LatterDaySaints #ComeFollowMe #Mikmaq #Micmac #AnthonTranscript #CharactersDocument #GoldPlates #JosephSmith #MarkHofmann #ReformedEgyptian #ChurchHistory #BookOfMormonEvidence #InterpreterFoundation #JerryGrover #Nephite #LDSHistory #FaithfulScholarship #InformedSaints

The Book of Mormon will not stop telling you where the record is. Who's holding it. Who handed it off. What they did with it and why. A retired trial attorney read that and recognized something from thirty years in courtrooms: a chain of custody. Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot sit down with Stephen Lundwall: retired IP and business attorney and former BYU religion faculty, to talk about Authentic: The Book of Mormon, Evidences of a Miracle, written with his wife Rebecca Lundwall and published by Deseret Book. Lundwall makes the case the way he'd make it to a jury: witnesses, exhibits, cross-examination, and a closing argument. ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye In this episode: • What "provenance" means, and why archaeologists and attorneys care about the same thing • Why Moroni being the final author of the record changes everything about the handoff • Isaac Taylor's 1827 argument that ancient literature, history, and religion all rest on secure transmission — published the same year Moroni delivered the plates • What the original and printer's manuscripts actually show, and why the translation itself is evidence • Elizabeth Whitmer and Emma Smith on what they watched happen day after day • The interruptions Joseph never needed read back to him • The 28 words in Joseph Smith's own handwriting — the only ones in the entire manuscript • How Oliver Cowdery learned to spell Coriantumr • The Hebraic "if–and" conditional in Moroni 10:4 that Joseph edited out of later editions • Bernard DeVoto, internal consistency, and translating a 500-page book inside out • The "legal truth test" for a witness who says he saw an angel: honest, competent, biased, reasonable • David Whitmer's 1881 Richmond affidavit — and why Alexander Doniphan's signature on it matters Get Authentic: The Book of Mormon, Evidences of a Miracle by Stephen and Rebecca Lundwall: https://amzn.to/4ww8YrH Further Readings: https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/original-manuscript-of-the-book-of-mormon-circa-12-april-1828-circa-1-july-1829/194 https://archive.org/details/addresstoallbeli00whit/page/9/mode/1up https://scripturecentral.org/archive/books/book-chapter/-gift-and-power-god-0 https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/history-circa-summer-1832/1 https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/printers-manuscript-of-the-book-of-mormon-circa-august-1829-circa-january-1830/1 https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/original-manuscript-of-the-book-of-mormon-circa-12-april-1828-circa-1-july-1829/1 https://www.deseret.com/faith/2026/06/05/church-of-jesus-christ-acquires-daguerreotype-some-say-is-the-only-photo-of-joseph-smith/ Subscribe for more faithful scholarship on the Book of Mormon, Church hi...

The facsimiles are the only pictures in Latter-day Saint scripture — and Facsimile 2 is the strangest of them. Critics say Egyptologists translated it long ago and "disproved" the Book of Abraham. Some Saints treat it as secret temple code waiting to be cracked. So what can we actually know about this mysterious circle? Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot sit down with Egyptologist Dr. John Gee (MA, Berkeley; PhD, Yale) — one of the few scholars published on hypocephali in mainstream, peer-reviewed Egyptological venues — and draw on A Guide to the Book of Abraham (BYU Studies), co-authored by Gee, Smoot, Kerry Muhlstein, and John Thompson. ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye In this episode: What a hypocephalus is — and why the Greek "under the head" mistranslates the Egyptian kher-tep, "at the head" The owner's name on Facsimile 2 — Sheshonq — and why it belonged to a different mummy than Facsimiles 1 and 3 Book of the Dead 162: the "great and secret book" that turns a hypocephalus into a passport through the gates of the next life The 100+ known hypocephali (Tamás Mekis's catalog) — papyrus, linen, lead, copper, ceramic, and one lost gold disc Why modern Egyptologists' readings aren't the same as ancient Egyptian interpretations — and Gee's peer-reviewed study of mismatched figure identifications The one block of text scholars can read — the very figures Joseph Smith said are "to be had in the holy temple of God" — and its parallels on the Ptolemaic temple gate at Karnak The rim inscription's references to the temple of the Benu bird (the phoenix) at Heliopolis The missing head and missing quadrant — and whether the published solar bark and two-headed central figure fall within the ancient range "The great cow who gave birth to the sun": Hathor, Esna, and why identifications shift from city to city Figure 6, the earth in its four quarters, and the four winds on a Cairo Museum sarcophagus Why Joseph Smith's journals call this "the astronomical cut" — and the Kolob connection to Abraham 3 How much the facsimiles actually matter: "not the keystone of our religion" Further Readings: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=5293&context=byusq https://byustudies.byu.edu/issue/61-4 https://www.archaeopress.com/Archaeopress/Products/9781789693331 https://www.magicgatebg.com/Books/Joseph%20Smith%20Hypocephalus.pdf https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol17/iss3/2/ https://www.deseretbook.com/product/5033745.html?srsltid=AfmBOorIWyDxSEgPvDjozuGpTfW85jWOEiYsTguXkryo8GKAMTQfBCEt https://interpreterfoundation.org/journal/temple-themes-in-the-book-of-abraham ===Discover=== If any of our thoughts resonated with you, consider learning more about the single most influential book in our lives. https://www.discoverbookofmormon.org/ ===Content Disclaimer=== The views expressed represent ours alone and do not nec...

People online will tell you Latter-day Saints are leaving the Church in droves — especially women. But when social scientists actually run the numbers, a very different story emerges. In this episode,the Informed Saints crew sit down with Dr. Jenet Erickson — professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University, Wheatley Institute fellow, and Deseret News columnist — alongside co-hosts Neal Rappleye and Stephen Smoot to unpack the new BYU Studies report, Latter-day Saint Trends in the United States: Religiousness, Well-Being, and Retention (co-authored by Justin Dyer, a previous guest on the show). Together we explore: Why Latter-day Saints lead the nation in active retention — and what that phrase means The real story of the gender gap: millennial women, faith, and what actually changed Claudia Goldin's Nobel Prize–winning "quiet revolution" in women's education and work Politics as a key predictor of disaffiliation Christian Smith and the 1991 turning point: materialism, the divorce revolution, and institutional distrust Pew data on Latter-day Saint women reporting deep peace and high happiness Wheatley findings across 13 countries: religiously active women 4–5× more likely to report strong marriages, meaning, and happiness W. Bradford Wilcox (University of Virginia) on highly religious men as husbands and fathers Tyler VanderWeele and Harvard's Human Flourishing research on religion and mental health — and the "religion is a crutch" objection The toxic perfectionism surprise: who actually struggles most What mothers and fathers each contribute to a child's development — including Erickson's BYU Studies paper It Takes Two The single strongest predictor of whether a child keeps their faith The new Gospel Topics essay on women, the Family Proclamation's "individual adaptation" clause, and today's work-family arrangements President Oaks' counsel on not outsourcing family life ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye Further Readings: https://ifstudies.org/about-us/jenet-erickson https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/it-takes-two https://rsc.byu.edu/vol-25-no-3-2024/addressing-crisis-meaning-identity-through-covenant-relationship https://speeches.byu.edu/talks/jenet-erickson/designed-for-covenant-relationships/ https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/parental-influence-on-adolescent-perfectionism https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/family?lang=eng https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/gospel-topics/womens-service-and-leadership-in-the-church?lang=eng https://foundations.byu.edu/0000019b-1343-d613-a59b-17df82980000/latterdaysaintreligiosity-pdf ht...

What if the weapon that killed Joseph and Hyrum Smith at Carthage Jail wasn't really a gun — but the legal system itself? Most Latter-day Saints have only a vague sense of why Joseph was even in that jail on June 27, 1844. The real story goes back years, and it looks a lot like a conspiracy. Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot trace "the road to Carthage" — drawing on Carthage Conspiracy by Dallin H. Oaks and Marvin S. Hill (University of Illinois Press) and Joseph I. Bentley's "Road to Martyrdom: Joseph Smith's Last Legal Cases," along with related work in Sustaining the Law — to show how Joseph's enemies weaponized the courts to pull him out of Nauvoo and keep him in Carthage long enough to kill him. ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye In this episode: The three Missouri extradition attempts (1841, 1842, 1843) and the Mormon War of 1838 behind them How Joseph used habeas corpus — from Magna Carta to the Nauvoo municipal court — to thwart extradition The six dissidents (William & Wilson Law, Robert & Charles Foster, Francis & Chauncey Higbee) and their break with Joseph over plural marriage "Lawfare" in action — adultery charges, riot charges, and the goal that was never conviction Thomas Sharp, the Warsaw Signal, and the open calls for extermination The Nauvoo Expositor and the "three polys": polygamy, polytheism, and politics Three Expositor myths debunked — suppressing the truth, the First Amendment, and the "neutral truth-teller" pose (the 14th Amendment, 1868, and Near v. Minnesota, 1931) Suppressing the paper vs. destroying the press — where the legal overreach actually was The exorbitant bail, Governor Ford's empty guarantees, and the last-minute treason charge — and why treason, a non-bailable capital offense, was the whole point Subscribe for more faithful scholarship every week. Study deeply, believe boldly. Primary source Dallin H. Oaks and Marvin S. Hill, Carthage Conspiracy: The Trial of the Accused Assassins of Joseph Smith (University of Illinois Press) Joseph I. Bentley, "Road to Martyrdom: Joseph Smith's Last Legal Cases" Scholarly sources mentioned in the episode Dallin H. Oaks, "Suppressing the Nauvoo Expositor" (in Sustaining the Law) Sustaining the Law: Joseph Smith's Legal Encounters (Jane H. Wise / Gordon A. Madsen, eds.) — collected legal-history essays referenced throughout Craig L. Foster, article in Interpreter on 19th-century precedents for suppressing newspapers Brian C. Hales, on plural marriage and "polygamy insiders" (referenced terminology) Related background reading Near v. Minnesota (1931) — landmark First Amendment / prior-restraint case discussed in the episode Richard E. Turley Jr., Ronald W. Walker, and Glen M. Leonard, Massacre at Mountain Meadows (Oxford University Press) — for the later-trauma context the hosts flag ===Discover=== If any of our thoughts resonated with you, consider learning more about the single most influential book in our lives. https://www.discoverbookofmormon.org/ ===Content Disclaimer=== The views expressed represent ours alone and do not necessarily reflect the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. #JosephSmith #Carthage #BookOfMormon #LDS #ComeFollowMe #ChurchHistory #Nauvoo #LatterDaySaints #DallinHOaks #NauvooExpositor #MormonHistory #HyrumSmith #ThomasFord #FirstAmendment #Hab...

In April 1843, Joseph Smith stood on the Nauvoo temple grounds and described a vision he had received: he had seen the resurrected dead take each other by the hand and embrace one another, reuniting families across the veil. Most Latter-day Saints know that handclasps carry sacred significance in temple worship — but very few know that this exact motif runs through the entire ancient world, from the Hebrew Bible to early Christianity to Byzantine art to Egyptian temple ritual. In this episode, Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot sit down with Spencer Kraus to discuss his paper "God Hath Shown Unto Me a Vision: The Sacred Handclasp and the Resurrection of the Dead," published in Temple Insights: Scholarship, Craftsmanship, and Fellowship (The Interpreter Foundation / Temple on Mount Zion Symposium). ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye Spencer Kraus, “‘God Hath Shown unto Me a Vision’: The Sacred Handclasp and the Resurrection of the Dead,” in The Temple: Seership, Craftsmanship, and Fellowship., ed. Jeffrey M. Bradshaw and Stephen D. Ricks (Orem, UT: Interpreter Foundation; Salt Lake City: Eborn Books, 2025), 369–393. David M. Calabro, “The Divine Handclasp in the Hebrew Bible and in Near Eastern Iconography,” in Temple Insights: Proceedings of the Interpreter Matthew B. Brown Memorial Conference, ed. William J. Hamblin and David Rolph Seely (Orem, UT: Interpreter Foundation; Salt Lake City: Eborn Books, 2014), 88–92; https://interpreterfoundation.org/journal/the-divine-handclasp-in-the-hebrew-bible-and-in-near-eastern-iconography. Matthew B. Brown, “The Handclasp, the Temple, and the King,” in Hamblin and Seely, Temple Insights, 5–10; https://interpreterfoundation.org/journal/the-handclasp-the-temple-and-the-king. Stephen D. Ricks, “Dexiosis and Dextrarum Iunctio: The Sacred Handclasp in the Classical and Early Christian World,” FARMS Review 18, no. 1 (2006): 431–436; https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1673&context=msr. Brent J. Schmidt, Relational Faith: The Transformation and Restoration of Pistis as Knowledge, Trust, Confidence, and Covenantal Faithfulness (Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 2022), 87–118. David M. Calabro, “The Reach, the Handclasp, and the Embrace: Gestures of the Gods in the Ancient Egyptian Abydos Formula,” in Seek Ye Words of Wisdom: Studies of the Book of Mormon, Bible, and Temple in Honor of Stephen D. Ricks, ed. Donald W. Parry, Gaye Strathearn, and Shon D. Hopkin (Orem, UT: Interpreter Foundation; Salt Lake City: Eborn Books, 2020), 291–310; https://interpreterfoundation.org/reprint-the-reach-the-handclasp-and-the-embrace. Subscribe to Informed Saints for scholarly-grounded discussions of Latter-day Saint scripture, history, and temple worship. Study deeply, believe boldly. ===Discover=== If any of our thoughts resonated with you, consider learning more about the single most influential book in our lives. https://www.discoverbookofmormon.org/ ===Content Disclaimer=== The views expressed represent ours alone and do not necessarily reflect the official position of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. #BookOfMormon #LDS #JosephSmith #Temple #SacredHandclasp #InformedSaints #La...

What is the "east wind" in the Book of Mormon? Why would it have struck terror into King Noah's people? On the surface, Abinadi's warning that the people would "reap the east wind which bringeth immediate destruction" (Mosiah 7:31) sounds almost forgettable. But this detail turns out to be one of the most quietly powerful pieces of evidence for the Book of Mormon's ancient origins. In this episode, Jasmin, Neal, and Stephen unpack a fascinating paper by BYU professor Kerry Hull titled "An East Wind: Old and New World Perspectives," published in the volume Abinadi: He Came Among Them in Disguise (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University). The east wind in the Hebrew Bible is consistently used as an instrument of divine judgment — drying out crops, bringing locusts, parting seas, and famously blighting the wheat in Pharaoh's dream. It's a wind of destruction, even when biblical authors apply it to regions where the geographical direction wouldn't literally make sense. But the real surprise comes when you cross over to the New World. Among the Yucatec, Zeltal, and Zotzil Maya, "evil winds" were believed to be punishments sent by the gods, with the east wind singled out as especially destructive — the Zotzil and Zeltal literally calling it "fiery wind." John Sorensen documented a Zeltal prayer that almost mirrors Abinadi's prophecy: "let no hail come, let no wind come, let no locusts come." That's the exact constellation of calamities listed in Mosiah 12:6. The geography deepens the case. In highland Guatemala; where most Mesoamerican Book of Mormon models place the city of Lehi-Nephi — a hot northeast wind clashing with humid Pacific air actually produces hailstorms, and locusts naturally migrate down from the nearby Motagua River Valley. Jerry Grover has also connected Abinadi's prophecy to Mayan New Year rites, where year bearers were tied to specific cardinal directions and warnings of famine, locusts, war, and the violent death of a ruler were part of the ritual prophetic tradition. ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye Subscribe for more deep-dive Book of Mormon scholarship Read the full volume: Abinadi: He Came Among Them in Disguise at the BYU Religious Studies Center Sources discussed: Kerry Hull, "An East Wind: Old and New World Perspectives" John Sorensen, An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon and Mormon's Codex Jerry Grover, Evidence of the Nehor Religion in Mesoamerica John W. Welch, scholarship on Pentecost and Abinadi's trial Further Readings Links: https://rsc.byu.edu/abinadi/east-wind https://scripturecentral.org/knowhy/why-did-abinadi-warn-the-people-of-an-east-wind https://scripturecentral.org/archive/books/book-chapter/abinadi-andpentecost https://scripturecentral.org/archive/media/chart/did-abinadi-prophesy-against-king-noah-pentecost https://interpreterfoundation.org/journal/nephite-daykeepers-ritual-specialists-in-mesoamerica-and-the-book-of-mormon Study deeply. Believe boldly. ===Discover=== If any of our thoughts resonated with you, consider learning more about the si...

What if the strongest evidence for the Book of Mormon isn't archaeological but linguistic? In this episode of Informed Saints, Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot sit down with Brian Stubbs, a respected Uto-Aztecan linguist whose foundational comparative dictionary of the language family was praised as a "monumental contribution" by Kenneth Hill in the International Journal of American Linguistics. After decades of work, Stubbs has documented more than 1,650 cognate sets connecting Hebrew, Aramaic, and Egyptian to the Uto-Aztecan language family, which spans from the Utes in the north to the Aztecs in the south and includes more than thirty languages across western North America and Mexico. In this conversation, we cover: What cognates are and why consistent sound correspondences are the gold standard for establishing a relationship between languages. Why linguists generally require at least 10% overlap to establish relatedness, and how Stubbs' Semitic and Egyptian data accounts for roughly 60% of the cognates in his Uto-Aztecan dictionary. Specific cognate examples, including barak/peroq (lightning), bat/pata (daughter), and saba/sipo (star). How a single Aramaic dialect from northern Palestine matches Uto-Aztecan in a way that points to ancient northern Israel, the region of Manasseh and Ephraim. The remarkable "lion to mountain lion" sound shift that directly addresses one of the most cited Book of Mormon anachronisms. The two distinct sound correspondences in Uto-Aztecan (Semitic-P and Semitic-Kw) that suggest two related but distinct language groups merged into one population, an unexpected parallel to the Nephite-Mulekite merger described in the Book of Mormon. Why language evidence is uniquely unfakable compared to inscriptions and physical artifacts. Endorsements from David H. Kelley, John Robertson, Dirk Elsinga, Roger Westcott, and other prominent linguists. Brian Stubbs' latest research will appear in a forthcoming volume from the Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University entitled "In the Eyes of the Ancient: Historical Perspectives on the Book of Mormon." ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye Further Readings: https://interpreterfoundation.org/journal/exploring-semitic-and-egyptian-in-uto-aztecan-languages https://interpreterfoundation.org/journal/an-american-indian-language-family-with-middle-eastern-loanwords-responding-to-a-recent-critique https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/exploring-the-explanatory-power-of-semitic-and-egyptian-in-uto-aztecan https://www.velikovsky.info/roger-w-wescott/

What if the historical evidence for the gold plates is as strong as the evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus Christ? In this episode of Informed Saints, Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot sit down with Josh Gailey, an ordained evangelist in the Church of Jesus Christ (headquartered in Monongahela, Pennsylvania) and author of "Witnessing Miracles: Historical Evidence for the Resurrection and Book of Mormon." Josh applies the minimal facts argument pioneered by Gary Habermas of Liberty University to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. The result is a rigorous historical case that treats the stone box in the Hill Cumorah as the "empty tomb" of the Book of Mormon — an observable historical artifact that locals, enemies, and unlikely witnesses all confirmed. In this conversation, we cover: The PET analysis for historical claims: Proximity, Enemies, and Unlikely Testimonies. Why Lorenzo Saunders, a lifelong critic of Joseph Smith, accidentally corroborated the 1823 excavation. How Josiah Stowell's courtroom testimony gives us a physical description of the plates. The 16 historical sources describing the hole in the hill on the west side of Cumorah. Why the Three Witnesses' independent attestation of the angel and the plates is historically significant. How Isaac Hale, Martin Harris, Emma Smith, and others interacted with the plates as unlikely witnesses. Why the attempts of Palmyra money diggers to steal the plates function as enemy attestation. The problems with the "ten plates" theory and other alternative explanations. If you take the Resurrection seriously on historical grounds, this episode argues you have every reason to take the gold plates seriously on the same grounds. Josh Gailey's book "Witnessing Miracles" and his companion article in the new FAIR volume "Defending the Book of Mormon" are both available for readers who want to go deeper. ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye Further Readings: https://fairlatterdaysaints.org/store/product/witnessing-miracles-historical-evidence-for-the-resurrection-and-book-of-mormon/ https://www.amazon.com/Defending-Book-Mormon-Proceedings-Conference/dp/B0FWH1TCJB https://www.bookofmormonhistory.com/ https://journal.interpreterfoundation.org/a-new-look-at-the-miracles-of-the-resurrection-and-the-book-of-mormon/ https://ses.edu/minimal-facts-on-the-resurrection-that-even-skeptics-accept/ https://scripturecentral.org/evidence/book-of-mormon-evidence-empty-stone-box https://scripturecentral.org/evidence/stone-box-in-new-york https://witnessesofthebookofmormon.org/other-witnesses/josiah-stowell/statements/ https://scripturecentral.org/evidence/book-of-mormon-evidence-composition-of-the-plates