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The purpose of this podcast is to help Latter-Day Saints better understand their history and increase their faith. The podcast hosted by Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat, associate professor of Church History and Doctrine at BYU.
Episodes
Jul 16, 2026
Jul 16, 2026
1 hr 9 min
In this episode, we continue our discussion of the Lyceum (debates/discussions) in Nauvoo. From the most popular chewing tobacco (it is Copenhagen byt the way) to manners and the Trinity, we just about cover everything
#SmallWonder
If you are interested in joining us in 2027 in Palmyra and Kirtland, August 1st through August 7th, click on the link below and reserve your spot:
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Jul 9, 2026
Jul 9, 2026
1 hr 11 min
Was Francis Scott Key a bitter recluse who denounced America and wrote the anthem from a boat offshore? No, no he was not.
Elder Gurr writes in with an investigator's list of questions, and we tackle the big ones. Who holds the authority to decide which parts of the Bible are "translated correctly"? Who decided the canon, and why did Protestants pull the Apocrypha after 1,400 years? On grace versus works, why "saved by grace alone" quietly assumes a premise a billion Catholics reject, and why Calvinists and Arminians don't even worship the same Jesus.
The upshot: the disagreement itself is the case for a Restoration.
If you are interested in joining us in 2027 in Palmyra and Kirtland, August 1st through August 7th, click on the link below and reserve your spot:
https://pci.jotform.com/form/261567888174171
Sign up for our free monthly email: https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com (https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com/)
If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email us at: questions@standardoftruthpodcast.com
Jul 2, 2026
Jul 2, 2026
1 hr 5 min
The podcast begins with the US-Bosnia World Cup match (SEC championships as the definitive metric), then open the Phoebe Draper Palmer Brown mailbag. Jerry from North Dakota earns a heartfelt thank-you and an unnecessary swipe at the Bismarck capitol building, plus a Roosevelt-in-the-Badlands tangent and BYU's windowless MARB building. Elder Ballard (the Nauvoo Mississippi River mission one) requests a new segment: ranking the top apostates.
Enter the debut of the "The Great Apostate Hall of Shame." First up, outside-looking-in: Joseph Wakefield, a powerhouse early missionary who baptized George A. Smith, then apostatized, joined Kirtland's anti-Mormon committee, and helped hire Philastus Hurlbut.
Reason for Apostasy: He couldn't accept D&C 76's expansive vision of heaven.
The Takeaway: Don't let any belief become the one that separates you from the prophet.
If you are interested in joining us in 2027 in Palmyra and Kirtland, August 1st through August 7th, click on the link below and reserve your spot:
https://pci.jotform.com/form/261567888174171
Sign up for our free monthly email: https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com
If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email us at: questions@standardoftruthpodcast.com
Jun 25, 2026
Jun 25, 2026
58 min
We are recording in front of a live studio audience in Nauvoo, Illinois.
In this week's episode, we begin with a movie review of the 1980s classic Prodigal Son and Cipher in the Snow, and then make the obvious transition to Nauvoo Lyceum. Gerrit regales the audience with several topics discussed in this adult education program, and we cover the Chestnut Hill College Lacrosse Team's dominance from 2021 to 2024
If you are interested in joining us in 2027 in Palmyra and Kirtland, August 1st through August 7th, click on the link below and reserve your spot:
https://pci.jotform.com/form/261567888174171
Sign up for our free monthly email: https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com
If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email us at: questions@standardoftruthpodcast.com
Jun 11, 2026
Jun 11, 2026
1 hr 17 min
In this episode, we answer a litter's questions who wrote while in "DEEP" labor asking about the lesser-known Pratt brothers and an audio submission from Filer, Idaho about the legend that Joseph of Arimathea brought the teenage Jesus to Cornwall. Gerrit traces the idea to William of Malmesbury's 12th-century history of Glastonbury and its tangle of Arthurian folklore.
We close with part three of our King Follett sermon series, where Gerrit warns against apologists who lean on the Thomas Bullock account's apparent mistranscription to claim Joseph taught God was God from all eternity, arguing that you can't play historian with one discrepant source against five consistent ones, and that watering down what Joseph actually taught to appease traditional Christian critics is selling your birthright for a mess of pottage that won't even fill you up.
If you are interested in joining us in 2027 in Palmyra and Kirtland, August 1st through August 7th, click on the link below and reserve your spot:
https://pci.jotform.com/form/261567888174171
Sign up for our free monthly email: https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com
If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email us at: questions@standardoftruthpodcast.com
Jun 4, 2026
Jun 4, 2026
59 min
This episode was recorded 4 1/2 years ago, but was never released. In this episode, Gerrit provides context around the setting of Joseph Smith’s King Follett Sermon.
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If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email us at: questions@standardoftruthpodcast.com
May 28, 2026
May 28, 2026
58 min
This is a rereleased episode from season 1 of Condemned to Repeat It. In this episode, we work through the grievances section of the Declaration of Independence, unpacking how Jefferson methodically built his case against King George III. Gerrit shows how each charge, dissolving colonial legislatures, making judges beholden to the Crown, quartering standing armies, employing Hessian mercenaries, cutting off colonial trade, and asserting the power "to legislate in all cases whatsoever" directly echoes earlier acts of Parliament and the king, with Jefferson cleverly turning the Crown's own language back against it.
The episode closes with a thoughtful reflection on the Declaration's enduring legacy: while Jefferson and many signers were themselves slaveholders, the document's assertion that all are created equal and endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights became the very foundation later generations would invoke to dismantle slavery, expand suffrage, and pursue civil rights, proof that, as Lincoln understood at Gettysburg, the arc of history bends slowly but inevitably toward the truths the founders dared to declare.
If you would like to follow what Sweetwater Rescue is doing, specifically our most recent trip to Nairobi Kenya please follow us on Instagram or Facebook.
Sweetwater Rescue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sweetwaterrescue?igsh=MTd6eHRteG9idzB6bA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
Sweetwater Rescue Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/18n8KBA9bz/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Sign up for our free monthly email: https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com
If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email us at: questions@standardoftruthpodcast.com
May 21, 2026
May 21, 2026
59 min
This is a rereleased episode from season 1 of Condemned to Repeat It. In this episode, we set the stage for the Declaration of Independence by exploring the deep English political and intellectual history Jefferson drew upon when he sat down to write it. Far from being a spontaneous act of rebellion, the Declaration was the latest entry in a long English tradition of publicly justifying political action, with clear roots in the 1689 Declaration of Right that deposed King James II and the Virginia Declaration of Rights drafted just weeks earlier in June 1776.
Gerrit walks through the political climate of the Continental Congress, where moderates, realists, and outright loyalists still outnumbered firebrands like John and Samuel Adams, and explains how Richard Henry Lee's June resolution for independence prompted a committee, led by Jefferson, to draft an explanation rather than the act of independence itself.
The episode traces how Jefferson's opening lines about self-evident truths, equality, and unalienable rights radically inverted centuries of monarchical assumption: rights no longer flowed downward from kings as gracious gifts, but upward from a Creator to the people, who in turn loaned legitimate power to government. The hosts close on a cliffhanger as Jefferson pivots from preamble to grievances, leaving Richard, ever the loyalist sympathizer, still firmly on the side of the Crown.
If you would like to follow what Sweetwater Rescue is doing, specifically our most recent trip to Nairobi Kenya please follow us on Instagram or Facebook.
Sweetwater Rescue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sweetwaterrescue?igsh=MTd6eHRteG9idzB6bA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
Sweetwater Rescue Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/18n8KBA9bz/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Sign up for our free monthly email: https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com
If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email us at: questions@standardoftruthpodcast.com
May 14, 2026
May 14, 2026
1 hr 5 min
In this episode, we finally depart into the King Follett Sermon. Most podcast would start with a part one but here soon the truth podcast we would like to start with a Part 2 and then play a part one three weeks from now it was recorded 4 1/2 years ago. Gerrit discusses some of the problems that Christians see with the implications of this sermon and Gerrit reads from one of the accounts.
We also read an email where a litner shared their feelings about helping people get to the temple. If you would like to follow what Sweetwater rescue is doing, specifically our most recent trip to Nairobi Kenya please follow us on Instagram or Facebook.
Sweetwater Rescue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sweetwaterrescue?igsh=MTd6eHRteG9idzB6bA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
Sweetwater Rescue Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/18n8KBA9bz/?mibextid=wwXIfr
Sign up for our free monthly email: https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com
If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email us at: questions@standardoftruthpodcast.com
May 11, 2026
May 11, 2026
47 min
Mark sits down with renowned church historian Gerrit Dirkmaat to discuss powerful experiences they have had visiting church history sites, and that others have had in the groups they have lead through these places. Mark and Gerrit explain why visiting these sites can have such a deep effect on our faith, testimonies, and sense of belonging to the church.
Perserving Families Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/preserving-families-podcast/id1654226536
Sign up for our free monthly email: https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com
If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email us at: questions@standardoftruthpodcast.com