Informed Saints

The podcast where you can learn about everything from polygamy to gold plates. Hosted by Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, and Jasmin Rappleye.

Play

Open in

26 episodes
weekly
Avg 45 min
English

Episodes 26

Newest Oldest Longest

All20 Unplayed20 In progress0 Played0

Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.

S1 · E56
Yesterday · 59 min
What an Egyptologist Sees in the Book of Abraham Facsimiles
Critics say the Book of Abraham facsimiles are just standard funerary papyri. But what if they were never meant to be read one at a time? Joseph Smith's sequence starts with an altar, ends with a throne, and puts a hypocephalus from a different mummy right in between. Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye and Stephen Smoot sit down with Egyptologist John S. Thompson (Scripture Central) to read Facsimiles 1, 2 and 3 together as one progression. John builds on Hugh Nibley, Blake Ostler and Kevin Barney.
- Transcript
- Chapters
S1 · E55
October 26 · 1 hr 4 min
Why Joseph Smith Said to Shake an Angel’s Hand
How do you know if a messenger is from God or the devil? Doctrine and Covenants 129 explains certain "keys" for discerning different spirits, and some Christians claim that the angel Moroni was really a demon. Barrett Burgin's short horror film "The Angel" probes these challenging questions, so in this episode, we'll be diving into the history and lore around how to discern an angel from a demon. The Angel Film: https://youtu.be/ACn_CT_7gtE?si=53FhGi9uuMYA-woD Alonzo Gaskill article on D&C 129
- Transcript
- Chapters
S1 · E54
October 18 · 58 min
Did Joseph Smith Reveal Where the Book of Mormon Happened?
Did Joseph Smith ever reveal where the Book of Mormon took place? The very first missionaries told reporters that Lehi landed in Chile, and that the Nephites' final battle ran all the way from Panama to New York. So where did that picture come from, and has the question ever been settled by revelation? Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot sit down with Matt Roper, veteran Book of Mormon researcher at Scripture Central (formerly with FARMS and BYU's Maxwell Institute). Together they
- Transcript
- Chapters
S1 · E54
October 11 · 39 min
Were the Nephites the Maya? A BYU Mesoamericanist Answers
Was Quetzalcoatl really Jesus Christ? Is the famous "Lehi Stone" actually a carving of Lehi's tree of life? And if the Book of Mormon is true, why hasn't DNA found the Nephites? A Mesoamerican historian who believes the Book of Mormon takes on the myths that never seem to die. In this episode, Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot sit down with Dr. Mark Christensen, professor of history at Brigham Young University and a specialist in Nahuatl and Yucatec Maya, for a preview of his up
- Transcript
- Chapters
S1 · E53
October 5 · 1 hr 6 min
General Conference October 2026 Recap and Analysis
We're diving into the top highlights and reveals of the October 2026 General Conference, including a surprising address from President Christofferson on the spiritual dangers of gambling. ===Informed Saints Credits=== Produced by: The Ancient America Foundation Producer: Spencer Clark Hosts: Stephen Smoot, Neal Rappleye, Jasmin Rappleye https://ancientamerica.org/ ===Discover=== If any of our thoughts resonated with you, consider learning more about the single most influential book in our live
- Transcript
- Chapters
S1 · E52
September 27 · 55 min
How a Dead Sea Scrolls Translator Reads Isaiah
Jesus told us to search Isaiah diligently—so why does it so often feel like a closed book? What if the passages that confuse us most are actually some of the most carefully crafted poetry in all of scripture? Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot sit down with Dr. Donald W. Parry—professor of Hebrew Bible and the Dead Sea Scrolls at BYU, a member of the international team of Dead Sea Scrolls translators since 1994, and one of the few scholars with his depth of expertise on the Great
- Transcript
- Chapters
S1 · E51
September 20 · 49 min
Where Is the Hill Cumorah? (The Truth About Book of Mormon Geography)
Everyone knows where the Hill Cumorah is… right? Joseph Smith received the gold plates from a hill in upstate New York. But is that the same hill where Mormon hid the Nephite records and the Nephites made their last stand in Mormon 6? It's one of the most debated questions in Book of Mormon geography, and the history behind it may surprise you. In this episode of Informed Saints, Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot walk through what the Book of Mormon itself says about Cumorah, tr
- Transcript
- Chapters
S1 · E50
September 13 · 1 hr 8 min
Most LDS Faith Crises Start in the Wrong Place. Here's Where to Begin.
Most people having a faith crisis are fighting on the branches — polygamy, DNA, the Book of Abraham, race and the priesthood — when the actual problem is buried somewhere underneath. What happens if you go all the way down to the roots and ask why anything exists at all? Use discount code INFORMED15 for 15% off Walker Wrights Book! https://fairlatterdaysaints.org/store/product/nourishing-the-roots/ Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot sit down with Walker Wright, author of Nourish
- Transcript
- Chapters
S1 · E49
September 9 · 58 min
What Church Looked Like Before the 3-Hour Block
The first sacrament meeting of the Restoration was held on a Tuesday. Latter-day Saints once drank homemade currant wine from a shared cup, sang hymns one line at a time because half the congregation couldn't read, and listened to music playing during the administration of the sacrament. Almost everything we picture when we say the word "church" is younger than we think. Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot trace nearly two centuries of change in Latter-day Saint Sabbath worship —
- Transcript
- Chapters
S1 · E48
August 23 · 36 min
What 'Utterly Destroy' Really Means in the Book of Joshua
When Israel entered Canaan, the Bible says they were commanded to leave "nothing alive that breathes." Did God really command that — and did it actually happen? The Hebrew word behind the command, herem, tells a far more complicated story than you've heard. Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot dig into David Calabro's chapter on herem from From Wilderness to Monarchy (Religious Studies Center) — exploring what the word really means, what the archaeology of Jericho, Ai, and Hazor ac
- Transcript
- Chapters
S1 · E47
August 16 · 20 min
Mi'kmaq vs. the Gold Plates: Does the Comparison Hold Up?
A widely shared chart in an edition of an annotated Book of Mormon claims the characters Joseph Smith copied from the gold plates match an old Native American hieroglyphic script. But when one researcher traced every glyph back to its source, the trail led somewhere no one expected — to the most infamous forger in Latter-day Saint history. In this episode, Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot sit down with Jerry Grover: an independent Book of Mormon researcher, geologist, and autho
- Transcript
- Chapters
S1 · E46
August 9 · 26 min
Song of Solomon: Can Uninspired Writing Be Scripture?
There's a book in your scriptures that Joseph Smith flagged as "not inspired," that Elder Bruce R. McConkie once called "biblical trash," and that the Come Follow Me manual skipped over entirely. It's also quoted three times in the Doctrine and Covenants — including in the Kirtland Temple dedicatory prayer. So what exactly is the Song of Solomon doing in our canon? Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot work through Dana Pike's chapter on the Song of Solomon in From Wilderness to Mon
- Transcript
- Chapters
S1 · E45
August 2 · 43 min
The Hebrew Grammar Joseph Smith Tried to Delete from the Book of Mormon
The Book of Mormon will not stop telling you where the record is. Who's holding it. Who handed it off. What they did with it and why. A retired trial attorney read that and recognized something from thirty years in courtrooms: a chain of custody. Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot sit down with Stephen Lundwall: retired IP and business attorney and former BYU religion faculty, to talk about Authentic: The Book of Mormon, Evidences of a Miracle, written with his wife Rebecca Lundw
- Transcript
- Chapters
S1 · E44
July 26 · 1 hr
Did Brigham Young Order the Mountain Meadows Massacre?
On September 11, 1857, Latter-day Saints, assisted by a group of Paiutes, killed between 100 and 140 men, women, and children of an Arkansas wagon train at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. There is no way to soften that. So this episode asks the harder questions head-on: how did a people who had been driven from their own homes commit the worst atrocity in their history; and did Brigham Young order it? Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot sit down with Dr. Casey Griffiths — assis
- Transcript
- Chapters
S1 · E43
July 19 · 34 min
What Most Latter-day Saints Miss About Facsimile 2
The facsimiles are the only pictures in Latter-day Saint scripture — and Facsimile 2 is the strangest of them. Critics say Egyptologists translated it long ago and "disproved" the Book of Abraham. Some Saints treat it as secret temple code waiting to be cracked. So what can we actually know about this mysterious circle? Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot sit down with Egyptologist Dr. John Gee (MA, Berkeley; PhD, Yale) — one of the few scholars published on hypocephali in mainstr
- Transcript
- Chapters
S1 · E42
July 12 · 44 min
What Most Readers Miss About the Sword of Laban
Critics once called the Book of Mormon's weapons a fatal flaw — steel swords in 600 BC? Scimitars a thousand years before Muhammad? Bows and arrows in ancient America? Then archaeology started coming into play. In this episode, Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot dig into Matthew Roper's Anachronisms: Accidental Evidence for the Book of Mormon, published through the Interpreter Foundation — an exhaustive documentation of weapons critics once claimed couldn't have existed. ===Info
- Transcript
- Chapters
S1 · E41
July 7 · 51 min
The Data About Latter-day Saint Women the Media Won't Tell You
People online will tell you Latter-day Saints are leaving the Church in droves — especially women. But when social scientists actually run the numbers, a very different story emerges. In this episode,the Informed Saints crew sit down with Dr. Jenet Erickson — professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University, Wheatley Institute fellow, and Deseret News columnist — alongside co-hosts Neal Rappleye and Stephen Smoot to unpack the new BYU Studies report, Latter-day Saint Trends
- Transcript
- Chapters
S1 · E40
June 28 · 39 min
Was Joseph Smith's Presidential Run a Power Grab? The Real Story
Joseph Smith was the first U.S. presidential candidate ever assassinated while campaigning — but almost no one knows why the Prophet decided to run in the first place. After Missouri's extermination order, a president who shrugged, and five candidates who refused to lift a finger, running for president became the last option left to secure the rights of the Latter-day Saints — and every other persecuted minority in America. In this episode, hosts Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoo
- Transcript
- Chapters
S1 · E39
June 21 · 40 min
Joseph Smith was NOT a criminal killed in a gunfight
What if the weapon that killed Joseph and Hyrum Smith at Carthage Jail wasn't really a gun — but the legal system itself? Most Latter-day Saints have only a vague sense of why Joseph was even in that jail on June 27, 1844. The real story goes back years, and it looks a lot like a conspiracy. Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot trace "the road to Carthage" — drawing on Carthage Conspiracy by Dallin H. Oaks and Marvin S. Hill (University of Illinois Press) and Joseph I. Bentley's "R
- Transcript
- Chapters
S1 · E38
June 14 · 35 min
Did Joseph Smith Fall for the Kinderhook Plates?
Did Joseph Smith try to translate a known hoax? In 1843, forged brass plates dug from a burial mound near Kinderhook, Illinois were rushed to Nauvoo, and critics have used the story ever since as proof that Joseph Smith was a fraud. But the documented history tells a very different story — one most members (and most critics) have never heard. In this episode, Jasmin Rappleye, Neal Rappleye, and Stephen Smoot break down what really happened when the Kinderhook Plates came to town: who forged the
- Transcript
- Chapters

Showing 1–20 of 26 episodes