Just a quick note to wish you all a very Happy New Year and express my gratitude to all those who choose to read my always-way-too-long posts. I know time is at a premium for most people and I’m humbled that you’d choose to spend any of it here. As look at the stats from 2024, I’m floored by how many people have found this blog. 101 countries were represented this year. I genuinely can’t wrap my head around it. It’s not about the numbers, of course. It never was and never will be. I just wanted to make sense of Mormonism. I figured if I had all these questions then surely others did, too. Apparently, that was a solid hypothesis. If something I’ve written has given you new insight, then I’m very happy about that. I greatly appreciate the insightful comments (including corrections!) and those who have reached out via email or Facebook. I also greatly appreciate the lurkers, which is the overwhelming majority of you. As a hardcore introvert, I get it! My door is always open. Please don’t hesitate to reach out, especially if you find yourself walking that “valley of the shadow of death.” I’ve been there. I know what it’s like. I’m a judgment-free zone. The contact form here on the blog goes to my Gmail account, but I don’t check it very often. (I’ve tried to change, but it won’t let me for some reason.) The best way to reach me is through my Yahoo email or Facebook:
email: matt_lohrke@yahoo.com
https://www.facebook.com/matt.lohrke
You can also find me here:
https://www.twitch.tv/mattlohrke (Go hit the “follow” button! I’d eventually like to do some live stuff.)
Steam Friend Code: 67057701 / Sir Matty Mix-a-Lot
As we enter 2025, I wanted to give you all a preview of posts I have planned:
The Second Comforter Heresy (it’s almost done)
The Futility of Proxy Baptism
The Atonement: Gethsemane or Calvary?
Joe vs. The Apocalypse (Joseph’s worldview was informed by the belief an imminent end)
The Cosmic Mountain and Zion Theology
How Michael Became Adam and the Ancient of Days (He is neither)
“Behold, He is God.” (Jesus is God the Father according to the Book of Mormon)
The Millennium Myth
“Thousands and Tens of Thousands” – Reevaluating Book of Mormon Population Numbers
We’ll see how many of them I actually complete. I’ll be happy if I can get half of them done, assuming I’m not sidetracked by some shiny new subject. If you have any ideas or suggestions to discuss, drop them in them comments.
I also want to do some shorter posts about words and phrases in the Book of Mormon common in the early 1800s, such as “one eternal round,” “narrow neck of land,” “the finger of scorn,” “the straight and narrow path,” “our awful situation,” “by the power of their arms,” “enlarge the wounds,” and the mentioned “thousands and tens of thousands,” which is rhetorical device to indicate a large number rather than a literal number. There are some more obscure phrases like “by the power of him,” and “light unto the understanding” which are attested as far back as the late 1500s and early 1600s. To date I’ve found upwards of 200 such phrases and I’ve only gone through about 1/3 of the book. It’s really fascinating stuff. I think we tend to forget that The Book of Mormon is both a theological work and a literary work. I believe it should be studied as both. As an English major I love diving into the nuts and bolts of the language, but I don’t know how interesting it is to other people.
I wish you all a happy and healthy New Year as we try to navigate this weird, wild and wonderful heritage we share.
Thank you for enriching my life. I’m eternally grateful.
Matt
BOOK OF MORMONISM 
thank you for your contribution to seeking truth in the Book of Mormon and dispelling myths as well as keeping it real about Joseph smith. I am very thankful for all your work
mike
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Thanks, Mike! You guys keep up the good work on your side.
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🙂 Matt,
Your work is utterly awesome !
We are in most, Most dramatic days.
100 % proven what is coming,
strongest indications, it is imminent.
A very violent day is coming for the world,
and the Gathering out to “places of safety, out of violence and death. ”
D&C 45 : 28 – 33 clearly rolling forth.
:-)Of the only 5 million active mormons, now net zero growth church,
many are waking up to :
Joseph denied polygamy, last 2 years of his life, to his death,called it adultery,
as does the book of Mormon,
and the Jacob chapter 2 does not say sometimes GOD commands it,just the opposite,
and that Jacob 2, and D&C 132 ( brought forth in 1852, 8 years after Joseph’s death )are contradictory.,
That of the 9 or more versions of the “first vision”,the one in Joseph’s own handwriting states seeing one person, Not 2 .
That nothing before 1841 was contradictory to the Bible.
Etc., Etc. Etc â—————————————————————–
This is a powerful You Tube page of mormons waking up.
Vibrant Michelle Brady Stone this vibrant ACTIVE mormon, mother of 13 ( 11 living ) , 194 ++ You Tubes over just the last 2 years
20,000 to 118,000 subscriptions, In just the last 6 months. Incredible.
Dozens & dozens & dozens of interviewsmany even 2 and 3 hours long,
with many of the big names of these last dramatic 10 years
One just has to read the titles of her You Tubes.
( âtimes of the gentiles overâ, D&C 45: 28 – 33 )
Incredible.
Clearly about to see the gathering out, Prophesied restoration back to the House of Israel,
D&C 45: 28 – 33 fully rolling forth, Places of safety, Out of violence & death, 3 ½ years before the ineffable Second Coming.
Violent day proven at the door ( Isaiah 24, D&C 45: 28 – 33, etc. )
And strongest indications, It is imminent.
https://www.youtube.com/@MichelleBStone/videos
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Thanks, Fred. Interesting times, indeed.
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Looking forward to more of your interesting posts in 2025, Matt! Just a suggestion for your Michael aka Adam post: The story in D.&C. 107:53-56, according to Joseph Smith’s “revelation” is impossible for me to believe because 1. Adam and Michael were not actually the same man, Adam was not the first homo sapiens ancestor (called “First Man” in various cultural myths (“Kanati”, by the Cherokee, for example), and 2. Spring Hill, Missouri, which Joseph Smith called via “revelation” Adam-ondi-Ahman was NOT the “place where Adam, “the Ancient of Days” dwelt and he shall return and sit to visit with his gathered posterity”, and 3. the “pile of stones” Joseph Smith found on an elevated spot of ground near Adam-ondi-Ahman and claimed via “revelation” it was Adam’s “altar” was probably left there by the Moundbuilders culture, and 4. Dilmun at the top of the Persian Gulf was the place known as the original Garden of Eden, where 4 rivers flowed- the Euphrates, the Tigris, the Gihon, and the Phison, and in the Sumerian flood story in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the gods Enki and Enlil rewarded Utnapishtim (Ziusudra- later known as Noah) with living for eternity in Dilmun, a paradise where also Enki and his consort Ninhursag (believed to be Adam and Eve) dwelt. How is it possible that, as in D.&C. 107:53, “Adam, Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, and Methuselah” all got together before Adam’s death in Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri? This event did not happen! I believe Joseph Smith came up with his manic theories, without any archaeological and geographical proof, and called them “revelation”, and millions of LDS church members believe all this today.
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I agree. Sidney Rigdon was the first to connect Adam to the Ancient of Days in series of articles he wrote on “The Millennium” in 1834. He made the connection based on an unfortunate translation in Isaiah 24:23 in the KJV. Joseph then codified it via “revelation.” It’s really difficult to make sense of the old myths of the ancient near east. So many cultures shared similar stories. There are parallels between Moses and Sargon; Noah and Gilgamesh, so on and so forth.
I believe Moses existed, but the Exodus was likely no more than few hundred people. Later writers gave him a familiar origin story. That’s just how it worked back then. I believe there was probably a significant local flood that the Noah story and the Gilgamesh story drew from. These things kind of stick in our genetic memories and cultures develop stories in attempt to explain them. The Black Sea Deluge Hypothesis is interesting to consider as a possible source.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Sea_deluge_hypothesis
I don’t for a hot minute believe the Adam-Ondi-Ahman stuff. Joseph was just kind of making stuff up as he went along. The church greatly erred when it put all its faith in Joseph rather than Jesus.
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especially the part where Joseph Smith bragged to have done better than Jesus at keeping the church together…. 🤦🏻
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Hi, Monica. Thanks for dropping by! That’s one of the more interesting quotes attributed to Joseph. I did a paper on it some years ago, but I don’t remember all the details. What I do remember is that that there is no extant original source. That doesn’t mean he didn’t say it. I think it’s probable, even very likely, that he did make that claim (it fits his M.O. during the Nauvoo period), but it’s difficult to confirm with 100% certainty.
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I can’t wait to see what you have in store for us, your readers, in this upcoming year. I always enjoy and look forward to your next post. Thanks Matt.
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Appreciate it, Greg! Thanks, again, for being an early adopter!
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