Recently, a new biography was published about Hyrum Smith (1800-1844), Patriarch, Prophet and President of the Church. While I know of at least a dozen biographies of Joseph Smith, I was surprised to discover there are only four published histories of Hyrum (of which I am aware). I now have all four of these accounts …
Are you able to recall our previous dialog and continue with additional questions based on your previous responses? The subject was religious issues, in particular about Denver Snuffer. Yes, as an AI language model, I am able to recall our previous dialog and continue the conversation on the subject of religious issues, including Denver Snuffer. …
Are you knowledgeable about current religious issues? As an AI language model, I have access to a vast amount of information, including current religious issues. However, my knowledge is limited by the data I have been trained on, which cuts off at September 2021. So, I can provide information on religious issues up to that …
I feel a desire in my heart to express gratitude for many things, especially at this time of year. First and foremost, I am grateful for a Savior who took away my sin. That phrase has been ringing in my mind lately as I have been listening to Christmas hymns. It has come to mean …
Denver spoke on RIGHTEOUSNESS Sunday, Nov. 20 at 6 pm MST. It was broadcast live on YouTube: Here is the link to the recorded broadcast From the glossary on Scriptures.info: Righteousness is conformity to the Divine Law.1 God measures differently than does man. Being “righteous before God” may not mean the same thing one thinks …
It Feels so Good not to be Trammeled In April 1843, Pelatiah Brown sought to silence certain critics of the LDS Church by stretching and twisting the meaning of passages from the book of Revelation to make his point. After Brother Brown had been disciplined for doing so, Joseph Smith said: “I did not like …
I would like to give a shout-out to the folks who maintain the Restoration Archives website. I know a little bit about maintaining websites and know how much work goes into them. I have been using the website since it was introduced in 2017. The Restoration Archives site has been my “Go To” source for …
Although the book was published in February of this year, I just now got around to buying and reading it. Perhaps it was the reminder from Denver on his blog recently. I also remembered there was a conference with the same theme back in February. I did not attend due to distance and work commitments. …
A desolating scourge shall cover the earth. All those who have not taken the holy spirit for their guide but instead have accepted the mandated solution from Babylon will find themselves defenseless and with no immunity to the sickness.
An Analysis of Some of my Top Posts I find it interesting that my bog still receives a lot of visits from faithful members of The Church of Jesus-Christ of Latter-day Saints. This pleases me. I watch the key words and phrases that bring people to my blog and many of them are similar to …
I took occasion yesterday to read the paper “The Religion of the Fathers” in a slow and methodical fashion. It is sixty-nine pages, and I did not want to rush through it. I sat through four hours of listening as it was delivered a few weeks ago, now I wanted to read it to remember, confirm and verify the impressions I had when I first heard it but also to absorb the message more fully. Therefore, I sat still as I read, listening for the impressions of the spirit, seeking to know the Lord’s mind.
It took me six hours to read, ponder and look up many of the footnotes. It has the best defense of the Book of Abraham I have ever read. I had heard some of the history of the Egyptian dynasties explained before, but besides my own personal witness from the Lord that it is a valid record and is scripture, perhaps these three statements from the middle of the paper best conclude the matter for me that the opponents of the Book of Abraham have long been barking up the wrong tree.
For the next few years, I am yet a captive of Babylon. So much of my time and energy is given in serving others each day. Sometimes, it is a challenge to not resent it, especially when I must deal with those who are accusatory or abusive. But it never fails, when I pause and say, “Why, Lord?” He responds, “so you will understand what it is like to be falsely accused and abused.” Translation: some folks resent IT people for not preventing their IT problems.
Oh Lord, can a man and a woman who love each other and have demonstrated a lifetime of human love together and who believe in the life hereafter be together in the eternities even though one is a faithful member of the LDS church and one has resigned their long-time membership in the LDS Church and does not recognize or acknowledge the claims of authority of the President of the LDS Church to bind or seal on earth and have it recognized in heaven, or that authority can be delegated to others?
… once they were assembled, she gathered her strength, sat up in bed and told them once again how much she loved each of them. She then said, as best I can recall from what Carol has told me, “You need to get Christ in your life. He is real, for I have seen Him.”
It has been over six years since I asked to have my name removed from the membership records of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (September of 2014). I remain convinced it was the right thing to do at the time. However, I have often wondered how different things might have been in …
As we seek to return to the faith and religion of the Fathers, it can be rewarding, instructive, and exciting to taste of the experiential wilderness-learning opportunities and then to share with each other those things we are taught.
The Book of Mormon gave Joseph directions on how to deal with the plates. He delivered them to the angel. Then the angel showed them to the Three Witnesses. Subsequently, Joseph had them in his possession and he showed them to the Eight Witnesses.
I took a few weeks recently to closely examine what I believe. I made a short, concise list of about forty relevant doctrines, principles and practices. I wanted to offer the list to kind and well-meaning folks who have asked how they could help me come back into the LDS faith. For the most part, there is a a lot of commonality in what we believe.
Perhaps the key takeaways from this post will be the following: 1) In spite of the fact that there are now 162 LDS Temples, we need a temple to which the Lord can come and in which the Lord’s servants can administer authorized ordinances of salvation anew. 2) The ordinances administered in the LDS Temples are no longer valid because they have changed the ordinances and therefore broken the covenant.
The organizers of the upcoming General Conference scheduled for Fri-Sat-Sun 19-21 April 2019 in Western Colorado / Grand Mesa area have asked various bloggers to share the updated schedule. More detail can be found at the conference site, and greater detail will be added in the weeks to come, but we are sharing the schedule as it stands now.
I accepted a covenant the Lord offered in September of 2017. I rejoiced on that day and continue to marvel that we have been offered this covenant opportunity. Even the people of Joseph’s day were not offered and therefore did not receive this covenant. In fact, they were condemned and rejected by the Lord because they treated lightly the Book of Mormon, which God always intended to offer as a covenant to His people.
I have reflected often on this event that was such a turning point in my life. It meant a lot to me then and it still does today. It is significant for several reasons, but perhaps the most significant to me is that it was and is an outward sign to the Lord that I accepted the message of his servant.
I was astonished when I read that the long-promised Testimony of St John had been revealed and shared for our edification. That is, if you believe the Lord, through Joseph, in section 93 was referring to the testimony of John the Beloved and not John the Baptist.
I consider it a gift and blessing from God to have the work of the restoration continue through Denver Snuffer, whom I consider to be the latter-day Davidic servant prophesied by Joseph Smith.
One has to wonder what the leaders of the LDS Church think of their members who read contrversial books about LDS Chutrch History, especially since they now encouraging studying the gospel in home study groups.
A master called his servants and told them, I send you to a far off land where there is no stone and command you to there build me a house. When you are done, send me word and I will come there to dwell.
A Hope in Christ: The Temple. Where will the temple of the new Zion be built? Come to the Spring 2019 General Conference to be held at The Grand Mesa.
I received an email from a reader (thank you Cecil) and decided to share some of the response here on my blog. I don’t pretend to be anybody important, just someone who wrote an LDS-themed blog for a few years and ended up resigning my membership in the LDS Church. I did so because I wanted …
With all thy getting, get wisdom, especially when it comes to marriage where each spouse has different religious beliefs
I’m really getting tired of talking to former Mormons. I would like to talk to Baptists, and to Lutherans, and a Methodist…
Doctrine of Christ Conference March 18th – 19th 2017 — St. George, Utah, USA The website at DoctrineofChristConference.com is being updated with the following information on February 27, 2017 About this Conference The idea for this spring conference came after the September 2016 Boise Doctrine of Christ Conference where an amazing thing happened – people …
Fellowship is designed to strengthen one another: to bear one another’s burdens and encourage each other in this life.
I don’t live in Utah so I’m not used to hearing stories like this: My niece married later in life, and now has two lovely stepdaughters. Someone among the friends of the girls was having a birthday party but these two girls were not invited even though they play with the same group of girls …
Can an individual who has resigned from the LDS Church become a member once again? If so, why would he want to do so?
Why is there suffering? And why is life so unfair? Why do some have bigger burdens than others? Why do so many people live in poor war-torn countries? One possibility is that the abused deserve their abuse—that perhaps they were an abuser in a previous life. This kind of thinking, even if true, can enable …
I read a lot of blogs. You probably do too. What or who we read can tell us a lot about each other. I’m especially interested in keeping in touch with those who are on a journey similar to mine. Below are a few blogs I check on a regular basis. Although I don’t spend …
I remember the excitement in the online world when the document “Further Light and Knowledge” made the rounds among the early Mormon Internet reading groups. I’m an old man so I remember Mormon-L and other such groups where communication was not like it is on Facebook or blogs. It was more of a mailing list …
In the Boise rescue, Elder Oaks spoke much of the temples as evidence of the fruits of the LDS Church. They are beautiful buildings aren’t they? So many resources are poured into these edifices. As President Hinckley once taught, the buildings of the church are not income producing, and constitute a major expense. A lot …
A month ago today I spent a few hours with Denver Snuffer. I am grateful for the time he took to answer some of my questions, allowing me to record and publish his answers. I asked the Lord for inspiration in which questions to ask. They came after much study and prayer. The question addressed …
Q: How has your perception of Latter-day Commentary changed since its inception? In many respects, the direction of this simple blog has turned completely around. When I started blogging almost eight years ago, my intent was to help combat what I perceived to be a plethora of misinformation out there about the doctrines I knew …
Q & A with Tim Malone, Author of Latter-day Commentary Read More »
I’ve been thinking and learning about connections lately. This may seem a rudimentary subject, but its importance has been revealed to me in ways that have helped secure it in my mind. I’d like to share a few thoughts that have caused me to reconsider the idea of human connections as being imperative to our …
We Must Remember the Restoration Each day I receive additional evidence members and leaders of the LDS Church have forgotten what was once commonly taught at the commencement of the restoration through Joseph Smith. For example, today I received an email from a man who shared his highest aspiration is to have his calling and …
In my interview with Denver last week, the subject of the Patriarchal Priesthood was one that interested me the most, so I asked it first. It also happens to be the longest response I received in the interview. I present it here for your consideration. This has motivated me to go back and read the …
Knowing I would be on vacation in Northern Utah this week, I asked Denver for the opportunity to meet with him to clarify a few questions I had been pondering from the Mesa lecture and his talk on Plural Marriage a few months ago. He was gracious in allowing me to do so, as well as …
Over the past week there has been a great deal of misunderstanding and accusation concerning the Remnant Family Reunion. It is time for this drama and divisive contention to end. It is time to clarify truth amongst all of the chaos and rumor. For the purpose of placing our focus back on the Lord Jesus …
I must apologize here for the tone of the questions in my April 15th, 2015 post. As someone pointed out in another blog, written words can seem cold. We don’t see each other’s facial expressions, body language, or eyes. We don’t hear each other laugh. I wish I could write more like Rock, in that …
“If I had one hour to solve a problem, and my life depended on the answer, I would spend 55 minutes formulating questions, and 5 minutes solving the problem” – Albert Einstein I’ve needed to ask myself a few good questions lately: With the limited time and financial resources available to me, what valid reasons …
I was blessed to witness three baptisms last week. Although he lives 120 miles from me, it was good to be there with a friend for his baptism. The ordinance was performed by the same man who came from Utah to baptize me. Our community is small and scattered here in California. In fact, for …
I invested a couple of hours this morning listening to the recording of Denver’s recent talk on plural marriage. These are my first-impression notes at the end of the day after pondering and praying about what I heard. I wasn’t there and I don’t have a transcript, which I am certain someone will have available …
What if the great gathering at Adam-Ondi-Ahman has already occurred on the other side of the veil, but the world, and the church did not know about it? What if only those who needed to be present, were present? What if, at that meeting, Jesus Christ, The Son, was elected to the office of The …
And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was …
Awhile back, Daymon responded to one of my posts in a kind and gentle way which got me thinking about the phrases I use in my writing. His use of Skeletor as an object lesson was simply ingenious. Some of you may remember his objection to ascribing the voice of authority to our own thoughts …
One of the basic tenets of the Mormon faith is personal revelation. We cherish the idea. We talk about it. We teach it. We tell everyone it is the way to know something for ourselves. Yet, when someone receives revelation that is contrary to the LDS tradition, the immediate response from LDS members and leaders …
I will present three cases for your consideration. I know each of these men, although one only through correspondence. I’ll include a few facts, then a few observations and perhaps draw a conclusion or two. There is a theme I’m hoping you’ll see. There is also a unifying factor in each of these cases which …
When I resigned from the LDS Church, I thought I would continue to support Carol in her desires to sing in the choir. I grew up playing the piano for a few years, performed in a school band and have generally loved music all my life. I married a woman who has a beautiful voice, …
Some of you know I dedicated this blog to the Lord earlier this year. Prior to that time it was just another Mormon-themed blog. After that sacred moment in prayer, it became, at least for me, a consecrated effort to help fulfill the purposes of the Lord. I pray about every post and ask the …
The Lord woke me at 3am the other morning. I wasn’t sure what He wanted. I prayed, felt led to search and ponder some recent email communications. He asked me to respond to a good brother with whom I had been conversing about the sacrament. The dialog had turned to keys. I wrote him an …
Mormon history is full of breakoff groups, splinter groups, divisions, and all kinds of off-shoots. Most of them have been failures. Tell me why you think this new movement will be different. First, let’s be clear I’m no spokesperson for this movement. I’m not even sure you can classify it as a movement. There is …
I attended our ward Sacrament meeting today. Because of General Conference next week, we held our monthly Fast and Testimony meeting. A majority of the testimonies were from the sisters sharing their thoughts about the Women’s meeting last night. The number of testimonies of a loving God and Savior were about equal to those of …
“Why did you do this?” “I felt it was the right thing to do.” “Did you think about the consequences?” “Of course, I’ve thought about them for two and a half years.” “Do you realize what you’ve given up?” “Actually, I’ve been more focused on what I have gained.” “What do you mean?” “I’ve never …
It’s customary to write an exit letter when leaving an organization after a long period of time, so here’s mine. I have no desire to flame or insult anyone. You don’t have to read this. It’s for my own soul to find peace. I share it in the spirit of love, especially for those who …
My Bishop is a wise man. He has the spirit of discernment. I know he and my Stake President asked me to not write publicly about our conversations on my blog, but things have changed. In our last interview, when I said I was ready to get my temple recommend, he said he didn’t believe …
I tried to do a little live-blogging to my Facebook Group as the lecture rolled forth. I couldn’t keep up. There were too many declarations coming too fast. I should not have been surprised. Carol has been telling me for months, maybe for the past year that the day would come when Denver would make …
This is part three of my notes in preparing for the final lecture in the Denver Snuffer series – “Forty years in Mormonism.” While I am trying to encourage you to read Denver’s material, particularly the previous lectures in this series, I am not trying to advocate anything other than gaining knowledge by study and by …
This is part two of my notes in preparing for the final lecture in the Denver Snuffer series – “Forty years in Mormonism.” The purpose of these posts is simply to review some of the material presented in the previous lectures. In a sense, it contains my study notes. I learn best by sharing and …
I am in Mesa Arizona as I write this. Carol and I are here for the last lecture of the “Forty Years in Mormonism” series, which will be delivered on Tuesday. As Denver wrote on July 31st, “The final talk in Phoenix will mean more if you have read or listened to the first nine …
One of the books we were allowed to bring with us on our missions back in the 70’s was Jesus the Christ by Elder Talmage. I remember reading it as part of our personal study time. The little white missionary handbook that laid out our daily schedule included one hour of personal study time but …
If you’re drawn to this blog post by the title, I ask you to look past that to the subtitle. It is “The Believing Mormon’s Guide to the Coming Purge.” Although this will be a review of Rock’s book, I hope it will also provide background and detail on why long-time members of the LDS …
At the request of my bishop, I have created a new space for those who wish to discuss posts from this blog on a closed Facebook group rather than in the comments below. You can find it at this link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/latterdaycommentary/ I hesitated a long time before creating this group. I feel strongly such a move should not have been necessary. If …
Facebook Discussion Group for Latter-day Commentary Read More »
This is an experimental post. I’m attending the Sunstone Salt Lake Symposium over the next three days. I’ve chosen some sessions that are pertinent to LDS blogging and would like to add thoughts to this post during each session. I will be using my iPhone to do so because I don’t want to lug my …
The Brother of Jared took sixteen small stones to the mountain. We know they were small because he carried them in his hands. They were certainly smaller than an egg. Perhaps he had eight in each hand. When he came down from the mountain he had eighteen stones. The Lord gave him two more to …
When I turned in my temple recommend I didn’t expect it to upset so many people. It might have had something to do with blogging about it. There is wisdom in keeping some things private. But blogging about the issue paid off in droves. I received countless emails with advice and ideas on how …
In response to the recent excommunication of Kate Kelly, founder of Ordain Women, and the pending disciplinary actions against John Dehlin, and Rock Waterman, The Office of the First Presidency issued a statement on apostasy today. As an active LDS Blogger, I am especially interested in this clarifying message positioned as “Addressing Doctrine and Questions.” …
Earlier this month, a Facebook event was created entitled, “This is not the place.” It is subtitled, “Mass resignation from the LDS Church,” and is to protest Kate’s excommunication. The event is scheduled to be held at City Creek Park on 24 July 2014 in Salt Lake City, which is Pioneer Day, a holiday in …
One of my greatest desires as a blogger is to help people of differing beliefs and political ideologies come together in a unified search for peace that comes through faith in Jesus Christ. Thus I was delighted today to be able to express and expound upon those sentiments to Kristen Moulton of the Salt Lake …
This is a fictional account. It is based on current events, but it is NOT how things went down with my Bishop. I have promised to keep that confidential. I share it because of the intense interest in the excommunication of various LDS bloggers in the news lately, including the impending disciplinary actions against Mormon …
Of all the comments in my recent posts on Priesthood, this one got me thinking, pondering and praying. I have split Darin’s comment into a few paragraphs. I was especially interested in the third paragraph because I have heard it before from someone I love dearly. I don’t find Darin’s comments offensive. In fact, I’d …
A while back I wrote an article entitled, “When Religion Comes Between Spouses.” It was my best effort at that time to share my ideas, successes and failures in dealing with a personal problem I was experiencing – and continue to experience in my marriage: a spouse who does not feel comfortable with, understand or …
Update: A better title would have been: “Please Allow me the Freedom to Have Questions.” The word “doubts” causes people to think you are not a believer. I am a believer, yet I still have questions I want answered. I recognize it is my own responsibility to find answers to my questions but these particular …
I shared my testimony in our regular monthly testimony meeting this morning. I wanted to make sure the Bishop and a member of the Stake Presidency present – he’s also in our ward – heard me say I sustain the general authorities and local authorities of the church. Of course these words were in addition …
It seems no matter how hard I try, I am unable to keep up with the private emails asking for additional information from something I’ve shared in one of my posts, particularly those that deal with doctrine and private religious practices such as the True Order of Prayer in the home. I still have about 35 unanswered …
When one is excommunicated from the LDS Church, he is provided instructions by the Bishop or Stake President as to what he can and cannot do. Given that the church just severed the relationship with the individual excommunicated you would think the instructions provided are no longer applicable. It is assumed they are given with …
I’ve wanted to write this post all week, but I’m glad I waited. It has given me a chance to ponder Denver’s latest lecture last Saturday in Grand Junction Colorado. No I wasn’t there but listening to Doug’s recording was just as good as being there. I suspect there may be a few things on …
Last week, I dedicated an altar in my home and prayed according to the true order of prayer as I have been taught in the temple. It was an amazing experience that opened up a whole new world for me. My only disappointment was that it was not shared with my wife, or at least …
When I was much younger, I was fascinated with the administration of the church. My sister works for the church. She is secretary to an Apostle. That means nothing, really. I only mention it to bring some context to what I am about to write. I love my sister and am proud of her accomplishments. I know …
When I was reading The Second Comforter for the first time I came to chapter nine where Denver wrote about sacrifice. I read Joseph’s quote from the Lectures on Faith: “Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary …
I am troubled this evening as I write this short post. An online friend has been excommunicated from the LDS Church for apostasy because he wrote in an online forum, much as I have on my blog, that Denver Snuffer is a prophet of God. As the scripture says, “the testimony of Jesus is the …
I re-read Denver’s Orem talk on the priesthood again tonight. I picked up some clarifications about sealing powers (pages 35-37) but found myself struggling with his discussion of keys (pages 32-34). The printed version of the talk is a little different than the recorded version. (Might be less on Doug’s page.) The Keys of the …
“I believe the form of Mormonism practiced by the LDS Church is in great peril at the moment. If the members do not fight to retain their religion it will continue to alter and degenerate into something very different that it was and it will fail in its purpose to bring again Zion. If the …
I’ve been reading Isaiah Decoded by Avraham Gileadi. It’s taking me much longer to read than I thought it would. This is not a review of the book but I would like to share some observations. This is only the second book from Gileadi I have read, the other being The Last Days (2nd edition …
Moroni Upbraids our Lack of Faith I’ve written about Moroni chapter seven previously, but it’s been on my mind lately, especially verses 27 through 37. I’m sure you know the verses. They have to do with angels. Moroni shares the words of his father about the importance of angels in our lives. This is not …
The Need for Denver’s Message One of the main ideas Carol and I have discussed concerning Denver Snuffer is the necessity of the message he has delivered. Carol has made it clear she did not and does not feel there was or is any need for someone like Denver Snuffer to remind us how important …
The Thesis of this Short Blog Post This is a small Mormon-based blog read by few people. I don’t think I appear on anyone’s list of recommended LDS blogs any more. That probably started when I went public with book reviews of the now-excommunicated Denver Snuffer. In this post, I would like us to consider …
I wrote this yesterday after my tech class was over for the day. Would have published it last night but we went to the local Community Writers Group to learn more about how to be a good poet. Ah, the things we do for love. Somehow, it looks like our empty-nest years are going to …
Over the years, I’ve read with interest many stories of conflict between husbands and wives where one spouse was a believer in a religion and the other wasn’t. It always hurt my heart to read such stories. Some even made me cry to think of two people who loved each other enough to marry and start a …
Warning: This may not be Uplifting I’m in another computer class this week. This makes week number sixteen this year. For those mathematically challenged, this will be 640 hours by the end of the week. I’ve got three more weeks to go – another 120 hours for a total of 760 hours. I got to …
I do not speak for Denver. He needs no spokesman. Go read his blog. These are simply questions I have been asked since I have done a few reviews on his books over the last year or two. They seem to keep coming up over and over as new people discover my blog and want …
I received my CDs from last week’s Boise talk. It took a day or two more to get to me in California. I know some already had theirs Saturday. I haven’t listened to it yet. I plan to rip the CD and put it on my iPhone. I’ll listen to it to and from work …
In a private email from Denver Snuffer earlier this year, I had an epiphany about myself and my writing style. I was surprised when he answered my email directly and pleased that he would do so. He shared some advice and an observation which stopped me in my tracks. He said I had a “fair …
Denver Snuffer recently posted the news on his blog that he has been excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for apostasy. It was not unexpected by most who are familiar with his writings. This morning, before I learned the news, I received the email below from a reader regarding Denver and …