Standard of Truth

Dr. Gerrit Dirkmaat
Standard of Truth
Latest episode

309 episodes

  • Standard of Truth

    S6E25 Nauvoo Lyceum & 1980s Church Movies

    25/06/2026 | 58 mins.
    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:
    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 us at: ⁠⁠questions@standardoftruthpodcast.com
  • Standard of Truth

    S6E24 There's No Shame in "I Don't Know" and the Copyright Act of 1790

    18/06/2026 | 57 mins.
    There's No Shame in "I Don't Know" and the Copyright Act of 1790

     

    We are recording in front of a live studio audience in Palmyra in Palmyra, New York 

     

    We open with the mailbag: Elder Cook asks how to answer hard historical questions without making things up and we talk matching your response to the difficulty, admitting what you don't know, finding common ground, and pivoting back to Christ. 

     

    Then we dig into the 1830 Book of Mormon title page: why "author and proprietor" comes straight from the Copyright Act of 1790, why translators of the era used the same language, and how Abner Cole (alias Obadiah Dogberry) tried to print stolen text in the Palmyra Reflector.

     

    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 us at: ⁠⁠questions@standardoftruthpodcast.com
  • Standard of Truth

    S6E23 King Follett Sermon Part 3

    11/06/2026 | 1h 17 mins.
    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 that you can't play historian with one discrepant source against five consistent ones, and that watering down what Joseph actually taught to appease traditional Christian critics is selling your birthright for a mess of pottage that won't even fill you up.

     

    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 us at: ⁠⁠questions@standardoftruthpodcast.com
  • Standard of Truth

    S6E22 King Follett Sermon Part 1

    04/06/2026 | 59 mins.
    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: ⁠ ⁠https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com⁠

    If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email us at: ⁠⁠questions@standardoftruthpodcast.com
  • Standard of Truth

    S6E21 Declaration of Independence Part 2 (rerelease of premium CTRI)

    28/05/2026 | 58 mins.
    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 language back against it. 

    The episode closes with a thoughtful reflection on the Declaration's enduring legacy: while Jefferson and many signers were themselves slaveholders, the document's assertion that all are created equal and endowed by their Creator with inalienable rights became the very foundation later generations would invoke to dismantle slavery, expand suffrage, and pursue civil rights, proof that, as Lincoln understood at Gettysburg, the arc of history bends slowly but inevitably toward the truths the founders dared to declare.

    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: ⁠ ⁠https://standardoftruthpodcast.substack.com⁠

    If you have any questions or possible topics of discussion for upcoming podcasts, please email us at: ⁠⁠questions@standardoftruthpodcast.com
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About Standard of Truth
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.
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