The Iron Rod Podcast

The Joseph Smith Translation of Luke 12 make a significant change to some information Jesus provides his apostles. Whereas the KJV has Christ talk about a lord who could come in either the second watch or the third watch, the JST has him coming in the first watch, the second watch, and the third watch. And all times he comes as a thief in the night. This forms the basis of the Three Watches, and helps explain why the dispensation of the fullness of times has not yet arrived.

In this episode we show how many other scriptures support this Three Watch model, and also discuss related topics like Joseph Smith’s second commission, and why we should really call the 1830s the “Foundation” rather than the “Restoration”.

Some key scriptures mentioned in this episode:

Three Watches
Luke 12:37-38 / JST
Hebrew 9:16-17
Matthew 16:16-20
1 Nephi 14:1
Ether 4:6-7
2  Nephi 30 5-8
2 Nephi 3:5-15, 24
D&C 88:80-94
D&C 101:43-62

Foundation vs. Restoration
D&C 1:29-30
D&C 58:3-11
D&C 64:30-33
D&C 94:1
D&C 124:118
D&C 86:8-10
D&C 77:15
D&C 103:15-22
D&C 84:2-5
D&C 45:16-17, 40-42, 66-71

Our review of the Biblical prophecies about a latter-day prophet who stumbles is continued in this episode. We cover the allegory of the olive trees in Jacob 5, the marred servant prophecy by Isaiah and referenced by others, the atonement statute in Leviticus 16, and Zechariah’s prophecy about a servant with filthy garments.

Key scriptures:

1 Nephi 10:14
3 Nephi 21:9-11
Isaiah 52:13-15
Leviticus 16
Jacob 5
Zechariah 3 & 6:12-15

Joseph’s behavior after 1836 was significantly different than his behavior before 1836. It’s important to understand why this is. In this episode, we begin to look at the prophetic profile of Joseph that is contained in the Bible. This Biblical profile predicts a change in behavior, and with links in the Book of Mormon and Doctrine and Covenants, identifies Joseph Smith as the subject of the profile.

Key scriptures include:

2 Samuel 7:10-17
2 Nephi 27:5
Exodus 32:30-34
Numbers 20:12
Deuteronomy 32:51-52
Malachi 2:5-9, 11-15
Deuteronomy 18:15-22

Building off the previous episode that reviewed what the scriptures say and don’t say about polygamy, in this episode we test the doctrine espoused in Section 132 against the rest of the scriptures.

Some of the scriptures referenced in this episode:

The new and everlasting covenant: D&C 22:1, 66:2, 133:57

The Holy Spirit of Promise: D&C 68:7-12, 124:124

Can commit any sin and still be exalted: D&C 1:31, 2 Nephi 28:8

Teaching more or less comes of evil: 3 Nephi 11:38-40

One of the most divisive topics to come out of Nauvoo is polygamy. One challenge, however, is that the spiritual polygamy that was taught during and after Nauvoo was completely different than the temporal polygamy that is mentioned in the scriptures. In this first of three episodes polygamy, we review what the scriptures actually say and don’t say about polygamy in their original context to understand what scriptural polygamy was all about and what that means for us today.

The history of the modern LDS Church portrays Sidney Rigdon in a generally unflattering light. His decision to not acquiesce to Brigham Young after the death of Joseph and Hyrum, and his resulting excommunication are often the primary “evidence” used to write Sidney off. But there are over twenty sections of the Doctrine and Covenants in which the Lord speaks about Sidney by name, and what the Lord says is quite interesting. In this episode, we scratch the surface on who Sidney was, both before and after finding the Book of Mormon, and why the Lord considered him equal with Joseph Smith.

After the Kirtland temple dedication, the church proceeded on a much different trajectory than in the preceding years. Financial troubles in Kirtland, internal strife and conflict with non-members in Missouri, relocation to Nauvoo and the introduction of radical new doctrines were key indicators that something had changed. This episode discusses these tumultuous years and puts the events into a historical and scriptural context.

One cannot truly understand the Doctrine and Covenants without understanding the historical context in which they were received. A challenge we all face is that the history of the church that we have been taught is incomplete and in some instances, inaccurate. In this episode we briefly cover the seven years leading up to the Kirtland temple dedication, filling in gaps in the record with documented accounts that paint a much fuller, more complex, and more coherent history than the “official” history.

Next week’s episode will cover what happened after the Kirtland temple dedication.

We dive deeper into the nature of God as described in the Lectures on Faith and corroborated by the rest of the scriptures, and discuss how we got D&C 130 which contradicts all these scriptural witnesses. How many personages comprise the Godhead? How many have bodies of flesh and bone? Is the Holy Ghost a personage? All these questions and more are addressed in this episode.