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Segment 1

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All right. 195 years ago, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was organized.

Throughout all that time, the church has issued proclamations, and this year, in fact, marks the 30th anniversary of the Family, A Proclamation to the World. But did you know that there are five other official proclamations that have been issued by past first presidencies and quorums of the 12? Well, today we're gonna discuss all six proclamations and find out what it means when we get a proclamation.

Welcome to the Sunday, on Monday Study Group at Deseret Bookshelf Plus original, brought to you by LDS Living, where we take the Come Follow Me lesson for the week, and we really dig into the scriptures together, or the proclamations together. I'm your host, Tammy Uzelac Hall. Now, if you're new to our study group, please follow the link.

It's in our description, and it's going to explain how you can best use this podcast to enhance your come Follow Me study, just like my longtime listening friend Becky Proctor from Orm, Utah. Becky, I love meeting you. Now, another incredible thing about our study group is each week we're joined by two of my friends, so it's always a little bit different.

But this week I'm joined by a few more. You guys, this is such a fun episode because we're talking about all the proclamations that the church has ever put out. And so I have a guest for each one, and you are going to love this. So if you wanna see who my guests are and you wanna read their bios, check that out in our show notes, which is at LDS living.com/sunday on Monday.

So grab your scriptures and something to mark them with and we are going to dive into first the proclamation on the family with my first guest, Jeanette. This is Jenet Erickson and I love her so much you guys. This woman teaches at BYU and her course of study is Eternal Family. The Eternal Family Course, and it is, I just couldn't think of anyone better to talk about the proclamation of the family than my friend.

How are you doing? I love being with you, Tammy. Thank you. We, we first got to meet each other and, and we've said this before 'cause she's been on before, but we were speaking partners for BYU Women's Conference and I'm telling you, her talk was so good. It made me sad that you only got 20 minutes, like you need a full hour.

I'm like, come on, I will sit down. We were all grateful when Tammy stood up. That's what I can say. We were over, no, you did a wonderful job. Well, when I saw that it was proclamation on the family, I'm like, well, we have to have you. There's nobody else I want to have talk about this because it was part of your talk for BYU Women's Conference and your own experience with this proclamation.

So I'm just gonna turn the time over to you and here's the question that I wanna ask you because it talks about this in the Come Follow Me manual this week. The question is, how does this proclamation defend and strengthen families, teach us. So I got my PhD in family science after doing different fields.

I studied nursing and I studied linguistics. And in every field there was no question at the core of wellbeing are these are these relationships that we call family. Hmm. And then in getting a PhD in family, I marveled thinking about this document that is nine paragraphs, [00:03:00] 600 words and amount of research that we see in the broader world that confirms these individual statements that are so powerful.

It's like behind each statement is a hundred. To a thousand studies of research that confirm that truth. Wow. The, the fact that marriage matters as the core institution of society. That this bridging of the divide between men and women, that that stable relationship that they create, that becomes strong enough that a child's heart can rely upon it.

Then that is the core of children's development. And then the importance of chastity and fidelity within marriage. We can see all over in the data how important that bonding of man and woman children and sexual intimacy, how whole it is in God's design. And then to see the distinct contributions of mothers and fathers.

The all the research that shows the unique ways that mothers nurture and the unique ways that fathers help with children's development and how important each one is, is in creating a complete experience for human development to say nothing of all the other pieces that are so that families lend support, that they extended families, lend support, and that father, the marriage relationship, the way mothers and fathers treat one another as, mm-hmm.

The greatest gift they can offer their children. That devotion and kindness and commitment to each other. So just for me, the proclamation is this incredible. Document that is so short, that is confirming statements of what is absolutely clear in the research on family and what leads mm-hmm. Leads to flourishing societies and what is it that children need and what do men and women need, how much we need these strong core relationships.

So it's a beautiful, but can I say my favorite thing? That's what I was just gonna ask you. What is your favorite thing about this proclamation? Yeah, I, I, um, there's so many parts that I love and love to teach about, but I love that it begins by saying the importance of marriage and family. And then it says, each of us is a beloved spirit center, daughter of health, parents.

We all belong to a perfect family. And that our destiny, this is our nature and our destiny, is to be in deep, connected, intimate relationships forever. That we are literally designed for love. We are designed for eternal relationships. This is what the prophet Joseph restored this truth about the nature of our sociality in deep connection and relationships being eternal.

Yeah. Talk to me. Talk to me about this because of all the things you could have begun this proclamation with. Yes. The first thing they want us to know is we are beloved Spirit Center daughter. Why do you think that is? Why do you think that's the first thing rather than go into roles and the typical all the other stuff?

Like what is it about knowing that first and foremost? Yeah. And that we have a divine nature and destiny. Yes. So students were saying yesterday, I asked them, [00:06:00] what do you think are the strongest principles for families, wellbeing and family life? Every class they started with, to know the divine identity of each person in that family and the divinity of that family.

And that when we know who we are, it changes everything about how we relate. It changes everything about the significance of these relationships, the purpose and meaning that they have forever. And so I think it starts with that, first of all, because it changes how we see ourselves and how we see one another in those family relationships.

And it gives us clarity about this is where God is leading us. We are going to learn how to love, how to be beings of love. How to know and see and cherish one another, and that those bonds that we develop here are eternal. Mm-hmm. So it's like, it's the core of everything you do. It's who you are and who the people that you get to be with are, and how divine your family is, and that it's eternal in its nature.

Isn't that interesting to think when you're, when you're struggling with your siblings or maybe and, and there's so many people can, who can relate to having a fractured family for whatever it's worth, but just to take a breather and think that person has a divine nature and destiny, and so what can I do to help that person?

Or am I keeping that person from their divine nature and destiny? What a beautiful way to look at family members other than just my sister or just my brother. Well, and tell me about students. It was like automatic for them to say, this changes everything about how you relate in family life. Mm-hmm. At the same time, I had a student who had.

Who had very difficult relationships growing up. She was crying in office. And I, I tell them all, we all have imperfect families. Like we all have broken, fractured realities, immortality. It's part of being immortal because you're tied to people, but they're imperfect. And so there will be pain, pain that you cause, pain that they cause in these deeply connected relationships.

And after we talked for a few minutes as she was wrestling with, how do I relate to my parents? What kind of relationship do I have? I felt really strongly I needed to tell her, you have perfect parents. Mm-hmm. And they are with you and they are watching over you and they sent their son to redeem your family.

And that, that is his work. So it's like the fact that we are part of a family. That is a perfect divine family and that the Lord is giving us the chance to learn. Im mortal, broken and fractured families, both how to be and that he will redeem every single one of these families. Mm-hmm. Is that's the story that we're given in the proclamation right there at the very beginning.

Wow. Now we are celebrating the 30th anniversary back on September 23rd of this year, marked 30 years ago that this proclamation was given. Mm-hmm. Tell me what you make of that 30 years ago it was given versus now. Yeah. [00:09:00] We actually had a special conference on campus because of that 30 year anniversary, and it was so interesting for people to reflect on what was going on at the time it was given in 1995.

Yeah. And how in this 30 year period, every statement in that proclamation has been put to the test. Hmm. Does marriage really matter? Does it matter that there's sexual commitment and fidelity? Does it matter that there's a mother and a father? Is there something valuable about having children? Is there something unique about men and women?

Every single part of that proclamation has been put to the test, meaning, mm-hmm. Questioned, pulled out, looked at, turned uprooted, and, and there's just, it's so beautiful because at this 30 year bark, we know more than ever of the reality of those truths. We can't see more than ever how important stable marriages, how important mothers and fathers, how important sex within marriage, honoring the sacred powers of procreation, how important the uniqueness of women and men, how important their unity is, how important that children are entitled to birth within those bonds.

Like, it's just, it's remarkable to me because. The research has come out to confirm those statements. We know more than ever as we have unpacked and questioned and turned apart and chosen different things. We've seen the fruits and we know more than ever this, these truths come directly from God, a loving God who wants us to know how to find eternal happiness.

What would you say to people who struggle with the family proclamation? What's your advice for them? Yeah, and it's so understandable, right? Where, for example, my women's students, I think naturally fear that marriage and children could be a transition of loss for them. Mm. What if I lose my identity? What if I lose my career goals?

What if I am not an equal partner? And at a time when marriage has decreased so significantly by 60% and they aren't sure if they will get married, should I even marriage? And it's goodness. And I think one of the things that's so beautiful is, is them coming to the conviction that God is never about diminishing us.

His plan is never about us setting aside our gifts and capacities and having them, you know, put underneath to do his work. He wants us to ever be magnified and expanded. And so what we see is how motherhood and marriage magnify and expand and bring out development and in a healthy marriage of equal partnership, how incredibly, deeply meaningful those relationships are to one's own development.

So I just think we, in a world that's putting them all to the test. We can see these truths play out. Well, [00:12:00] I, I like how you just taught us that, because I'm looking at this proclamation right now, and I'm thinking, isn't it interesting that Satan's perspective is one of diminishing? Yeah, it always has been.

Yes. And if I were to read this, looking for statements of magnification. Yeah. What, what makes me feel magnified? That's a great lens to read this through and to study it. In fact, print it off, get a highlighter, whatever your favorite color is, and just highlight things that magnify you. Highlight truths in this thing.

For instance, right here, just all beings are created in the image of God. I can't think of anything better than that. To think that God says that about us too and, and that the power that comes from that, that we're a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents. I mean, just right outta the gates.

There's so much magnification, things that make us feel good about ourselves. Like you said, that marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God. The family is central to the creator's plan. I love that. And the eternal destiny of his children. There are a lot of magnifying statements in here, and so trying to read it with that lens is beautiful.

I think that's a great, great way to look at this rather than diminishing. 'cause I think you're right. We can read this and think it's taking away my right or my, like you said, my having a sense of self worth. I think can, we can have that as women, but also being moms, you can have it that way too. Yeah.

Yes. Oh, and, and magnified, right? Mm-hmm. Is wonderful. It's interesting that we, we live at a time, right? We can see the drop in the marriage rate. This assumption that not choosing to have children, we don't have to have children today. And so making decisions about fertility, all of those things are just different than in the past.

And I love how some of these elite writers, like David Brooks will just talk about that every good thing in your life is going to flow from the strength of those core relationships. Hmm. So we have that Harvard grant study that tracks people over 75 years, and they thought at the time, oh, it's gonna be IQ that predicts flourishing.

It's gonna be the money that you were born into, or the status you were born into this Harvard class. And after the 75 years, he concludes it, the principal investigator and says, relationships, relationships, relationships. Oh wow. Happiness is love. Full stop. So we can get very turned upside down that the happy life is a life of autonomy and freedom and eating where you want, and traveling where you want.

But it's so clear that in a world of loneliness and isolation, that God has ordained a plan that is truly about our eternal happiness and are focusing on that, that this treasure where our heart will be, those core relationships will be the essence of the meaning and purpose in our lives. So whether we're single or not married, whether we're have a big family or few, our investment in that, our investment, our time, our love, our growth in [00:15:00] those relationships, that is really the design for human wellbeing, happiness, and flourishing.

Oh my goodness. I'm gonna write to the outside now, a proclamation of relationships and happiness that is so beautiful based on a Harvard study. That's incredible. Yes. Isn't that amazing? Absolutely, it is. What made you go into studying the family and getting your PhD? Yeah, because I'd studied different things.

I went to a conference, just invited to go to Geneva, Switzerland. Do you wanna go on this trip and see this at the United Nations? A conference on the family. And I was just so struck as I was listening, I already had my master's degree, but as I was listening, I thought, oh my goodness. This institution, this group of mother's, father's, children, grandparents, like it is the core of society.

I could see its impact economically, its impact on poverty, its impact on incarceration rates and crime rates. And so I just came home and it just felt like God opened those doors. To study that and at a time when it is so desperately needed, the Lord Jesus Christ has poured out truth through prophets to a starving world, and we can hold this up as, as a guide to that beautiful plan of happiness from a loving father in heaven.

Well, thank you. That was a beautiful summation of this proclamation, and I love everything you just taught us this plan of this proclamation of relationships and happiness and, and what struck me is when you said that the Lord has poured out for us to a starving nation truth that will make us happy.

Yeah, it is true. Thank you, friend. That's, that's the end of our discussion.

So in the next segment, I've invited some church historians to help me dive into five more proclamations.

Segment 2

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I have four friends slash church historians. This is so cool. Okay, I'm gonna introduce them each individually. We'll first start with our regulars, Jenny Reader. Hey lady. Hey. So excited to be here today and Jenny, by the way, has been my co-host for unnamed women in the doctrine in Covenants all year, which you can check out for free at Apple and Spotify.

10 outta 10. Highly recommend. Ah, love you Jenny. Pretty good. It's pretty good. Then we have Matthew Godfrey and he's been on a couple of times. Hi Matthew. Welcome back. Hi, Tammy. Great to be here. Thanks for having me back. So exciting. Okay, and then we have John Heath, the two of you are on to help me discuss one of the hardest sections ever and I'm just glad John was willing to come back.

Thanks, John. Great to be with you, Tammy. You uh, bet this, always bet for you. Was this a little bit easier than that elusive section I gave you? In some ways, yes. In some ways it was more challenging. This one's a little, uh, a, a a little unknown. Yes, it is. I'm excited to hear what you have to teach us about your proclamation.

And then our last guest is Brian War Burton. Hello, Brian. Hi, [00:18:00] how are you? Thanks for having me. Oh, hey, I'm excited. Thanks for saying yes. I kind of cornered Brian at a church history event. I got invited. You and I I didn't let him say no. No, it's great. It'll be fun. Welcome to the club, Brian. It's a pretty elite club.

Yeah. The Sunday on Monday Club. Well, I asked these guests, here's the deal. I found out there were six proclamations, and so I just arbitrarily assigned them like, here you go. And they were so lovely and gracious to say, yes, I have no idea what these proclamations are about. So I'm gonna be the most surprised in this whole episode.

And I'm looking forward to what you guys have to teach us, because some of these, I'm like, we, that, that was a proclamation. Did you, did you feel like that when you were studying yours? A little bit, yes. Oh, 'cause I remember when mine was issued. Oh, Jenny got one of the easier ones. I did. Thank you. Yeah, yeah.

You're welcome. Uh, Matthew got the oldest one, so I can't wait to hear about that. Yeah, this will, this will be fun to talk about Navu proclamations. So, yeah. All right, everybody, so buckle up. It's gonna be a good one. Uh, Jenna Erickson talked to us about the Family Proclamation in our first segment, and she did an awesome job.

So now we are here segment two and Matt. Matt teach us about, and I'm gonna, here, here's what it is, proclamation of the first presidency to the Saints, scattered abroad, January 15th, 1841. That was a mouthful. That is a mouthful. And I'm sure it's peaked everybody's interest. They're, they're all saying, what, what in the world did the first presidency say in 1841?

So, absolutely. So tell us about, first, I actually asked Matt talk to us about the idea of what a proclamation means to us, and then go into your proclamation. Yeah. So it's interesting when you look at the church's history, there's always been ways that church leaders have tried to communicate with members of the church.

You know, back in the time of Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, a lot of that came via letter. A lot of it came in publications, in church periodicals, like the Times and Seasons or, or the DT News. And every once in a while there'd be a proclamation that would be issued. By one of the leading bodies of the church.

And so this one that we're talking about in 1841, uh, to begin with, seems to be the first one that the first presidency ever issued. Now, I want people to understand as well though, that there are other proclamations that Joseph Smith made in Navu as the mayor of Navu, not as the leader of the church. And there's also many proclamations that Brigham Young made in Utah after the Saints had moved there.

But again, these are more proclamations that he was making in his civic roles or his governmental roles, not in his role as a leader of the church. Okay? And so the proclamations that we're talking about today. I think they're important because they're proclamations that were either made by the first presidency or by jointly the [00:21:00] first presidency and the quorum of the 12 apostles.

Now, I think because of the family proclamation and the restoration proclamation that many listeners will be familiar with, sometimes we, we think that if there's a declaration that the church needs to make, then they'll do it in a proclamation. But there have been other communications that have come that have been just as important as the Family proclamation, just as important as the Restoration Proclamation.

But they weren't necessarily designated as a proclamation. So two of those are in the doctrine covenants. We have official declaration one and official declaration two declaration one ended the practice of plural marriage. Declaration two said that all men, regardless of race, could hold the priesthood and all men and women could participate in temple ordinances regardless of race.

And neither one of those was designated as a proclamation. You know, they're, they're called official declarations. So just because something's not called a proclamation doesn't mean we should ignore it or not pay any attention to it, because there have been, as I mentioned, quite a few communications that church leaders have made to church members over the years.

Okay, that's really cool. I'd never considered that before. So pay attention to official proclamations. And I like that. Just 'cause it doesn't have the title I, I hadn't connected that to the official declarations. So thank you Matt. That's great. So tell us about yours. What was the purpose and point of the 1841 Proclamation?

This proclamation iss given in Navu. It's signed by the first presidency of the church, which at the time was Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Hiram Smith. And you have to just kind of know a little bit about what has led up to this proclamation. So the Saints have been expelled from Missouri. That happens in the winter of 1838 and 1839.

They first come over to Quincy, Illinois where they find a lot of people there who are willing to help them, kind of willing to help them get back on their feet. From there, they're able to purchase, uh, quite a bit of land in the Navu area or what will become known as Navu. It was known as commerce at the time, and so they move into that in the summer of 1839.

The area at the time was not the best place in the world. There are some quotes that we have from people who live there. At the time that called it a filthy, dirty, nasty place. It was essentially a swamp because mm-hmm. You know, the land's right up against the mi, the Mississippi River, so there's lots of mosquitoes.

The mosquitoes carried malaria with them. And so if you were. Bitten by a mosquito. A lot of people got malaria from that. They didn't call it malaria at the time, they called it the agu, but it's essentially malaria that that they were suffering from at the time. So there's a lot of people who have been sick in the summers of 1839 and 1840.

Navu is just kind of getting built up off [00:24:00] the ground. It's getting more people who are coming in. If you remember in 1837, Heber c Kimball and Orson Hyde kind of inaugurated the preaching of the gospel in England. And then seven of the apostles went back on another mission from 1839 to 1841. And there were many converts, many people being converted in England at this time.

In fact, I think be right before Joseph issues this proclamation or the first presidency issues that I think Joseph had just got a communication from the 12 apostles saying that there was about 3,200 members of the church in England. And so, wow. All of that is background to say that the main purpose of this proclamation is to give members of the church kind of a status update on what's been going on with the church, what's going on with the church in Navu, and then also to provide direction to these numerous people in England who have converted to the church and to kind of impress upon them the necessity of gathering to Navu where a temple would be built and where they would be able to experience those ordinances of the temple.

And I think this is important because given everything that happened to the Saints in Missouri, as well as what happened to them in Kirtland, there were some church leaders in early 1839 that weren't sure that church members should gather together anymore. They believed, you know, if we get too many people in one place, it upsets.

People who aren't members of the church and they'll drive us out. So you even have people like Edward Partridge, who is the bishop of Missouri, wondering if the Saints should gather again. And so this proclamation tells the saints, yes, we still need to gather the gathering of Israel is important and we need to come together.

You need to come to Navu where a temple will be built. And when I read that in the proclamation, this 1841 proclamation, it kind of reminds me of some teachings the President Nelson emphasized during his presidency, one about the connection of the gathering in the temple. So October, 2021, general Conference, president Nelson said, the ultimate objective of the gathering of Israel is to bring the blessings of the temple to God's faithful children.

Mm-hmm. That's the main purpose of the gathering. And so whenever the Saints have a gathering place, you know, whether it was Kirtland, whether it was Independence, far West, whether it's Navu, whether it's Salt Lake, there's always a temple that they want to build in those gathering places, because that is the primary objective of, of the gathering.

And so Joseph in the first presidency emphasized that in this proclamation. Wow, I had no idea that's what that was about. Yeah, it's, it's kind of interesting because I think, you know, especially when you're looking at the family proclamation, the restoration [00:27:00] proclamation, we think sometimes that proclamations are just something that either clarify doctrine, or emphasize doctrine or else, you know, they commemorate an anniversary of the church.

But here, this first proclamation that we have in 1841 is much more instructive. It's kind of giving the saints. More instruction about what's going on and what they need to do, what, what their duties are. I think, and Matt, I've kind of noticed that that's the difference between the, the 19th century proclamations and the 20th and 21st century proclamations is the 19th, are mostly like instruction.

That type of thing. It feels like to me, whereas the, the later 20th and 21st century proclamations are more doctrinal or prescribing, you know, something along those lines. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. And it seems like it would have to be with an early starting church, who's, I mean to think of the cool thing I love is of all the proclamations to be given, it wasn't doctrine.

It was about the gathering, the gathering of Israel. And Joseph Smith will speak much about that, but I don't even think they knew what that meant at the time and how cool that the first main thing of instruction is. Let's keep gathering. That's the, the goal and the purpose of us as saints. Yeah. Oh, it's so cool.

Whoa. I also really like one of the passages in this proclamation, um, where the first presidency says, let the brethren, and we can include sisters in there who love the prosperity of Zion, who are anxious, that her stakes should be strengthened and her cords lengthened, and who prefer her prosperity to their chief joy come and cast in their lots with us and cheerfully engage in a work so glorious and sublime and say with Aya.

We, his servants will arise and build. And I just love that statement because Joseph saying, you know, this is the most important thing we could be doing, building Zion, gathering Israel together. So please come and join us, you know, uh, partake of this work, cheerfully come and, and land your efforts to this work.

And as you do this, you'll find joy and you'll be able to see joy happen with, with other people as well. So I love that passage from I, I mean, that's a great one. Awesome. Very cool. Yeah. Very cool. So can I just say one, one other thing about it that, that I really like, that also I think connects with some of our council that we received today?

So part of this proclamation, Joseph talks about the people in Quincy and how good they were to the Saints and how wonderful it was to find people who were willing to help, who were willing to serve them, even though they weren't members of the church. Hmm. And then later in the proclamation, the first presidency says, let all those who desire to locate themselves in this place or the vicinity come and we will hail them as citizens and friends.

And so it's as though the first presidency is saying, the people of Quincy treated us so well. [00:30:00] If you come to this area, even if you're not a member of the church, we will welcome you. We will bring you in. We will love to have you here. And that just reminded me of elder gong's talk in this past general conference where he talked about the spirit of room in the inn.

Mm-hmm. And he says, the spirit of room in the inn includes no one sits alone when you come to church. If you see someone alone, will you please say hello and sit with him or her in his restored church, we are all better when no one sits alone. Let us not simply accommodate or tolerate, let us genuinely welcome, acknowledge, minister to and love.

May each friend, sister, brother, not be a foreigner or stranger, but a child at home. And I think that's exactly the spirit that the first presidency is conveying here. Everyone is welcome. It doesn't matter what you believe, it doesn't matter if you're a member of the church. You are welcome. And I think that's the same spirit that, that we need to have today as we go forth and build up.

Zion. Hear here. Amen. Wow, that was good, Matt. Absolutely. I love they made connections to modern day revelation and talks. That was very cool. So thank you. Okay. That was our first 1841 proclamation. So in the next segment, John is going to talk to us about the proclamation of 1845. Let's find out what happened three years later.

We'll do that next.

Segment 3

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Okay, John, here we go. John Heath is going to talk to us about the proclamation of the 12 apostles to the church April 6th, 1845. Hit it, John. It's, it's a long title and it's a long proclamation. Is it really? Oh, yeah. Uh, probably the longest of the, of the sixth that we'll discuss today. It's a good thing you're talking about it, John.

Right? You got skills. That's why John got it. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you're kind. We'll see how well, how well we do together. We'll judge you at the end. These, um. Pro proclamations historically and thematically are connected. Matt did a great job kind of setting up the, uh, environment and the context for how things were in Navu in the 1840s.

This proclamation hears back thematically and and motivationally to doctrine and covenants 1 24, which the Lord revealed to Joseph Smith in January of 1841 and in the. Early verses of that section, he commands Joseph and Robert B. Thompson to make a proclamation to the president-elect the kings and rulers of nations.

And Joseph did, he and Robert Thompson sat down and perhaps involved, uh, Willard Richards. And, and they, Dr. They began on a proclamation. [00:33:00] It was interrupted when Thompson died in 1841. And then lots of things, uh, you know, came to a head and it got put off and put off. And there were occasions on which Joseph mentioned or even delegated it to Willard Richards, and then again asked him to involve WW Phelps and John Taylor and Orson Hyde.

All of these were members of the corner of the 12 apostles, with the exception of WW Phelps. Just insert a fun fact. Please, Jenny Robert Thompson was married to Mercy Fielding, and Mercy Fielding Thompson, who was the sister of Mary Fielding Smith and of Joseph Fielding, and we talked about those, Mary and Mercy and Jha in a previous episode of A Named Women.

So, mm-hmm. That might be a fun little link. Awesome. That is a fun link. Just to con, just to continue that connection, if I'm, if I'm understanding right, Jenny, the Fieldings, Hiram Smith married Mary Fielding, right? Mm-hmm. So same family? Mm-hmm. Yes. And he also was sealed to Mercy for time. Oh, I, after her husband died, so she, I did not know that.

Yeah. Pretty cool. Isn't that cool? Very cool. I only knew that because Jenny taught me there was, I wouldn't have known that either. Now we all know, and I think it was at the same moment, the same day that they did all of that. Wow. Yeah. That's an interesting thing. Well, anyway, yeah, so this draft proclamation kind of gets set on the back burner.

So Joseph and Hiram are martyred in June of 1844. There's a lot going on in Navu at that time, having the apostles are called back to Navu and they have to work out succession issues, and then there are pressing concerns in the branches. These far-flung branches of the church. So Wilfred Woodruff gets sent to England, Parley Pra gets sent to New York, uh, in and leaves in December of 1844.

Then in early 1845. Probably February responding to something that Brigham Young requested. Parley writes a draft and has it printed up nicely, but, but before he circulates it, he sends it to back to Brigham Young and to the quorum of the 12 Apostles for their judgment and sanction. Uh, he doesn't hear from them for a little while.

They got a few things going on, and then finally in May after there's been some correspondence between them, they give him final approval. So this is a proclamation from the Quorum, the 12, which was the highest governing body in the church at that time. As I said, it's [00:36:00] long and it covers a lot of ground.

I think one of the best ways to approach it is thematically. So let me, uh, quickly walk through eight themes that are in this very long proclamation. Oh, cool. Eight themes. Wow. Yeah, that's a lot. I thought mine had a lot of themes, right? You win. I told you John would be the right one for this, right? That's right.

Seriously, you're, you're so kind, Jenny. Hey, John. Be, before you get into that, can I just interject one thing that I just love about Brigham Young in these early apostles, they took these revelations so seriously. So I'm thinking about the one where they were told to, to dedicate to Temple side and Far West, and then leave on their mission from there.

And even after the Saints are kicked out of Missouri, they still sneak back in to do that. And then here you have, you know, section 1 24 says, Joseph, make this proclamation. Joseph's never able to do that or, or to publish it. Then you have Brigham Young in the 12 saying, we still have to fulfill this commandment.

We have to do this 'cause the Lord told us to, to do it. So for us, reading these revelations, we think, oh, you know, this is, this is really nice. But for the people at the time, they thought, these are instructions from God to us and we need to fulfill them. And I think there's a lesson there for us. Um, they received revelation from God, from Jesus Christ who gave them specific instructions, and they took them as specific instructions.

Sometimes, you know, we struggle with the temptation to ignore promptings. Is that really me or was that was that revelation for me? Um, he snuck back into Missouri. I really hope they did it in disguise. They like a bedi. They did it in the dead of night. Whoa. It was in the middle of the night. So that they, so that, that's awesome.

So no wanna stand, I just want like, forgive me, I to wear a dress, you know, a wig. Come on. He, he did that in Navu one time, right? When he was at the temple. Yeah. And they came to get him and he snuck out in disguise what? Wearing a dress up. Bon it. What? That's right. Yeah. Yeah. That is the important things. I forgot about that.

That's a cool story. Love it. See, look right here. Nobody else is getting this. That's what I get for having church historians. Oh, I love you guys. This is so cool. Alright John, so give us the eight themes, John, this is cool. So, eight themes. The kingdom of God has been restored on Earth one. Number two, it's happened in fulfillment of ancient prophecies and according to the Lord's covenants with his people.

Number three, the work of the restoration is led by Jesus Christ and encompasses the gathering of Israel. Number four, Gentiles are adopted into the house of Israel by covenant Number five, on behalf of the Lord Jesus Christ, the the [00:39:00] 12 Apostles command, contribution, and cooperation from civil governments.

Number six, they articulate the consequences of opposing the uh. The restoration. Number seven, Zion will be built again to unite all people, and it, it will lead to number eight, the Millennial reign of the Messiah, Jesus Christ. So the first part of the proclamation is an articulation of these eight themes and an exposition of these themes and goes into detail as to how this will happen.

It lists ancient prophecies sites in many ways, in, in many instances, the Book of Mormon and Book of Mormon prophecies about the fulfillment of covenants, um, details and, uh, prophesize the return of the Jews to Jerusalem to organize and establish their own political government under their own rulers, judges, and governors in that country.

It makes it very clear that. In this great restoration, no one gets to be neutral. It says that you either contribute and you're part of the work, or you will find yourself, uh, on the side of those opposing the work, and there will be just dire consequences for doing that. John, this is a really kind of forceful language, you know, commanding, telling, telling governments they're commanded to do these things.

Do we have any record of how gov how governments responded? Um, did, was it mostly just ignored? Uh, did they laugh at 'em? Did you know? Or did they anyone heat it, heat it, or anything like that? That's a good question, Brian. I wanna know that boy. N none that I've been able to find despite the fact that it was published widely.

Yeah. They printed tens of thousands of copies in New York and in Manchester, England. Wilford Woodruff printed copies and involved members around the world to distribute these copies by the, by the thousands. And it was published in newspapers, primarily, uh, church newspapers. So the millennial star, the prophet, and others.

You know, we have letters from Wilfred Woodruff to the editor of the millennial star, asking him to publish this proclamation and emphasizing the vast importance to the saints of God that these things be known. That is clearly the impression that one walks away with, is that this great thing has happened.

And everybody needs to know about it. And if you know about it and understand it in its correct context, you are gonna wanna be a part of it. It kind of reminds me of the proclamation of the [00:42:00] family, like it's a message to the world, the SA in the same kind of way. And they, it's very assertive in that same way.

It is, yeah. Do you think, what do you guys think about this? 'cause this is where my brain's going. Do you think that this 1845 proclamation, given its length and its themes, I love the themes, and John, when you said that this great thing has happened, I feel like, do you feel like this is sort of in retaliation, or not even that, but more like in response to the death of Joseph Smith as a way of saying, we're not going anywhere, like you think you killed our prophet, we're gonna power through this and here's how we're gonna do it.

Do you think it's a response to that? 'cause it was just like a, a year later, right? It's 10 months later. Yeah. After the martyrdom. And that definitely is a theme. And they referenced the martyrdom and they referenced the persecution of the saints that that was happening before the martyrdom and the persecution that was occurring after that definitely was a theme, but it's a theme that, that I believe is in parallel to the theme that the, the savior revealed to the, uh, prophet Joseph Smith and the 12 apostles going back to doctrine covenants 1 24, when, where they were commanded to make this proclamation to the world.

And, um, and to warn them, in fact, it says that they're making it so that you can be, so that you'll be left without excuse. Mm-hmm. And that making the proclamation was one of the key actions required to prepare the world for the coming of the savior. And I love the date of the proclamation. April 6th, 1845.

Very fitting, 15 anniversary of the church. That was, that was chosen deliberately by Parley p Pratt, even though he had not received approval from Brigham Young and the rest of the members of the 12 by that point. And he may not have, he may have, it may have been in the mail back to them, so they may not have even seen it by then.

Wow. But they, they thought in terms of that anniversary for sure. Very cool. These, this long and very expansive proclamation. Um, it, it's helpful maybe to ask, therefore, what, how does this apply to me in the 21st century? My discipleship, there are at least three takeaways that make a, that impact me day to day.

First is. Heavenly father lives. He's our loving father in heaven and Jesus Christ lives and leads the church and has prepared the way for our salvation and exaltation. Second, Jesus Christ fulfills his covenants. He made this, these promises to people in every dispensation, [00:45:00] and we get to live in the fulfillment of those.

And third, we're called to prepare and to participate. I love President Oak's teachings on this. Uh, he said in a general conference address in April, 2004, what if the day of his coming were tomorrow? If we knew that we would meet the Lord tomorrow through our premature death or through his unexpected coming, what would we do today?

What confessions would we make? What practices would we discontinue? What accounts would we settle? What forgivenesses would we extend? What testimonies would we bear if we would do those things, then why not now? Why not seek peace while peace can be obtained? If our lamps of preparation are drawn down, let us start immediately to replenish them.

We need to make both temporal and spiritual preparations for the events prophesied at the time of the second coming, and the preparation most likely to be neglected is the one less visible and more difficult. The spiritual. A 72 hour kit of Temple supplies may prove valuable for early challenges, but as the foolish virgins learn to their sorrow, a 24 hour kit of spiritual preparation is of greater and more enduring value.

End of quote. Hmm. Wow. John. Thank you. Thank you for asking us that question. I think that's a great question that all of us could ask. That may be my overall takeaway, the therefore what for all these proclamations. So thanks for sharing that. That was excellent. You bet. You bet. Wow. Okay, so Brian's up next and he is going to teach us about the proclamation of the first presidency and apostles.

August 23rd, 1865. So 20 years after Johns. We'll find out what's in that in the next segment.

Segment 4

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Okay. Brian is here and he is gonna talk to us about the proclamation of the first presidency and apostles. August 23rd, 1865. And this one is the next one that they ever give in the church is 20 years later. So Brian, tell us about this proclamation. Yeah. Um, this one's actually a little bit unique compared to some of the others.

This was the first time that we have a proclamation that's signed by. The entire first presidency and the quorum of the 12. Uh, so this is our first time that we have that, and it was published in both the Deseret News and a couple months later in the Millennial Star and the two of the church's outlets, uh, for publications.

And it's unique in that this is pretty much a censure of Elder Orson Pratt for a couple of things. And, and so the, they start out, the beginning of, of the proclamation is basically just indicating that they have recalled that they had recalled in the past reminding they had recalled Lucy Mac Smith's history of the prophet Joseph Smith.

[00:48:00] And then someone, I can't remember who it was now, um, went up to Cash County and found a copy of it in someone's home during a state conference. And so they reported back to the brethren that. There was still this copy of Lucy Mac Smith's history out there. And so they felt that it was important that they tell the church why they didn't want members to be reading this book.

Oh, wow. So, yeah, it's pretty interesting. Most people today would think, what's wrong with Lucy Mack Smith's history and why shouldn't we read it? And why did Brigham Young try to suppress it, so to speak? And that is a, in a way, what happened. So if we go back, uh, just after the, the prophet was murdered in 1844, uh, Lucy Mack began to dictate her history to the cores.

And uh, eventually when that was completed, a copy of the manuscript was given to Brigham Young and the 12, and it came west with them to Salt Lake City. The original manuscript was passed to William Smith, and then from him. It ended up into the hands of, uh, Isaac Sheen, who was a former member of the church, and Isaac Sheen moved to Michigan, and while Orson Pratt was on his way to a mission in England in September of 1852, he stopped at Isaac Sheen's house, purchased this original manuscript copy, went to England with it, and had it published and didn't talk to Brigham Young or anyone else about doing it.

Just had it published. Whoa. Yeah. So this was a, a little bit of an issue for Brigham and some of the others as they felt that Lucy's history was maybe not the most accurate. They felt that maybe she, she was getting kind of old when she had dictated it. They were worried that she'd made a lot of mistakes, those types of things.

And I think probably the biggest reason they were concerned about it is that. She talks in it about her son William, in very glowing terms. And there was a lot of concern about that in the church at the time because William had Apostatized, he'd done some things that had made some of the Brothern rather upset over the years and one of the biggest of those was that he had pushed that the church leadership should be a, a birthright leadership and that it should stay in the Smith family.

And it's not inconsequential that just before 1865 when this proclamation is released, that the reorganized church had been organized by Joseph Smith ii, who was also making that claim. So I think it's really important that we recognize that was going on at that time, and that very much played into, I think, why they were saying, we [00:51:00] need to pull this book back in and we need to review it.

We need to make sure that. It's accurate, uh, that type of thing. Can we just pause for a second? 'cause I wanna ask, as historians, how does this affect you? Because don't we like the Lucy Mac history? Don't we refer to it often? Like, talk to me about this. Yeah, we do. Absolutely. In fact, she's able to, because she was so first person in the middle of a lot of this, she was able to talk about it in a way that other people didn't know or hadn't experienced.

And so she gives us firsthand evidence, even though it's written years later. Uh, I think it's kind of funny too. I mean, you, you know, today if a book gets banned, it like increases the sales of it. So it makes me wonder Exactly. Hmm. Makes me wonder if they issued this proclamation and suddenly church members', like, I gotta get that book.

Like, what's, what's in it? What's in it out? Well, somebody in Cas County did, apparently so. Yeah. Well, and Brigham Yen was worried about it from the beginning. Why wasn't he, he mentions at the very beginning, uh, of this proclamation. That before Orson Pratt even had it, had it published, they already had this manuscript copy in their possession in the historian's office.

And they were already concerned about it because as I said, they were worried that Lucy May had, was older, had forgotten things, didn't have details. Correct. They were very concerned that there were in inaccuracies and inconsistencies in it and they wanted to, to make sure of that. And in fact, in a journal entry in 1859, Wilfred Woodruff even records that Brigham Young said, he wished us to take up that work and revise it.

Correct it, that it belonged to the historian to attend to it. That there was many false statements made in it and he wished them to be left out and all other statements which we did not know to be true and give the reason why they are left out. So. There was a concern that there was a lot of inaccuracies.

They did go through eventually after 1865 and they, they did do a lot of revision and looking at it, and in reality, they didn't change a whole lot. The, the biggest thing that changed was those statements made about William Smith. Those were removed. Um, and, and a few other, uh, uh, minor changes were made.

But that was really mostly it. It's interesting 'cause it's in the 1850s, I think it's, I wanna say 1852 that Brigham Young has, George A. Smith and himself are working on publishing a history of the church in the DT News, and they borrow the Release Society Minute book from Navu from, um, Eliza Snow. And they unfortunately do a little bit of revising Yes.

Editing. And, for example, Joseph Smith's April 28th speech. He says, I, I now turn the key to [00:54:00] you. And this is the beginning of better days. They change it to say, I now turn the key in your behalf. So they're doing their own historical revisions. True. And you know, I, I think as historians and scholars today.

We kind of grimace when we think of that. Oh, they're, they're revising things and changing things. They're suppressing a book. They're telling people not to read it. You know, this, this type of thing. And that's very much smacks in the face of what we today would, would expect from the church. Mm-hmm. But it is a reality of what was happening in the, the mid 19th century.

Well, and I think too, when you're talking about that, I mean, this is a time, the 19th century, the church is expanding, it's becoming international. You don't have anything Yeah. Like correlation that's supposed to try to make sure that it's the same message Exactly. Everywhere. Um, so it's like, how do you, how do you deal with things if there's something that, you know, maybe teaches something that other church leaders wouldn't necessarily teach, which I think gets at what, what they're saying about or, and Pratt, um, and this proclamation as well.

That's, yeah, that's a really good point, Matt. And this proclamation I also find interesting in that. It's written in a way that I definitely don't think we would find a proclamation written today. It's a little bit, uh, pointed, maybe even at times, a little bit sarcastic in the way that they, uh, they treat elder or and Pratt.

So it is a little interesting in that way. I'd not, something that I think we would expect to see today, but really the theme of this proclamation is Orson Pratt made some mistakes and he was publicly being called out on it. So first of all, he shouldn't have published Lucy Mac Smith's history without permission, but he did it anyway.

And now we have to recall it. We have to send out this proclamation that tells everybody, uh, this may not be accurate, so don't read it. You know, that type of thing. And then they say, we were just gonna end with that. But then we got to thinking there's some other things that Elder Pratt did that we ought to, probably ought to bring these up too.

So, oh no. And so then they go into the next part of it. Poor Orson Pratt. Yeah. Um, it's one thing to be called out, but in a proclamation. Oh, right, right. Yes. Um, I can only imagine the embarrassment he must have felt. But um, he did seem to be quite contrite though. He did apologize for all of these things publicly.

Um, wow. It was, it was not only given in the tabernacle and speech, but then also published so that everyone could know that he had apologized for it. But, uh, one of the, the next things that, that this leads into is after the Smith history, is that also in 1852, after the church had publicly, and in fact it was Elder Orson Pratt who publicly announced to the world in conference, that the church was practicing plural marriage.[00:57:00]

And just after this, he was then asked by Brigham Young to go back to Washington, DC and to kind of be a church contact there in the nation's capitol and to publish. A newspaper or something of that sort that could defend the church and could explain our doctrines to, to non-members. And so that it was specifically geared towards non-members.

So he went back to Washington, DC and he started publishing what was called the seer. It was in reference to Joseph Smith and, and him being the seer. And he began to publish this for the most part. Most of it is about plural, marriage, about why the church practiced it, what the reasoning was, all those types of things.

There were some times when he really got off into the weeds a little bit, uh, into some deep doctrines. Some of it was speculation that he presented as truth and doctrine, and this is kind of where he got himself in trouble again, with Brigham Young and, and the other brethren, uh, in the quorum of 12. So he announced publicly announced polygamy in 1852 without permission, or, oh, no, he did.

Brigham Young, ask him to, okay. Sorry. He did have permission. It was something Brigham Young specifically asked him to do. Okay. That's, that, that was when they decided it was time to announce to the world. There had been rumblings and, and that type of thing before, but this is, this is when they say, yeah, we are doing this.

Got it. Thank you. Yeah. Good question. Wow. Orson Pratt, it's kind a maverick. He also, was it Orson Pratt or Orson Height that talked about that same year about blacks and the temple and the priesthood? It was Orson Pratt. Okay. He and Brigham Young did not always see eye to eye and, um, they had a lot of, of, uh.

I guess you could say spirited, uh, conversations about different topics. So we have this proclamation, but yes. Just earlier in 1852, back in January is when they had talked about whether slavery would be allowed in Utah. That's right. They were, they were trying to determine if Utah, you know, as they were trying to become a state and they were gonna determine with all the arguing that was going on nationwide about whether, uh, it should be a slave state or a free state and, and, uh, all these types of things.

And Orson Pratt was vehemently opposed to slavery in all forms. He was opposed to treating black members any differently than anyone else. And Brigham Young had a little bit of a different take on some of those things. And so they, they had some issues there. And then again, with this proclamation.

Interesting. Yeah. Yeah. You know, Brian, what I like about you sharing this is [01:00:00] in, in is sitting in this moment of maybe feeling uncomfortable, uncertain, and your mind's probably reeling. Like, what are, you know, who's guiding and directing this church? This is chaos. It's crazy. It made me think of my proclamation, which I'm gonna present next, but with my proclamation.

President Gordon b Hinkley says this, and I, I just wanna say this, with all that we've discussed, he says, now and again, I quietly reflect on the growth and impact of this work. I reflect on that meeting with a few present in the Peter Whitmer farmhouse on the 6th of April, 1830 here at the church was organized and here began the long march, which has brought it to its present stature.

Our people have passed through oppression and persecution. They have suffered drivings in every imaginable evil. And then here's the part I love, and out of all that has come something which today is glorious to behold. And I think when we think back on our history and our past history and the uncomfortable moments.

And then consider where we are today. A glorious thing to behold, I can't help but just think that Christ is at the home like he is. Like you said, John. Absolutely. Heavenly Father lives Jesus Christ is fulfilling his covenants with his people. And we've been prepared. I love how you said this, called and prepared to participate and so it's okay to be uncomfortable.

Don't you agree? As historians? Absolutely. And every single one of us and all of the members of the church in the past, we're all imperfect. Yeah. We've all made mistakes and Heavenly Father and Jesus use us, but we still make mistakes. And it's important to recognize that those in the past were imperfect just like we are.

If it wasn't a little messy, we probably wouldn't be talking about reality. Oh, I like that. That's a good point, John. That's a sage comment. That should be a fortune cookie. That's good. That is good. John, I'm echoing. Uh, Henry Ironing Sr. Hmm. I like that. Wow. Good job, Brian. That was a great discussion. So I would also add in that, um, as his, as trained historians in graduate school, we always learn about the dangers of being presentist.

Mm-hmm. Meaning we're looking at this from our point of view. Our point of view in 2025. Yeah. Yeah. And you probably didn't know what else to do to make a proclamation Orson. Right. Knock it off. And, and actually maybe really quick, Tammy, if I can just kind of wrap it up. Yeah, please. Uh, yeah, I was just gonna say that for me, the, my biggest takeaway from this proclamation, and it's, it is stated at the end, uh, is just that the prophet is the only one who has the keys that can receive revelation for the entire church.

Mm-hmm. And so this is what they basically are telling. Elder Pratt and Elder Pratt never said that he received a revelation. These were just his own thoughts and they did give him credit for that. So we give you credit Elder Pratt for saying. You didn't receive this by Revelation, but they, they did wrap this up by saying, while upon this subject we wish to warn all the elders of the church and to have it clearly understood by the members that in the future whosoever publishes any new doctrines without first [01:03:00] taking this course, meaning taking it for approval to the prophet, uh, will be liable to lose his priesthood.

So they were making it very clear that doctrine should, any new doctrine, new ideas around doctrine should not be coming from anyone other than from the prophet, the first presidency, um, with their approval. So I think that's still important for us to remember today. Mm-hmm. That just because my gospel doctrine teacher, you know, said that this something might be the case.

Yeah. Let's listen to what the prophet has to say and let's only focus on what the prophet has to say. Well, and hearing what you said, Brian, for those of us today, we go, well no, duh. That's obvious. We ob. Yeah. Like that's so obvious to us. But when you were reading that end part, I'm like, and that's the point of the proclamation.

Like I love that. That's, and that message needed to be taught and learn and all of that clear back then in 1865. Exactly. So in 2025 we could go Yeah. Regional that our lives, so we all know that. Yeah, exactly. Very cool. Brian. Wow. Thank you for taking that one on. That's a good one. You bet. Okay, well we get to do my proclamation next and you guys, I might be a little biased, but I think it's the best one.

I'll tell you what it is coming up next.

Segment 5

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I'm not kidding. I think my proclamation is the coolest. I can't believe all this awesome information I found. It's so much fun. So my proclamation is called The Proclamation from the First Presidency and Quorum of the 12 April 6th, 1980. Now, let me just set the scene a little bit so you guys know. 1980, uh, the Rubik's Cube had made its official toy store debut.

Ooh. Mm-hmm. You guys have Rubik's Cubes? Yes. Oh yeah, of course, of course. Had one as a kid too. Oh, you still have one now? Oh, yeah. Fantastic. Okay. Love that. Uh, Mount St. Helen's had erupted in southwest Washington. I remember that. Yeah, I do too. Okay. Yeah. How about this one? CNN began broadcasting, creating a continuous news cycle.

Unheard of. Cool. I was watching at eight years old. There you go. Of course you were. No surprise there. Um, other fun fact. I was nine, so there you go. 1980. How old were you guys? Were you even born? I was three. There you go. I was six. Oh, I was eight. I was, uh, 14. Okay, there you go. So we're all alive for this.

Yep. True. And I don't remember this at all. Um, the population of the world was 4.4 billion people and the church membership was 4.4 million. Oh, isn't that fun? Okay. On April 6th, 1980, this marked 150 years of the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ, of Latter Day Saints. And so the church decided to do something about it.

So Jenny, and I know you're gonna have something to say about this in anticipation of this huge milestone, the church constructed two buildings, the Peter Whitmer farm in Fayette, which was a [01:06:00] log cabin representing the Whitmer home. And I read that they actually tried to find old wood from the Times to make it as real as they could.

And then I think just right across the street, they also built a visitor center that has a meeting house in it. Is that correct? Not exactly. Tell us, the church did not build the cabin. The local members, the church built the meeting house. Okay. And it is actually on top of spec of certain sites, and we can't.

Dig archeologically to know what's under there now. Um, and it's not across the street. It's the, it takes it pretty much the church takes up the whole view mm-hmm. Of the Whitmer farm, which is a little bit unfortunate. Um, and local members decided as the church was building this, um, church, that they should have a replica of the Whitmer cabin.

And so they went and found old logs and they put it together. They didn't do any historical research and nobody from Salt Lake City helps them with the history of that building. And then, fortunately, it's very a historical and it's coming apart. Like we have to, we literally are gonna have to tear it down.

There's no way to preserve what was going there. So, Jenny. Mm-hmm. Jenny, any plans to, uh, rebuild it historically Accurate? Yep. Ah, yes, there are Jenny. Jenny, what do you have to do with that? Tell us. I am, I am a, the historian on this particular project, so I, um, I need to go out soon to do two Pennsylvania and New York.

Um, the Whitmer family was actually Pennsylvania, German, or Mennonite. Mary Whitmer came from Switzerland, and so it's, it's gonna take a much more multicultural depiction. Most of them spoke German, and so Mark Staker likes to say that the majority of people at this time in that house spoke German and English was their second language.

So it's gonna be, we're still trying to figure out the details, but it's not gonna be the log cabin that you see today. I can't wait. Can I come out with you when it gets dedicated? Can I be your plus one? Yes, please. Very cool. Very cool. Okay. And we love, so the Whitmer Farm. The Whitner home is where the church was originally organized.

We love, we actually don't know that for sure. That's, it's one of the places where the church was first organized for the. Uh, with the Fayette branch. Yes. So we'll say for purposes of 1980, that's what they were saying. Yes. Absolutely. That's why it, it was so important that this, what's taking place happened at this home.

Also, sideline. We love Mary Whitmer. Mary Musselman, Whitmer, because she was the one of only women who got to see the plates, which is pretty cool from Angel. Very cool. So that was, we're gonna build a barn. We're gonna build a barn. Yay. Because that's where she saw the, the plates. For her. We love her. Yeah.

So knowing all that, then all that work had been building [01:09:00] up to this huge event happening on April 6th, 1980. But you, I don't know if you guys knew this 'cause I did not know this. So here's what happened before the event on April 6th, on Wednesday, April 2nd, 1980. This is so cool. The church announced that they had this new expanded worldwide temple building effort.

It was announced by the first presidency. President Spencer w Kimball said this quote now begins the most intensive period of temple building in the history of the church. And then he announced plans for six more temples to be built, totaling 28 temples. No way. I did not know that. It was so exciting for that.

It was a big deal. Right, right. Huge deal to have 28 temples, 12 outside of the us so half we're not even here. I mean, this is so exciting for them. And then I think now, 'cause I, I, you know, had to look it up, but today we have 382 Temples 210 have been dedicated. 202 are in operation and 62 are under construction right now.

So how cool that in 1980, Spencer w Kimble's, like we're opening this huge, gigantic, expansive thing to build more temples and we're living in it. Very cool. So cool. Very cool. So he did that, he announced that on Wednesday, April 2nd. Then after that happened, then on Thursday, April 3rd, there was a Sesqui centennial ball.

Hello. Elder El Tom Perry and his wife, all these apostles and their wives went to a fancy ball for Sesqui centennial. I thought that was pretty cool. That's awesome. And I'm gonna put links in the show notes so you guys can click and read about all of this. Okay, so that was Thursday, April 3rd. Then on Saturday, April 5th, 1980, so that Saturday after the Saturday morning session of general conference get this, there was a special half an hour ceremony by the United States Postal Service.

And the Grand Master Postman was there. And they were there because this is cool. It marked the very first day of issuing a US postcard commemorating the Salt Lake Temple. And a picture of the Salt Lake temple is on the postcard. It was painted by Arnold Freeberg. And when this, and it was in this new sphere that the post office was trying to put really cool buildings on postcards.

The Salt Lake Temple was the fourth postcard to be issued. The first three before them was the Galveston Courthouse, the Cincinnati Music Hall and the Ani Palace in Honolulu, Hawaii. So then the fourth postcard was Salt Lake Temple. And here's what Postmaster General said, quote, I stress that not only was the committee interested in architecture, but the building selected had to stand for something.

They had to have a meaning and it had to be representative of our nation's development and our nation's diversities. And so they chose the Salt Lake Temple is one of those buildings. That's awesome. That's wow. I know. That's really cool. Wow. Kay. Then right after Saturday morning's session of General conference President Spencer w Kimble and his wife and elder Gordon b Hinkley and Sister Hinkley got on a plane and flew out to New [01:12:00] York as fast as they could for Sunday.

Then on April, 1980, the general conference was unlike any other that we've ever had. This was mind blowing for everybody. In the 1980s, for us, no big deal. But in 1980 it to commemorate this big event, the general conference sessions are gonna originate from two locations from Temple Square and then from Fayette, New York.

So broadcasting live to some 2000 miles apart in these locations logistically and technologically was. Incredible. Nobody could believe it. So they start out general conference. The morning session of Sunday conference begins in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, and then they switch to the Whitmer cabin where President Kimball spoke briefly before inviting Elder Hinkley to read the proclamation that would commemorate the organization of the church 150 years before that cool moment.

And at the end of this, when it was all done, president Kimball, then after he got done introducing President Hinkley, elder Hinkley, he ran over to the the meeting house that's right there that they built. And I just, I wish I could have been old enough to remember this. And John, maybe you were, I don't know.

I any of you watched old enough, you can watch it on, on um Oh yes. Church jesus christ org. I've watched it. It's, it's amazing. Okay, I want you to tell me about that then. 'cause here's what's cool. After President Kimball turned the meeting over to p Elder Hinkley, he said, then it, the camera goes on to President Kimball in this new building.

I mean, it must have been blowing people's minds like, how did he do that? And he says, my beloved brothers and sisters, I'm grateful for this opportunity. It was thrilling experience to speak to you a few minutes ago from the Peter Whitmer farm home where the church was organized. And now I'm at the church meeting house.

Like that must have been so cool in 1980, right? For sure. Totally. I wonder how confident, I mean they obviously must have been pretty confident in the technology, but I wonder if if, uh, some of the technology specialists were nervous that day. Bullets probably, yes. Wasn't it the first, um, satellite broadcast?

Was that I think so. Yeah. So cool. They had to have been. That is so awesome. So after this, okay, so I'm gonna tell you my favorite things about this proclamation, and it is also thematic John. The themes though aren't as vast as yours. I think it's pretty cool. 'cause every paragraph says something significant.

Like the first part of the proclamation talks about the history of the church and the growth of the church. Then a paragraph talks about how the Christ Church is restored. It talks about the Book of Mormon. It talks about baptisms for the dead. It gives a little mini proclamation on the family. Then it talks about who we are, that we're all sons and daughters of God.

There's whole paragraph section on the gift and revelation of prophecy, and it's kind of neat 'cause each paragraph begins with, we declare, we give our witness, we affirm, we bear witness, we testify, and then it gives these doctrinal truths, which I felt the spirit. I loved it when I was reading this. Then it ends by saying, it is our obligation and it tells us what our obligation is to plead with people of the earth, [01:15:00] to teach faith in Jesus Christ, to administer sacred ordinances to everybody.

But then I love the very end. The N says we call upon. So that's how that whole group starts. We call upon all men and women, and here's what he ask everybody to do, to forsake evil, to turn to God, to work together, to build the brotherhood which must be recognized when we truly come to know that God is our Father and we are his children, and to worship him and His son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the savior of mankind.

And that's how it finishes. And I loved that idea about we're calling upon all men and women. It didn't say we're call upon the saints, but everyone everywhere. And so I think what I love about the way this ends is it just goes to show that we are a Christ-centered, God-centered church, that we love our savior, Jesus Christ.

There's no doubt that we love the world and everybody in it. And so I think it's beautiful how we call upon everyone to forsake evil, but then to understand and recognize that God is our father. We are his children and we worship Jesus Christ. Wow. That's like mic drop at the end. And so Elder Hinkley read this whole proclamation and then it was actually printed as a standalone broadside.

And in the show notes, I've included a picture of it. This is what it looked like when they printed the proclamation for everybody to have in their homes. No, I remember. I remember seeing those having serious populations around. Oh, that's cool. That's way cool. You could get 'em at, you know, Deseret Book and that's amazing.

Did they have money back then, John? It was, it was actually little, uh, notches on sticks is what it was when it was a bar economy. That's great. So here's a picture of what it looked like. That's so cool. I love the maronite. Oh, that is really cool. Yeah. Wow. Graphics are awesome. They did a good job and they got it on one page.

Now that's impressive. I wonder, I tried to see, was this on like one of those legal pieces of paper that's like really long, because that's a long proclamation. It's long. Just thinking about the one that Parley wrote was 16 pages. Well, wow. I think that one wins. Yeah, I think Parleys wins for sure. For sure.

Well, I don't, I, I don't know. I think, I think shorter wins didn't work to the point was this printed in the enzyme? Yeah. Cool. I think it was printed as part of the general conference proceedings. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. So Tammy, one thing that I think is really cool about this, I mean, you know that President Nelson and President Kimball kind of had a unique bond since President Nelson, you know, operated on President Kimball.

Yeah. On his heart. And I have to think that President Kimball doing this proclamation in 1980 must have made a pretty significant. [01:18:00] Impact or impression on President Nelson. And I wouldn't be surprised if in 2020 or leading up to 2020 when they're thinking about how do we commemorate this restoration if he didn't think back about mm-hmm.

What they did interesting in 1980 and think, yeah, we, we, we need to do something like that. That seems really plausible. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. That's so cool, Matt. I'd never considered that connection, but now that you say it, it would make perfect sense to me because it's so similar in the things that we affirm and believe and, and the message to all the world.

I, I agree. I agree with you. I think that's neat. There's a lot of continuity between all, between all the proclamations you were listing, the things that they testified to in 1845. That 1845 proclamation really wraps up with these very. Powerful statements about things they've been discussing. I'll just read a few of them.

W we say then in life or in death and bonds are free, that the great God has spoken in this age and we know it. Mm. He has given us the holy priesthood and apostleship and the keys of the kingdom of God to bring about the restoration of all things as promised by the holy prophets of old. And we know it.

And they go on for eight or nine statements that all and, and we know it. Oh, that's cool. And that appears often in the 2020 proclamation. Well, Jenny, I love that you said that much of the 2020 proclamation ends with, and we know it because that's the proclamation you're gonna talk to us about. So in the next segment, Jenny's gonna go over the Restoration Proclamation dated April 5th, 2020.

Segment 6

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All right, Jenny Reader, you get to talk to us about the restoration Proclamation. April 5th, 2020. The most recent hit it. I can't wait to hear what you have to tell us. Oh, I'm so excited to talk about this. In fact, I reached out to one of my coworkers in historic sites. He, at that point was the director of operations, and so he was actually there when they filmed this proclamation read by President Nelson in the Sacred Grove.

And they filmed it way before, thank goodness, because COVID was happening. They filmed it in AAU on August 5th, 2019. Oh, wow. And my friend said, my friend said it was one of the most sacred experiences he's ever had in his life, and that's all he would tell me. So I think that's significant. I didn't realize it had been done that early.

Me neither. Well, if you think about it, the video, all, all the trees are out and green and sick. And that couldn't have been like that in in April, which harkens back to how it would've looked when Joseph Smith has revelation, it wouldn't have looked like that. Even though in all the videos of pictures we have, they're all leafed out.

So that's a good point. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. Um, that [01:21:00] might have been cool though, just to show that, but it was also COVID and if you remember COVID, everything shut down. I think it was mid-March. March 20th, I wanna say. Yeah, 2020. And so this general conference where it was presented is a significant general conference because President Nelson spoke in an empty room.

He spoke in the church office building auditorium and the background windows that they put in there to make it fancy, I think look like bacon. And there were 10 people in the room. I'm sorry. I'm still stuck on the fact that the windows look like bacon. That's what I was gonna say. No, no. I'm still stuck on the fact that the prophet was like, let's go record this.

In August, 2019 before COVID happened, if he had decided to do this live. Mm-hmm. Which, which he probably should, it would've been more obvious to do it live. That would've been so cool to then Anne Pan to the prophet who's standing there live and he couldn't have done that. That right. That's amazing. It would've at least been a lot harder.

Yeah, for sure. A lot harder. Yes. 'cause it would've been a month into the COVID shutdown. Right. Wow. It's so significant too that he was the prophet at the time of co, of a pandemic and that he is a medical professional and that he encouraged us to get vaccines and to stay, you know, all of the things that really I think helped us to survive as many of us that did survive.

That inspiration's amazing eight months earlier to do it. Then also to our church. Mm-hmm. Yes. Yes. Come follow me. That all happened before COVID Boy. He is a prophet seer in Revelator. He sees around corners. That's so cool. I know. He's pretty, I mean, sorry, I I was stuck on that. Carry on. I didn't mean to interrupt you, but that's so cool to me.

It's okay. It's okay. I want this to be a discussion. So, um, president Nelson showed this video during his talk on Sunday morning, and immediately following this video, they did the Hosanna shout. We, we did the Hosanna shout and sang the spirit of God like a fire is birding. So it was a very sacred and very public moment.

And I think it's really interesting that on Saturday morning when President Nelson, this is back in the day when he like spoke in all the co all the sessions or maybe three of 'em, I dunno. But he talked about, that was his great talk. Hear him. And it just goes right along with this anniversary of the first vision, which I think is great.

So this was given on April 5th, 2020. So not quite April 6th, but that was a Monday and that would've been weird, right? And he did in his talk, he also talked about how if you're prepared, you shall not fear. Speaking of the pandemic and that we needed, we need to prepare our personal storehouses and prepare to meet our [01:24:00] maker.

He also encouraged us to stand in holy places and be not moved and talked about the scriptures and the temple and he said, if you can't, I, we can't go to the temple right now, but you should be doing family history. So those are all sort of precursors to the rest of his, his teachings and his encouragement for all of us to do.

Also, he prefaced this. He said we were trying to decide what to do to celebrate the bicentennial of the first vision, and they thought about making a monument. Um, like on the Hill Kimora or um, in Washington DC with a Washington Monument or the Lincoln Memorial. Um, but he said, we're a global church and I think this is so significant.

We are a global church and we want this. He quoted from second Corinthians chapter three, verse three, declared the, the Epistle of Christ ministered by us written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God. Not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. Mm-hmm. So this was for all of us to ingest and to be a part of.

He invites us all to be a part of that. And I love that. He loves that scripture, which I love as a heart surgeon. Uh, he has often used fleshy tables of the heart. I didn't think about it in that way. Yeah. He's used it a couple of times and I love that about him. That is really interesting, huh? I. So I think the main messages were very similar to the main messages that John gave us earlier, except they do not seek out the US government and times are a little left him outta it different now.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, probably smart. Yeah. Um, but he does talk about the center of Jesus Christ in all things. And I also love that, particularly as employees of the Church History Department. Our presiding executive director is Kyle McKay, elder McKay, and he has encouraged us all to make Christ the center of our work and of our, what we write and what we publish and what we study.

So this, this is an, an important foundation for that. I think. There's a couple of other things that I think are really significant. He talks about, he starts it out, and I love this. We solemnly proclaim that God loves his children in every nation of the world. Mm-hmm. And I, I love that. That is so inspiring and it's so connecting that we, as Latter Day Saints are with all of these incredible global saints, and I love that we're a part of this.

Absolutely. Um, he also talked about that. I mean, of course he recounts the story of Joseph Smith, uh, going into the, the woods to pray, um, with questions regarding the salvation of his soul. And he [01:27:00] trusted that God would direct him. And I, I think that's knowing that God loves his children in every nation of the world, he inaugurated the restitution of all things.

That's from Acts chapter three, verse 31 21, that this restoration or reorganization or, uh, resurrection. I think, I love how all of those words go together right there. I think that's really significant. And he talks about how Joseph was visited by the father and the son, and John the Baptist, and Peter, James and John and others, including Elijah.

We talked about that. On your podcast with, um, Kristen Demmick a couple mm-hmm. Months ago in section one 10. That was amazing. And then he talks about how the church ate possessed Jesus Christ. I'm just giving you the quick summary. Mm-hmm. But one thing he says in the second to last paragraph, I love, we gladly declare that the promised restoration goes forward with, goes forward through continuing revelation.

And I also think that was a really important theme for President Nelson. Remember how we talked about take your vitamins and put on your running shoes? All of the things, because we are continuing revelation, we continuing to receive revelation. The last paragraph I think is so significant with reverence and gratitude.

We, as his apostles, invite all to know. We do that the heavens are open and the verbs in this sense, this paragraph are so cool. We affirm that God is making his will for his beloved sons and daughters. Remember how God loves all of his children? We testify to those who will prayerfully study the message of the restoration and act in faith.

We'll be blessed to gain their own witness of its divinity and of its purpose. And then here's the kicker to prepare the world for the promised second coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. So I think he's inviting every single person in the world and um, I know that we only have the rest restored gospel for safe safekeeping, but this is for the world and this is a celebration for the world.

A God that still speaks is incredible. Wow. That's beautiful. That's awesome. It's a good one, Jenny. Thanks because I do women's history. I just wanna give a shout out to a book that was written by two really smart women, um, called The Witness of Women Firsthand Experiences and Testimonies from the Restoration.

Because I think it's so important that if they could gain a witness of the restoration, then we too, [01:30:00] individually and personally can gain a witness of the revelation. And there's just a couple that I wanted to point out. One of them is Emma Smith. So at the end of her life, after Joseph had died, shortly before she died, um, her sons interviewed her and she said.

Let me just go back to something that, um, is written in the proclamation. We further witnessed that Joseph Smith was given the gift and power of God to translate an ancient record, the Book of Mormon, another testament of Jesus Christ. Emma says in 1879, Joseph Smith could neither write nor dictate a coherent and well worded letter, let alone dictating a book like The Book of Mormon.

And I love this part 'cause this is every single one of us. And though I was an active participant in the scenes that transpired and was present during the translation of the place, remember she is his first scribe and had cognizance of things as they transpired. It is marvelous to me, a marvel and a lender.

I love that. Me too. I love that. And also going along with President Nelson. Well, I guess this is the first presidency in the council of the 12 Apostles where he wants all of us to know, and he invites all of us to know. She wrote in a blessing as Joseph was leaving for Carthage and he didn't have time to give her a blessing.

He asked her to write one, and so she wrote it up. He said he would come back and sign it. Unfortunately, he didn't, but she says this, I desire the spirit of God to know and understand myself that I might be able to overcome whatever of tradition or nature that would not tend to my exaltation in the eternal worlds.

I desire a fruitful active life that I may be able to comprehend the designs of God when revealed through his servants without doubting. So that's the key, my friends. It is that we all have the privilege and the responsibility to discern the truth. We learn about that in the temple, in the Initiat, but we also learn about it in this proclamation and scattered throughout all of the of the scriptures, particularly the Book of Mormon, the doctor, and covenants.

Wow, Jenny. Yeah, that was great. I feel like that's, and I feel like that's the message of all these proclamations is to, each proclamation has truth, a lot of truth in the proclamations truth about the restored gospel of Jesus Christ, and so I, that's what I've loved, even the one that made us uncomfortable, still taught truth.

That is so cool, Brian. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. I love too, Jenny, how you brought it back to Emma, because you know, president Nelson is talking to us about continuing revelation and Nelson, all of us need that revelation. Emma needed it. Joseph Smith needed it. We need it today. It's been kind of the hallmark [01:33:00] thing that our church teaches since its organization, the importance of continuing revelation.

Mm-hmm. You know, that was my favorite thing as a missionary. I served in southern Italy, the land of the Catholics and the Saints, and, um, I loved teaching from Moroni 10 verse three about how it is up to every single person to find out for themselves to read and to know for themselves. And if they did that, I, I could tell the people I taught all day long about my testimony of the Book of Mormon, but it was up to them to figure it out for themselves.

Well, and Jenny, this is cool 'cause my proclamation, part of it says, we testify that the spirit of prophecy and revelation is among us. Oh, I love it. And he just, all these different paragraphs about taking that challenge. So that is so cool. Wow. Good connect. Yes. Wow. You guys, this has been an awesome discussion about six proclamations today.

Five of us here. One we started with. I thank you so much for taking the time to study your proclamations out and share with us. And so my last question to you is we usually say, what's your takeaway or what spiritual truth, but I'm actually gonna use John's, therefore what? Give me your answer when it comes to your proclamation or any of the proclamations.

Therefore, what, and we'll just start in the order we presented. Okay. Hey Matt. Well, for me, the therefore, what from the 1841 proclamation is kinda what I touched on before, that the gathering is another theme that has appeared since the beginning of the restoration. That the whole purpose of the restoration is to gather Israel again in preparation for the second coming.

And we still have that same responsibility today to gather Israel. We need to gather Israel to bring people into the temples so that they can go through those ordinances and be able to make those covenants with our Heavenly Father and with Jesus Christ. And I think for me that's so important that we have these covenants that tie us to our savior and uh, to our heavenly Father.

And so I love that in 1841, Joseph is emphasizing that, that we gather to bring people to the temple. And still today, that's the same message that our prophets teach us today. We're gathering to the temple and we need to be in the temple. Excellent answer. That's a good one. Mine's very similar. Uh, I am inspired, uh, and and fired up by the continuity between all of these proclamations, from the one that Matt taught us about in 1841 through all of them and how they describe and inspire us with the promises that Jehovah has made Anciently, and invite us to participate in those covenants.

I've been trying to remember Tammy, whether we talked about Jeremiah 31. In our, when we talk [01:36:00] about DNC 88 or not, go ahead though. But I love this passage in Jeremiah that says, behold the days come sayeth the Lord that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of Egypt, which my covenant, they break although I was an husband to them sayeth the Lord.

But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days sayeth the Lord. I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people and they shall teach no more. Every man, his neighbor, and every man, his brother saying, know the Lord.

For they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, sayeth the Lord, for I will forgive their inequity and I will remember their sin No more. That sums it up for me and, uh, and inspires me. Absolutely. Wow. Thank you John. Right. I think for me, that therefore what is, I kind of alluded to it at the end of talking about the 1865 proclamation, but just that Jesus Christ stands at the head of this church.

He's in charge, and through him, he has a prophet that he speaks to, and there's someone in charge on the earth of the church, and they're the one that's in charge. The prophet is in charge. That's where the revelation comes through. That's where the, the direction from our heavenly Father comes and that we can always know that we can look to the prophet for direction and for truth.

And as I kept thinking about when Jenny was talking about hers, you know that that's still fresh. And I, you know, just thinking about during that time, it was early in COVID. None of us really knew what was going on. We're all sitting there at our houses kind of quarantined from each other, not really interacting.

I think everybody was a little scared not knowing what was going on. But hearing that proclamation, I think brought so much peace. And it just really, I, I remember me just, just sitting there and thinking, you know, yeah. It's unifying the world as Jenny talked about. We're all in this together. And also we're, we're God's children and he has a prophet on the earth and he's directing what's happening in the church, just like Brigham Young was with this proclamation, just like President Oaks is today.

Wow. Love that connection. Thank you. Brian, what about you, Jenny? I. Can't stop thinking about that first line of the 2020 proclamation. We solemnly proclaim that God loves his children in every nation of the world. And it reminds me of, I [01:39:00] recently read, um, chapter 27 of two Nephi in the Book of Mormon, and it really stood out to me story in verse 20 where the LED Lord says, I am able to do my own work.

And he says, I again in 21, at the end, I am able to do my own work. Hmm. Um, and then in 23, I am God and I'm a God of miracles, and I will show into the world that I am the same yesterday, today, and forever. And I just think I am. He is, he is. And I am so grateful for that because it makes all the difference in the world for me personally.

It makes me think about my own opportunities to gain testimony when I was 13 years old or when I was 12 at girls camp or when I was 16 in seminary and, and our teacher challenged us to pray and find out for ourselves if God loved us and these little things that have led to where I am today. And I am so grateful for that.

Thank you for that testimony, Jenny. And then I'll end my, therefore what comes from my proclamation and Gordon b Hinkley just simply says, this is God's work. It is his kingdom we are building. And I just think that is a great statement to make in there that it is his work. We are building his kingdom.

And all of these proclamations, I think have absolutely proven that point to be true. Everything we've talked about is showing how God is building his kingdom and he's just doing it with the. You know, which just normal, everyday people who are just doing their best and, and I love that. And that's all of us.

So thank you for doing your best. What a fun discussion you guys. You're awesome. Wow. We're done. Woo hoo. Thanks Tammy. Thanks Tammy. That was so cool. You guys were awesome. Okay. Well, that was so good. I can't believe how much I learned. Listen, I, I always take notes, but I have like two pages of notes. This was a great discussion, so thank you to all my church historians.

I'd love to know what is your, therefore what, that's what I'm gonna ask for this one. Go join our group on Facebook or follow us on Instagram to share what you've learned, and you can ask questions, which we love to answer. And then at the end of the week, on a Saturday, we post a question from this discussion.

So comment on the posts that relates to this lesson and share your, therefore what you can get to both our Facebook and Instagram by going to the show notes for this episode at ldsliving.com slash Sunday on Monday, and go there. Anyway, it's where we're gonna have links to all of these proclamations as well as a transcript of this whole discussion.

So go check it out. The Sunday on Monday Study Group is a Deseret Bookshelf Plus original, brought to you by LDS Living. It's written and hosted by me, Tammy Uzelac Hall, and today, our absolutely fabulous study group participants were Jenet Erickson, Matt Godfrey, John Heath, Brian Warburton, and Jenny Reeder. And you can find more information about my friends at ldsliving.com slash Sunday on Monday.

Our podcast is produced by Cole Wissinger and me. It is [01:42:00] edited and mixed by Cole Wissinger, and our executive producer is Erin Hallstrom. Thanks for being here. We'll see you next week, and please remember that you are God's child and that you are his favorite. I.