Welcome to Mormon Stories where we critically examine the historical narratives presented by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In this episode, we respond to Keith Erekson’s January 12, 2025, fireside, where he addressed controversial aspects of church history. Our discussion features Sandra Tanner, a leading voice on Mormon historical transparency, as we analyze claims about polygamy, Joseph Smith’s marriages, and the church’s approach to its own history.
Keith Erekson asserts that the church has never hidden its history, but we explore how key details have been omitted or obscured—from the Mountain Meadows Massacre and Brigham Young’s extermination order against the Timpanogos Nation to the Word of Wisdom inconsistencies among early prophets. We also break down how the church has followed social progress rather than led it, particularly regarding racial policies.
One major focus is Joseph Smith’s polygamy, including his marriages to already-married women (polyandry) and his public denials of the practice despite overwhelming evidence. We address the Law of Sarah, dynastic sealings, and the changing justification for plural marriage, questioning whether polygamy was truly about raising children—or about power and exaltation.
We also examine the Book of Abraham, confronting Keith Erekson’s false claims about missing scrolls, Joseph Smith’s incorrect translations, and the shift to the Catalyst Theory to explain inconsistencies. We discuss how Erekson’s approach resembles legal defense rather than historical transparency, as he omits key evidence and dismisses critics rather than engaging with the full historical record.
This episode is a deep dive into the evolving nature of LDS teachings, the shifting definitions of doctrine, and the church’s historical revisionism. If you are questioning, seeking clarity, or simply interested in the truth behind LDS history, this is the conversation for you.
Subscribe for more in-depth analysis, and join us as we challenge narratives, uncover hidden history, and seek real answers.
3 Responses
What about the pervasive practice of calling all problematic topics “anti mormon lies” for decades? This practice had far-reaching effects in the church, from top to bottom.
The membership was actively taught to avoid researching these topics, and the researchers who wrote about them were literally demonized as satan’s helpers.
This information wasn’t just treated as false, but as evil and spiritually dangerous.
The people who finally relented and learned of the problematic topics, found out they were largely TRUE.
So how are these “apostates” supposed to conclude anything other than that the church was hiding and lying?
Here is some detail on the John D. Lee’s restoration of blessings.
Temple worker Merritt L. Norton had presented the family’s request, and on April 20, 1961, the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve authorized the restoration of Lee’s membership and temple blessings. This included the “second anointing. All Lee himself put it:
“I was among the first to receive my washings and anointings, and even received my second anointing, which made an equal in the order of the Priesthood, with the right and authority to build up the kingdom in all the earth, and power to fill any vacancy that might occur. I have officiated in all the different branches, from the highest to the lowest. There were about forty men who attained to that order in the Priesthood, including the twelve Apostles and the first presidency, and to them was entrusted the keeping of the records. I was the head clerk; Franklin D. Richards was my assistant clerk. My office was in room number one, at President Young’s apartments.” (some spellings corrected).
The problem is that he was guilty of the murder of innocents at Mountain Meadows.
That is the one unforgivable sin under the second anointing. So why did the Church restore his blessings given that fact? Family politics. The Lee family has a favored status in the Mormon Church.
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Joseph self reports drinking a beer at “Messers”. Which given the problems with water born diseases like Cholera, epidemic at the time, was probably a good thing.