Radio Free Mormon

General Conference has never been this much fun!!!

Joseph Smith’s First Vision ushered in the restoration of the Gospel. It had Heavenly Father and His Son coming through the Heavens to visit the young boy in the spring of 1820. This vision leads to the founding of Mormonism. But what is not as well known is that in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s, everyone and their brother was having visions and many of them appear to be very similar to Joseph Smith’s. So in this week’s episode Bill and RFM do a comparative analysis on those other Visions to see what can be gleaned and its no small thing what they find. RESOURCES:https://web.archive.org/web/20180710083455/https://thoughtsonthingsandstuff.com/theophany-mine/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burned-over_districthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Great_Awakening https://archive.org/details/lifecon00smit/page/n13/mode/2uphttp://www.mormonstudiespodcast.org/joseph-smith-elias-smith-and-wilford-poulson/https://archive.org/details/TheReligiousExperienceOfNorrisStearnshttp://www.utlm.org/onlinebooks/changech6.htmhttps://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/elders-journal-july-1838/16https://www.watchman.org/articles/mormonism/piecing-together-the-first-vision/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Visionhttps://rsc.byu.edu/exploring-first-vision/significance-joseph-smiths-first-vision-mormon-thoughthttps://www.josephsmithpapers.org/site/accounts-of-the-first-visionhttps://mit.irr.org/joseph-smiths-changing-first-vision-accountshttps://www.mormonstories.org/truth-claims/joseph-smith/first-vision/https://byustudies.byu.edu/article/the-prognostication-of-asa-wild/http://boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/SChamberlain.htmlhttps://byustudies.byu.edu/article/the-visionary-world-of-joseph-smith/http://www.mormonhandbook.com/home/first-vision-plagiarized.htmlhttps://nyshistoricnewspapers.org/lccn/sn83032054/1831-02-01/ed-1/seq-5/ https://archive.org/details/SketchOfExperiencesOfSolomonChamberlin/mode/2up?view=theater&q=apo http://boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/SChamberlain.html https://hdl.huntington.org/digital/collection/p16003coll15/id/40132https://www.mormonstories.org/podcast/first-vision/ https://youtu.be/WB3iwEX8WhY?t=1306https://rsc.byu.edu/exploring-first-vision/earliest-documented-accounts-joseph-smiths-first-visionhttps://collections.library.yale.edu/catalog/2041501

RFM tries his hand at a one-man Mystery Science Theater 3000 take on the new Temple Endowment video now playing at an LDS Temple near you! Kibitzing on the backrow of an endowment session has never been this much fun!

Tonight RFM and Bill take a look at how both Top Church Leadership and local leaders extend pressure for dissenting voices to be silent. The episode will include individual stories along with the general instruction by top leaders to diminish dissenting voices and at times to altogether silence them. RESOURCES: Oaks “Its Wrong to Criticize Leaders” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxyiHLg59ks Oaks “Questions Are Honored, Opposition is Not” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPeIgjZ0EQg&t=746s Ballard – “Women don’t talk too much” – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlQ4h6tGbnE Bruce R McConkie – Echo what I Say or be Silent – https://mormondiscussionpodcast.org/mcconkie-to-eugene-england/

RFM has received the the video and audio from his second information request and report back regarding what was turned over by law enforcement. Once again we learn new details that both add clarity and complexity to this case.BONUS AUDIO: We inserted the cut up audio clips of all three witnesses that we had audio interviews of focusing only on the moment in the hotel room where the traumatic event likely occurred. Notice Bonnie’s admitting she heard the youngest kid but then struggles to answer finally stating she did not hear Derek or the parents in spite of all the yelling and screaming that both parents acknowledge along the way. After her clip are multiple clips of Hana and Nolan where Nolan stammers about what he awoke to finally imposing over multiple points in the interview that Hana was already awake and out of bed dealing with Derek when he awoke out of his sleep but juxtaposed against Hana who intimates at two different points in the interview that her and Nolan seem to have awoke together to the crying of the child and both in an escalated voice tell him to be quiet. Nolan also at one point claims he yelled at Derek to be quiet but how can such be when Hana in both her interview and her re-enactment indicates she screams at Derek in Bed that “he is not breathing”

Many are going through great lengths to justify the massive hoards of wealth the Church has accumulated on the backs of its believers, even going as far as to use scripture. But do these scriptures REALLY justify the accumulation of wealth as the Church and its members would have you believe?

RFM reads Judge Coral Sanchez’s 13-page order denying Jenn Kamp’s Petition for an Anti-Stalking Order against John Dehlin.

Here is the half-hour presentation I gave at Thrive in St. George, Utah, on February 26, 2023! I had a fantastic time meeting friends old and new! Thanks to all the people involved in making Thrive a wonderful reality for so many of us!

In this week’s episode we discuss the recent news of the Temple Changes and just how far the original Endowment has been altered. And the Second half of the show will involve the recent legal settlement with the LDS Church and it’s Ensign Peak Advisors and culminating with RFM’s lightbulb moment sensing that the Landscape of Mormonism has changed and his novel idea around such. Temple Changes Resources: https://religionnews.com/2023/02/10/more-jesus-less-touching-14-changes-to-the-mormon-temple-endowment-ceremony/ https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2023/02/09/lds-temple-ceremonies-change/ https://www.mrm.org/revised-lds-temple-endowment-ceremony-now-includes-more-pictures-of-jesus SEC Alleged Fraud RESOURCES: SEC Report – https://www.sec.gov/litigation/admin/2023/34-96951.pdf SEC Press statement – https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2023-35 Church Response – https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/church-issues-statement-on-sec-settlement https://bycommonconsent.com/2023/02/21/the-church-the-investment-advisor-and-the-sec/ https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/09/27/heres-deeper-look-how-lds/ https://www.sltrib.com/religion/2021/09/27/heres-deeper-look-how-lds/ RFM’s Lawsuit Idea  https://youtu.be/hgUwpXSNlXM

What if the liability of the LDS Church has changed this week by the very acts it admitted this week?  What a novel and deeply true idea.  Imagine the church losing a class action sort of legal action. It’s one of those rare moments to affect more than normal where an added segment of people think a new thought that changes everything