Podcast · Devotional & Spiritual

Standard of Truth

by Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat · English · Devotional & Spiritual

The purpose of this podcast is to help Latter-Day Saints better understand their history and increase their faith. The podcast hosted by Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat, associate professor of Church History and Doctrine at BYU.

New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 1 hr 8 min
Latest: 8 Oct 2026
Language: English

Latest episode

8 Oct 2026 · 1 hr 10 min

S6E40 Please Refer to President Christofferson's October 2026 Conference Address

We break down the October 2026 General Conference. The heart of the episode: President Christofferson’s address on gambling. Richard debuts a montage of the duo’s many tongue-in-cheek nods to President Hinckley’s 2005 talk. If you are interested in joining us in 2027 in Palmyra and Kirtland, August 1st through August 7th, click on the link below and reserve your spot: https://pci.jotform.com/form/261567888174171 Sign up for our free monthly email: ⁠ ⁠⁠https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com⁠⁠ If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email…

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Earlier episodes 29 most recent

S6 · E39 · 1 Oct 2026 · 1 hr 21 min
S6E39 Saved By Grace After All You Can Do
Heidi writes mid-labor to ask about D&C 76: does rejecting the gospel in this life really cap you at the terrestrial kingdom? We discuss that we simply don’t know what fully constitutes a person’s opportunity to accept Christ, and that a bitter, door-slammed missionary is nobody’s final judge. Joseph Smith’s own teachings point to a far more merciful God. That flows into a heavyweight take on ”after all we can do” (2 Nephi 25:23): Pelagius, Calvinism vs. Arminianism, evangelicalism’s assurance-of-salvation hybrid, and President Oaks’s ”Have You Been Saved?” The through-line: we’re saved only…
S6 · E38 · 24 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 12 min
S6E38 Idiot or Liar - How to Spot a Bad Source Part 1
We crack open an all-missionary mailbag with letters from the Philippines, Cincinnati, and beyond. Then the big question: was Cincinnati really cursed by Joseph Smith? We dig into D&C 61, trace how ”well nigh ripened for destruction” shifted across the manuscript versions, and follow Orson F. Whitney’s later meetinghouse dedication, settling the folklore with actual sources (plus a spirited defense of five-way chili). A tender Yom Kippur reflection on grace we don’t deserve gives way to the 1831 Lockport Balance’s ”Gold Bible” hit piece, where an over/under on ”Joe” mentions reveals how…
S6 · E37 · 17 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 19 min
S6E37 Exceptions Are God's to Make
We celebrate 10 million downloads, the arrival of video recordings of the podcast, and a missionary listener who has built a four-generation podcast family tree using ”phone checks” on exchanges. After Nauvoo and before St. George, where did the Saints receive their endowments? Gerrit walks through the Council House, the Endowment House, and Addison Pratt’s 1849 endowment atop Ensign Peak, and why exceptions belong to God and His prophets, not to us. A listener shares how the podcast helped a friend through a faith crisis. Gerrit also reads a Shaker elder’s 1830 journal account of Oliver…
S6 · E36 · 10 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 10 min
S6E36 Joseph Smith on the Second Coming (Churchy McChurch Church)
The heart of the episode is a Lyceum dive into a March 16, 1841 discourse of Joseph Smith on the Second Coming and the Millennium. Joseph taught that the wicked won’t all be destroyed at Christ’s coming, that non-members will remain through the Millennium, and that Christ will come and go rather than reside on earth continuously. We trace how Brigham Young echoed these ideas in Civil War-era sermons, contrast pre-, post-, and amillennial views, and close on the expansive, near-universal scope of salvation in Latter-day Saint theology. We also talk about college football, the perils of a name…
S6 · E35 · 3 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 8 min
S6E35 The Great Apostate Hall of Shame - #8 Ezra Booth Part 5 (FINAL)
Richard hadn’t showered in days, his water heater’s dead, and his family staged an intervention over his baggy clothes. We read emails from listeners and missionaries, including an elder serving in the California Ontario Mission, whose Gen Z slang (”capping,” ”yapping”) had us reaching for a translation guide. Then we got into apostate #8: Ezra Booth. A former Methodist minister and early high priest, Booth apostatized barely a year into the Church and published the first widely reprinted insider attacks on Joseph Smith, fuel for Eber Howe’s Mormonism Unveiled. We dug into Sidney Rigdon’s…
S6 · E34 · 27 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 5 min
S6E34 The Great Apostate Hall of Shame - #8 Ezra Booth Part 4
In this episode, we continue our deep dive into Ezra Booth’s anti-Mormon letters from October 1831, examining how this early apostate mounted his attack against our fledgling church. What fascinates us most is that Booth personally witnessed miracles, including Elsa Johnson’s arm being healed, yet later dismissed such spiritual experiences as delusion or deliberate fraud. We highlight striking logical contradictions in his arguments: he claims only Joseph saw angels, then attacks witness testimonies about seeing them. His scattershot approach, depicting believers as liars, crazy, or stupid,…
S6 · E33 · 20 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 7 min
S6E33 Did Brigham Revise Joseph's Journal?
We open with incredible news from Sweetwater Rescue: a second Kyulu Stake group reached the Nairobi Kenya Temple and set a record for the most endowments performed in an African temple in a single day. Gerrit answers a litner’s question on whether or not Brigham Young secretly altered Joseph Smith’s journals to invent polygamy, a claim popular among denialists. Gerrit’s dander meter climbs as he unpacks what ”revised history” actually meant, why the sources hold up, and the irony of the charge coming from the Bickertonite tradition, which rejects nearly everything Joseph taught after the…
S6 · E32 · 13 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 9 min
S6E32 The Great Apostate Hall of Shame - #8 Ezra Booth Part 3
This episode of the Standard of Truth continues discussing the apostasy of Ezra Booth, a former Methodist minister who joined the early Church after witnessing Joseph Smith heal Elsa Johnson’s arm. Gerrit traces Booth’s journey to Missouri in 1831, his disillusionment upon finding the future site of Zion to be a rough frontier town, and his subsequent public renunciation of the faith through nine letters published in the Ohio Star. We examine how Booth reframed Mormonism as a deliberate deception rather than sincere belief, and how anti-Mormon arguments shifted from “converts are biblically…
S6 · E31 · 6 Aug 2026 · 1 hr 9 min
S6E31 The Great Apostate Hall of Shame - #8 Ezra Booth Part 2
In this episode we dive deeper into Ezra Booth, ranked #8 in the ”Great Apostate Hall of Shame.” Once a prominent Methodist minister leading anti-Masonry campaigns in Ohio, Booth’s conversion to Mormonism shocked his community and sparked heated newspaper responses. We examine his miraculous experiences witnessing the instant healing of Eliza Johnson and attending the historic June 1831 ordination of high priesthood in Kirtland, where Satan allegedly manifested to disrupt proceedings. Yet despite these profound spiritual experiences, Booth would soon apostatize, becoming one of the Church’s…
S6 · E30 · 30 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 13 min
S6E30 Where There's Smoke: The Bad Logic Behind Anti-Mormon Claims
In this episode, Gerrit pays a heartfelt tribute to Eric Smith, a beloved Joseph Smith Papers colleague and devoted listener who recently passed after a long battle with cancer, complete with the legendary tales of stolen break-room milk and a service missionary’s knuckle-deep Oreo heist. The mailbag delivers a live-show love story, a a testimony-strengthening note from Kimberly, and a listener’s run-in with anti-Mormon radio. That sparks a robust discussion on how critics caricature Latter-day Saint belief without ever reading Doctrine and Covenants 76. Poor Ezra Booth gets bumped yet…
S6 · E29 · 23 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 3 min
S6E29 The Great Apostate Hall of Shame - #8 Ezra Booth Part 1
Richard braves self-diagnosed tuberculosis as he and Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat dig into the mailbag: identical twins listening from two different Zions, an ambitious MTC zone leader, and a great question from Joni. Did a prophet really call Del Parson’s red-robe painting the most accurate likeness of Christ? Gerrit explains why that’s folklore, and why the anti-Catholic climate of the Second Great Awakening made images of Jesus and even crosses on churches, unthinkable for early American Protestants. Then the Great Apostates Hall of Shame lands at #8: Ezra Booth, the Methodist minister converted…
S6 · E28 · 16 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 9 min
S6E28 Nauvoo Lyceum Part 2 and the Trinity
In this episode, we continue our discussion of the Lyceum (debates/discussions) in Nauvoo. From the most popular chewing tobacco (it is Copenhagen byt the way) to manners and the Trinity, we just about cover everything #SmallWonder If you are interested in joining us in 2027 in Palmyra and Kirtland, August 1st through August 7th, click on the link below and reserve your spot: https://pci.jotform.com/form/261567888174171 Sign up for our free monthly email: ⁠ ⁠⁠https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com⁠⁠ (https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com/) If you have any questions or possible…
S6 · E27 · 9 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 11 min
S6E27 As Far As It Is Translated Correctly
Was Francis Scott Key a bitter recluse who denounced America and wrote the anthem from a boat offshore? No, no he was not. Elder Gurr writes in with an investigator’s list of questions, and we tackle the big ones. Who holds the authority to decide which parts of the Bible are ”translated correctly”? Who decided the canon, and why did Protestants pull the Apocrypha after 1,400 years? On grace versus works, why ”saved by grace alone” quietly assumes a premise a billion Catholics reject, and why Calvinists and Arminians don’t even worship the same Jesus. The upshot: the disagreement itself is…
S6 · E26 · 2 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 6 min
S6E26 The Great Apostate Hall of Shame - OLI Joseph Wakefield
The podcast begins with the US-Bosnia World Cup match (SEC championships as the definitive metric), then open the Phoebe Draper Palmer Brown mailbag. Jerry from North Dakota earns a heartfelt thank-you and an unnecessary swipe at the Bismarck capitol building, plus a Roosevelt-in-the-Badlands tangent and BYU’s windowless MARB building. Elder Ballard (the Nauvoo Mississippi River mission one) requests a new segment: ranking the top apostates. Enter the debut of the ”The Great Apostate Hall of Shame.” First up, outside-looking-in: Joseph Wakefield, a powerhouse early missionary who baptized…
S6 · E25 · 25 Jun 2026 · 59 min
S6E25 Nauvoo Lyceum & 1980s Church Movies
We are recording in front of a live studio audience in Nauvoo, Illinois. In this week’s episode, we begin with a movie review of the 1980s classic Prodigal Son and Cipher in the Snow, and then make the obvious transition to Nauvoo Lyceum. Gerrit regales the audience with several topics discussed in this adult education program, and we cover the Chestnut Hill College Lacrosse Team’s dominance from 2021 to 2024 If you are interested in joining us in 2027 in Palmyra and Kirtland, August 1st through August 7th, click on the link below and reserve your spot:…
S6 · E23 · 11 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 17 min
S6E23 King Follett Sermon Part 3
In this episode, we answer a litter’s questions who wrote while in ”DEEP” labor asking about the lesser-known Pratt brothers and an audio submission from Filer, Idaho about the legend that Joseph of Arimathea brought the teenage Jesus to Cornwall. Gerrit traces the idea to William of Malmesbury’s 12th-century history of Glastonbury and its tangle of Arthurian folklore. We close with part three of our King Follett sermon series, where Gerrit warns against apologists who lean on the Thomas Bullock account’s apparent mistranscription to claim Joseph taught God was God from all eternity, arguing…
S6 · E22 · 4 Jun 2026 · 59 min
S6E22 King Follett Sermon Part 1
This episode was recorded 4 1/2 years ago, but was never released. In this episode, Gerrit provides context around the setting of Joseph Smith’s King Follett Sermon. If you would like to follow what Sweetwater Rescue is doing, specifically our most recent trip to Nairobi Kenya please follow us on Instagram or Facebook. Sweetwater Rescue Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sweetwaterrescue?igsh=MTd6eHRteG9idzB6bA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr Sweetwater Rescue Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/18n8KBA9bz/?mibextid=wwXIfr Sign up for our free monthly email: ⁠…
S6 · E21 · 28 May 2026 · 58 min
S6E21 Declaration of Independence Part 2 (rerelease of premium CTRI)
This is a rereleased episode from season 1 of Condemned to Repeat It. In this episode, we work through the grievances section of the Declaration of Independence, unpacking how Jefferson methodically built his case against King George III. Gerrit shows how each charge, dissolving colonial legislatures, making judges beholden to the Crown, quartering standing armies, employing Hessian mercenaries, cutting off colonial trade, and asserting the power ”to legislate in all cases whatsoever” directly echoes earlier acts of Parliament and the king, with Jefferson cleverly turning the Crown’s own…
S6 · E20 · 21 May 2026 · 59 min
S6E20 Declaration of Independence Part 1 (rerelease of premium CTRI)
This is a rereleased episode from season 1 of Condemned to Repeat It. In this episode, we set the stage for the Declaration of Independence by exploring the deep English political and intellectual history Jefferson drew upon when he sat down to write it. Far from being a spontaneous act of rebellion, the Declaration was the latest entry in a long English tradition of publicly justifying political action, with clear roots in the 1689 Declaration of Right that deposed King James II and the Virginia Declaration of Rights drafted just weeks earlier in June 1776. Gerrit walks through the…
S6 · E19 · 14 May 2026 · 1 hr 6 min
S6E19 King Follett Sermon Part 2
In this episode, we finally depart into the King Follett Sermon. Most podcast would start with a part one but here soon the truth podcast we would like to start with a Part 2 and then play a part one three weeks from now it was recorded 4 1/2 years ago. Gerrit discusses some of the problems that Christians see with the implications of this sermon and Gerrit reads from one of the accounts. We also read an email where a litner shared their feelings about helping people get to the temple. If you would like to follow what Sweetwater rescue is doing, specifically our most recent trip to Nairobi…
S6 · E3 · 11 May 2026 · 47 min
S6B3 How Visiting LDS Historical Sites Can Strengthen Our Faith - Dr. Mark Ogletree
Mark sits down with renowned church historian Gerrit Dirkmaat to discuss powerful experiences they have had visiting church history sites, and that others have had in the groups they have lead through these places. Mark and Gerrit explain why visiting these sites can have such a deep effect on our faith, testimonies, and sense of belonging to the church. Perserving Families Podcast https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/preserving-families-podcast/id1654226536 Sign up for our free monthly email: ⁠ ⁠https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com⁠ If you have any questions or possible topics of…
S6 · E18 · 7 May 2026 · 1 hr 13 min
S6E18 The United Order and Tyler Too
In this episode, we tackle the question of why early Utah Saints embraced cooperative economics like the United Order. Gerrit digs into a 1866–67 Inspector General’s report submitted to Congress by Generals Ruesling and Hazen. The document characterizes Latter-day Saints as ”open and avowed foes” of the United States, recommends banning Mormons from government contracts, and bizarrely treats the fact that Mormon contractors underbid Gentile competitors as evidence of disloyalty rather than fiscal responsibility. They close with the Articles of Agreement from the St. George United Order, a…
S6 · E17 · 30 Apr 2026 · 1 hr 9 min
S6E17 Jingle Bells and the United Order
Richard returns to share a temple-trip story from Kenya where a skeptical food vendor’s view of the Church changed after witnessing the love at the temple. The hosts then read listener emails. The episode ends with 16-year-old Abigail’s question about Jingle Bells being a Thanksgiving song and so Gerrit obviously shares a quote from Frederick Douglass as he takes down Jingle Bells with its roots in 19th-century blackface minstrel shows. We read the United Order question but leave the answer for next week. Sign up for our free monthly email: ⁠ ⁠https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com⁠ If…
S6 · E16 · 23 Apr 2026 · 1 hr 6 min
S6E16 Gathering in Missouri to Move Irrigation Pipe
In this episode, Gerrit is joined by his brother Dallin as guest host while Richard is away following the passing of his father. After announcing the NCAA bracket winner and working through the mailbag, including a listener-made ”Dendometer” chart ranking Gerrit’s biggest pet peeves, the brothers tackle a question about whether Latter-day Saints will one day gather to Missouri to build the New Jerusalem, tracing the doctrine from early revelations through Brigham Young’s teachings to the modern church’s global gathering. The episode closes with tender reflections on losing a father and the…
S6 · E16 · 16 Apr 2026 · 1 hr 6 min
S6E16 In Preparation of the First Vision (premium JSR)
Any LDS podcast can do a review of general conference two weeks after the broadcast but here in the truth podcast we want to do our review of general conference three or possibly four weeks after the original broadcast Because of this, we are dropping a previously aired premium episode from Joseph Smith, and the Restoration about his preparation for the First Vision Sign up for our free monthly email: ⁠ ⁠https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com⁠ If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email us at: ⁠⁠[email protected]
S6 · E15 · 9 Apr 2026 · 1 hr 5 min
S6E15 The Book of Enoch Part 5 (City of Zion)
What an incredible General Conference that was. Okay, we recorded this well before you’re hearing it, so we have absolutely no idea what happened at General Conference, but we’re confident the talks were great. After opening the Phoebe Draper Palmer Brown mailbag and a heartfelt tribute to the legendary Bishop Howard Wilde of Nampa, Idaho, we tackle a litener’s question on Catholic apostolic authority. Gerrit references a 1842 Times and Seasons article that explains why every reformation fell short of a true restoration. We conclude our discussion on Enoch with Joseph Smith’s teachings on…
S6 · E14 · 2 Apr 2026 · 1 hr 1 min
S6E14 The Book of Enoch Part 4 (Joseph Smith's Teachings)
In this episode of the Standard of Truth podcastwe discuss the Latter-day Saint teachings that parents who lose infant children will have the opportunity to raise them during the Millennium. We also finally get to Joseph Smith’s revelations in the Book of Moses relating to Enoch and how they far surpass the apocryphal Book of Enoch and reveal Enoch as an active ministering angel to both Paul and Jude. Sign up for our free monthly email: ⁠ ⁠https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com⁠ If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email us at:…
S6 · E13 · 26 Mar 2026 · 1 hr 12 min
S6E13 The CES Letter and Polygamy
In this mailbag episode, we cover the origins and shortcomings of the CES Letter, correct false claims about the timeline of Joseph Smith’s practice of plural marriage, and firmly address the notion that polygamy wasn’t divinely commanded. Along the way, they share global polygamy statistics, reflect on lesser-known figures of faith who endured extraordinary trials, and offer thoughtful advice to a listener wrestling with a complicated pioneer ancestor. Sign up for our free monthly email: ⁠ ⁠https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com⁠ If you have any questions or possible topics of…
S6 · E12 · 19 Mar 2026 · 1 hr 7 min
S6E12 The Book of Enoch Part 3 (TERTULLIAN!!!!)
In this episode Richard debuts a ”Fun with Numbers” segment with a rapid-fire March Madness breakdown (12-seeds win 35.6% of first-round matchups and hit in 85% of all tournaments, and that 11-seeds have won 51.8% of their games against 6-seeds since 2011) We read a heartfelt PDPB mailbag question from a couple writing in from the delivery room about LDS doctrine on IVF and embryos, with Gerrit walking through the Church handbook’s guidance, the history of when Latter-day Saints have believed the spirit enters the body (including Brigham Young’s view), and why the Church simply hasn’t…

About Standard of Truth

Standard of Truth is a English devotional & spiritual podcast from Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat. Melo plays each episode straight from the publisher's own feed — no ads added, no account needed — and remembers where you stopped, in this browser only.

Publisher: Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat
Language: English
Category: Devotional & Spiritual
New episodes: Weekly
Typical length: 1 hr 8 min
Latest episode: 8 Oct 2026
Feed: RSS — paste into any podcast app
Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/podcast/id1570846618

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