Latter-day Saints – Page 2 – The Righteous Cause

Sixty-Five Days, Four Years, and One Young Man: How a 23-Year-Old Could Have Written the Book of Mormon

Posted on May 2, 2026May 2, 2026 by Dennis Robbins

How the Book of Mormon Could Have Been Written Without Plates, Without Angels, and Without Divine Intervention A Literary, Historical, and Archaeological Examination ❦ ❦ ❦ Introduction: A Question of Authorship On a March evening in 1830, the press of Egbert B. Grandin in Palmyra, New York, finished setting type on a 588-page volume bound…

When a Style Guide Becomes a Liability: The LDS Church’s Own Words in the Mormon Stories Case

Posted on April 27, 2026April 29, 2026 by Dennis Robbins

Image: An AI-generated image imagines a group of handsomely dressed lawyers frantically digging a hole near an LDS temple to find archeological evidence against brand infringement. Trademark, Tribe, and Trial A Semi-Legal Analysis of the LDS Church’s Lawsuit Against John Dehlin and the “Mormon Stories” Podcast 1. Introduction: A Suit Born of a Word On…

The Trap of Sacred Certainty: A Psychological Analysis of Moroni’s Promise and Its Hermetically Sealed Logic

Posted on April 26, 2026April 26, 2026 by Dennis Robbins

Image: An AI-generated image from Google Gemini imagines a young man sitting on a park bench who has been reading the Book of Mormon, happily looking up at an angelic figure appearing out of the clouds, giving a “thumbs up” sign of affirmation. A Comprehensive Examination of Circular Reasoning, Psychological Manipulation, and Epistemological Fallacies in…

The Lion Prophet’s Hostess: Harriet Amelia Folsom Young and the Court of Zion

Posted on April 24, 2026 by Dennis Robbins

Image: Brigham Young, circa 1855. L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. File via Wikipedia. Original image by Charles Roscoe Savage (1832–1909). Public domain. She Ruled Brigham Young: The Quiet Power of Wife No. 51 Harriet Amelia Folsom Young (1838–1910): The Cultured Consort Who Ruled a Prophet’s Heart Introduction: A…

An LDS Trust Broken in Provo: What the Stephen McKean Case Asks of All Who Teach the Young

Posted on April 23, 2026 by Dennis Robbins

“You’re Going to Make Me Like You Better Than My Wife”: Reading the Affidavit with Trembling Hands Introduction: A Name Nobody Wanted to Read When the name of a Brigham Young University professor appeared in a police booking affidavit this week, it was not in connection with a grant, a new paper in algebraic geometry,…

The Mountain Meadows Massacre: A Mormon Discussions Podcast Review.

Posted on April 23, 2026 by Dennis Robbins

Mormon Discussions Podcasts This is one of the darkest chapters in Mormon history—the Mountain Meadows Massacre. This isn’t a surface-level retelling. We walk through what led up to it, how it unfolded, and what happened afterward… and we let the historical record speak for itself. We examine the environment in southern Utah at the time—heightened…

James Strang: Fake Mormon Prophet, Self-Crowned King, and Master of the Ultimate Confidence Game

Posted on April 20, 2026April 25, 2026 by Dennis Robbins

Photo: From the diary of James Strang (see attached PDF). Via Archive.org. Publisher: Michigan State University Press. Copyright review: Public domain according to HathiTrust rights database. From Atheist to Angel Whisperer and His Island Empire of Fraud. The Blood of a Prophet and the Ambitions of a Pretender In the spring of 1844, Nauvoo, Illinois,…

“The Bridge” (1978), an LDS film: A Beautiful Parable, a Flawed Gospel — and What Your LDS Neighbor Believes About Christ

Posted on April 14, 2026 by Dennis Robbins

Image: An AI-generated image that illustrates the phrase, “A bridge too far”, an idiom inspired by the failed World War II Operation Market Garden. Like many idioms, the phrase “a bridge too far” carries both a literal and a figurative sense. In the concrete sense, it describes a bridge that lies beyond a reasonable or…

The Celestial Divide: LDS Theology, LGBTQ Identity, and the Search for Belonging

Posted on April 12, 2026 by Dennis Robbins

Image: An AI-generated image captures the visible sign and the invisible wall: A young man in worn-out sneakers and casual clothes sits in somber isolation on a bench under a “VISITORS WELCOME” sign, a stark contrast to the impeccably dressed and happy congregation walking past him. He feels the heavy burden of loneliness and the…

The Skin of the Text: How the Book of Mormon’s Racial Theology Reveals a 19th-Century American Origin

Posted on April 10, 2026April 11, 2026 by Dennis Robbins

Image: An AI-generated image depicts a corkboard with pinned illustrations and text snippets detailing the complex legacy of the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon. The pinned images visually contrast the narrative’s themes, showing scenes of warfare, hunting, and nomadic life alongside moments of profound spiritual conversion and a utopian period of peace following the…

2 Corinthians 11:13-15: For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no surprise if his servants, also, disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds.

Romans 3:20-24: For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Email: dennis@novus2.com

Should Modern Drum Sets be Used in Christian Worship?
Drive from Glendale to Apache Junction on any Sunday morning and walk into virtually any contemporary Christian worship service along the way. Before the first song begins, before the worship leader steps to the microphone, before a single lyric appears on the screen — your eyes will already have […]
Peter Whitmer, Jr.: The Quiet Mormon Witness, the Lamanite Mission, and a Faith That Outran Its Foundations
Seventh in the Early Mormon Personalities Series 1,500 Miles to a Mistaken Identity: Peter Whitmer, Jr.’s Mission to a People Who Were Never There 1809 – 1836 ❦ ❦ ❦ I. Prologue: A Cabin, a Cow, and the Birth of an American Religion On a humid June evening in 1829, in a log cabin tucked into […]
When the Saucers Come: UFO Disclosure, AI Worship, and the Engineered Counter-Gospel
Look Up If You Must, But Look to Calvary First: Christians, UFOs, and the Empty Tomb A Christian’s Compass for the Age of UFOs, AI, and the Engineered Cosmic Gospel With pastoral framing from Pastor Joey Sampaga, East Valley International Church Introduction: A Mother’s Day Warning […]
Hyrum Smith: The Mildness of a Lamb, the Weight of a Crown
Seventh in the Early Mormon Personalities Series The Faithful Witness: How Hyrum Smith’s Loyalty Carried A Movement and Concealed Its Contradictions ❦ ❦ ❦ I. Carthage, June 27, 1844 — A Cinematic Opening The afternoon was hot and slow on the Illinois prairie. Inside an upstairs room of the Carthage […]
David Whitmer: The Mormon Witness Who Walked Away — and the Church That Could Not Let Him Go
Sixth Post in the Early Mormon Personalities Series Ink Beneath the Hand: The Strange Half-Faith of One of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon ❦ ❦ ❦ Prologue: A Light in the Fayette Woods Late June, 1829. The light slants through the maples on the Whitmer family farm in Fayette, New York, […]
The Reluctant Witness: Martin Harris — Believer, Backslider, and the Man Whose Farm Bought the Book of Mormon
Fifth Post in the Early Mormon Personalities Series The Man Who Lost a Manuscript and Found a Religion ❦ ❦ ❦ I. A Knock in the Lancashire Twilight It began in the autumn of 1874 with a knock at a quiet Utah farmhouse, an interruption to the Pilkingtons’ evening devotions. The stranger at the […]
The Fascinating and Odd Story of The Shakers
Shakers dancing, near Lebanon, New York; engraving by an unknown artist. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (digital file no. 3a15948) In the annals of American religious history, few movements have captured the imagination and challenged conventional understanding quite like the United Society […]
The Book of Mormon’s Missing 116 Pages
Photo: In February 1828, Martin Harris arrived in Harmony, Pennsylvania, to assist the Prophet. By June, the Prophet had translated 116 pages with Martin Harris as his scribe. Martin asked for Joseph’s permission to return to New York and show the manuscript pages to his wife, but the Lord forbade […]
Letters To A Mormon Elder, by James White
Dr. James R. White is the director of Alpha and Omega Ministries and a Pastor/Elder at Apologia Church in Mesa, Arizona. He is a Professor of Church History and Apologetics at Grace Bible Theological Seminary and has taught Greek, Hebrew, Systematic Theology, Textual Criticism, Church History, and […]
Unveiling the Controversies: Joseph Smith and the Enigmatic Kinderhook Plates.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) centers its history on the revelations received by Joseph Smith, particularly his translation of the golden plates that became the Book of Mormon. However, lesser-known episodes challenge the narrative of Smith’s consistent […]
10% of My Income, 100% of My Choice? Unveiling the Mormon Tithe.
Y’ALL ARE DOING MALACHI ALL WRONG! A key Old Testament reference used by the LDS Church for tithing is Malachi 3:10-12: Blessings of Paying an Honest Tithe. Malachi 3:10–12 teaches us the following principle: If we return to God and pay our tithes and offerings, then the Lord will pour out […]
Mapping the Unknown: Exploring the Geographical Enigma of the Book of Mormon
Comparing Book of Mormon Geography Models: Among Book of Mormon enthusiasts, there are two primary camps of belief concerning where the events in the book took place. One camp, called the Heartland group, believes the Book of Mormon took place in the ‘heartland’ or center of the eastern United […]
Mark Hofmann and The Mormon Murders Twenty-Five Years later
The Mormon Murders Twenty-Five Years later By Sandra Tanner and Rocky Hulse October, 2010 Fifteen years ago, Sandra Tanner reflected on the events surrounding Mark William Hofmann, a convicted con artist-turned-serial bomber and spree killer who is widely regarded by many as one of the most […]
The Hypocritical Stance on Seeking Truth: The LDS Church’s Dual Approach to Inquiry
Missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) actively urge people to engage with the Book of Mormon by reading it and praying over its contents. They believe that this practice can lead to a personal revelation of its truth through divine guidance from the Holy […]
A Biblical Refutation of LDS Doctrines on Divine Nature and Human Destiny
Download this PDF to print at home: LDS Doctrines A 20-minute read… Introduction The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints presents distinctive theological positions that fundamentally diverge from orthodox Christian doctrine, particularly regarding the nature of God, humanity’s […]
Following the LDS Prophets — With a Little Help from Artificial Intelligence
Photo: When Quentin L. Cook told Brigham Young University students to “Choose truth when deception is easy,” ChatGPT heard him loud and clear—then chose neon when beige was easy. No truths were altered in the making of this image… just the color palette. 🌈 On March 3, 2026, Elder Quentin L. Cook of […]
THE WITNESS WHO WALKED AWAY: Oliver Cowdery, the Second Elder, and the Burden of Being First
Between God and Joseph Smith: The Tragic Arc of Oliver Cowdery Early Mormon Personalities Series — Fourth Post Introduction: A Man Between Two Worlds In the late spring of 1829, somewhere along the green banks of the Susquehanna River in northeastern Pennsylvania, a young schoolteacher named Oliver […]
Joseph’s Counselor, Brigham’s Rival, History’s Footnote: Sidney Rigdon Reconsidered
The Walking Bible Who Lost His Way Sidney Rigdon — Co-Founder, Spokesman, and Cautionary Tale of the Latter-day Saint Movement Early Mormon Personalities Series · Volume Three ❦ ✦ ❦ A Knock on the Door in Mentor Late in the autumn of 1830, on a cold Ohio afternoon when the maples of the Western […]
The Gates Did Not Prevail: A Biblical and Historical Case Against the LDS Great Apostasy Doctrine
What Scripture, History, and Archaeology Reveal About the Church Christ Never Lost The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon church, was founded on several fundamental claims about the state of Christianity in the early 19th century. Central to Mormon theology is […]
Brigham Young: Pioneer, Prophet, Patriarch — and the Long Shadow of a Carpenter Who Crowned Himself King
EARLY MORMON PERSONALITIES SERIES — POST 2 The Man Who Built a Kingdom — And the Theology That Could Not Bear Its Weight ❦ ❦ ❦ Prologue: The Lion in Winter It was the evening of August 29, 1877, in Salt Lake City, and the late-summer heat still pressed against the city like a weight. In the Lion […]
Oh, the Places You’ll Sue! A Seussian Take on the LDS Church vs. Mormon Stories
Introduction If Dr. Seuss taught anything—between the rhymes, the nonsense, and the brightly colored absurdities—it’s that systems obsessed with control, image, and hierarchy eventually tell on themselves. The Sneetches, after all, were so consumed with status markers that they couldn’t see their […]
The Apostle and the Arkansas Road: Parley P. Pratt, the Pen That Built Mormonism, and the Wife That Killed Him
T H E R I G H T E O U S C A U S E Early Mormon Personalities · Series Installment One Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism — and the Husband He Could Not Outrun ❖ ❖ ❖ I. The Road Outside Van Buren On the afternoon of May 13, 1857, a wounded man lay in the dust of an Arkansas farm road […]
Fortress of Cooks and Cameras: The Strange Geography of Putin’s 2026 Paranoia
Image: An AI- generated image from Google Gemini imagines Vladimir Putin protected in his underground bunker. Inside the Sealed Hatch How a Leaked European Dossier Cracked Open Putin’s Court An Investigative Analysis • May 2026 When the Theater Hides the Truth For four years, the defining image of […]
By What Authority? A Biblical Examination of Latter-day Saint Excommunication and the Drift from Restoration to Reprisal
A traditional Christian evaluation of LDS disciplinary practice — its origins, its mutations, its modern weaponization, and the New Testament standard it has progressively abandoned. ❦ ❦ ❦ Introduction: A Door That Used to Open Both Ways Church discipline is one of those topics that respectable […]
The Way, the Truth, and the Life: A Theological Response to the Reframing of John 14:6
When the Most Comforting Words Jesus Ever Spoke Are Recast as the Most Harmful Introduction: The Words That Have Comforted the Church for Two Thousand Years On the night before His death, surrounded by men whose hearts were breaking and whose hopes were crumbling, Jesus of Nazareth spoke some of […]