Standard of Truth

Richard hadn't showered in days, his water heater's dead, and his family staged an intervention over his baggy clothes. We read emails from listeners and missionaries, including an elder serving in the California Ontario Mission, whose Gen Z slang ("capping," "yapping") had us reaching for a translation guide. Then we got into apostate #8: Ezra Booth. A former Methodist minister and early high priest, Booth apostatized barely a year into the Church and published the first widely reprinted insider attacks on Joseph Smith, fuel for Eber Howe's Mormonism Unveiled. We dug into Sidney Rigdon's public debate challenge, D&C 71, and why Booth grasped prophetic authority better than today's splinter movements. The takeaway, vet your sources and stay close to the prophets.

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

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In this episode, we continue our deep dive into Ezra Booth's anti-Mormon letters from October 1831, examining how this early apostate mounted his attack against our fledgling church. What fascinates us most is that Booth personally witnessed miracles, including Elsa Johnson's arm being healed, yet later dismissed such spiritual experiences as delusion or deliberate fraud. 

We highlight striking logical contradictions in his arguments: he claims only Joseph saw angels, then attacks witness testimonies about seeing them. His scattershot approach, depicting believers as liars, crazy, or stupid, mirrors modern anti-Mormon rhetoric perfectly. Ironically, Booth himself confirms early church members used "Melchizedek priesthood" language and testified of spiritual experiences, undermining later revisionist claims these were later developments.

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

We open with incredible news from Sweetwater Rescue: a second Kyulu Stake group reached the Nairobi Kenya Temple and set a record for the most endowments performed in an African temple in a single day.

Gerrit answers a litner’s question on whether or not Brigham Young secretly altered Joseph Smith’s journals to invent polygamy, a claim popular among denialists. Gerrit's dander meter climbs as he unpacks what "revised history" actually meant, why the sources hold up, and the irony of the charge coming from the Bickertonite tradition, which rejects nearly everything Joseph taught after the Book of Mormon.

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

This episode of the Standard of Truth continues discussing the apostasy of Ezra Booth, a former Methodist minister who joined the early Church after witnessing Joseph Smith heal Elsa Johnson’s arm. 

Gerrit traces Booth’s journey to Missouri in 1831, his disillusionment upon finding the future site of Zion to be a rough frontier town, and his subsequent public renunciation of the faith through nine letters published in the Ohio Star. 

We examine how Booth reframed Mormonism as a deliberate deception rather than sincere belief, and how anti-Mormon arguments shifted from “converts are biblically ignorant” to “converts are insane” once educated ministers joined.

Link to the Norm McDonald’s Better Than Ezra joke:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Zyaf1Vg4S7I

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

In this episode we dive deeper into Ezra Booth, ranked #8 in the "Great Apostate Hall of Shame." Once a prominent Methodist minister leading anti-Masonry campaigns in Ohio, Booth's conversion to Mormonism shocked his community and sparked heated newspaper responses. 

 

We examine his miraculous experiences witnessing the instant healing of Eliza Johnson and attending the historic June 1831 ordination of high priesthood in Kirtland, where Satan allegedly manifested to disrupt proceedings. Yet despite these profound spiritual experiences, Booth would soon apostatize, becoming one of the Church's most vocal and cruel enemies. The episode explores how even those who witness divine power can fall away, emphasizing the importance of daily spiritual practice.

 

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