Stargazer

The Community of Christ now ordains women, and their Prophet-President is currently a woman, so I don't know why they didn't migrate over that way.

Yes, yes, so what? God seemed to have been perfectly fine with it, too. Why did He permit it among the Israelites? Why didn't the mortal Jesus condemn it, and afterwards when His apostles were running the store, why didn't He give His apostles a revelation supporting abolition of slavery as a Christian doctrine? When God called Joseph Smith to be a prophet, did He give His prophet a revelation calling for the abolition of slavery? No he did not. Are you going to claim I am an advocate for slavery because I acknowledge that God isn't all that quick to condemn it? I claimed to be Christ's slave. Why can't you just accept that without getting up in arms about it? "I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, Over mountain or plain or sea; I’ll say what you want me to say, dear Lord; I’ll be what you want me to be." Ever sing that one before? Or is this idea new to you?

Paul lived in a time when slavery was a normal part of civilization. Of course he saw it as normal. He even offered advice to slaves to be obedient to their masters. No, I am Christ's slave in that: I’ll go where you want me to go, dear Lord, Over mountain or plain or sea; I’ll say what you want me to say, dear Lord; I’ll be what you want me to be. I am where I am today because He called me to go there.

Too many people on this benighted planet don't hate it, unfortunately. And I was using the word in the same sense Paul used it. In case you missed it.

Well, I don't know about you, but I am a slave of Christ. This isn't original with me, of course. In Romans 1:1, Paul calls himself "a slave of Christ Jesus" and later in Romans 6:18, he writes "You have been set free from sin and become slaves to righteousness."

It was a pretty dumb joke. And not funny. But I actually don't see it as an anti-LDS thing. The legend-has-it thing had nothing to do with supposed existence of the plates, it pertains to a legendary engraving on the back warning about the placement of the team. So perhaps it could be seen as expressing a belief in the plates' possible existence. Maybe I'm not offended because I don't particularly care about sports. BYU sports included. In any case, my knickers aren't in any kind of twist over this.

Hmmm. Interesting idea, but it seems like the blind men trying to describe an elephant again. Imagine a four year old girl being told that her mommy is going to have a baby brother or sister, and then she observes mommy's tummy getting bigger and bigger until mommy goes to the hospital and brings home a new baby. Does the little girl have the first clue how that baby got into mommy's tummy? I hope the hell not, but here we are, far less conscious in comparison to our heavenly parents than the little girl is compared to her parents, and we're coming up with utterly ridiculous ideas as to how the spirit baby got into Heaven Mother's tummy. I know you're being facetious, but come on... We don't have an inkling of a vanishing of a thought about what kind of process is involved here. If you've read the Ender's Game series written by Orson Scott Card, the author posits a process whereby a pre-existing aiúa (or soul) automatically enters the brain (or brain analog in the case of the network ansible entity called Jane) once the brain becomes capable of housing it. That's probably a load of hogwash, too, but it's better hogwash than yours. 🙂 I'm going to go out on a limb and tell about an experience I had many years ago. In the event, we were in the third hour of a ward conference, my wife and I were sitting way in the back in the cultural hall overflow (because we got there late-ish). The second counselor in the stake presidency was addressing the adults of the ward about some topic, I've since forgotten which, when I suddenly got the distinct impression that he was going to call me up to offer my thoughts on it. I didn't think about it at the time, but in hindsight I have to say that this was highly unusual for him; I had known him for over twenty years and when he had been in leadership positions, including as our ward bishop I had never seen him ever do anything of the sort like that. Whatever, and I'm always up for jumping in when asked, so I started marshalling some thoughts about the topic he had been discussing so that I didn't end up standing up there going "Duh...." And then nothing happened. He didn't call on anyone. I'll admit to some disappointment, since I actually enjoy contributing like that in meetings (usually). I shrugged mentally and figured it must have been my overactive imagination. After the meeting I chanced to meet him in the hallway, and we got into a brief conversation during which he told me that during his talk he had considered calling on me to offer my thoughts on the subject, but decided to spare me! He seemed embarrassed when I told him that I had got the message and was getting ready to follow through, so he should have called on me! Now, I ask you, was it ESP, or was it the Holy Ghost? Was my brain tuned into his brain, was it something entirely out of body? And in a similar vein I offer the following, which is just 6 minutes long that I extracted from a talk by Dan Peterson at a FAIR Conference. Whatcha think, boss?

It does seem that we are as blind men discussing what we feel with our hands while touching an elephant. Descartes once puzzled over the nature of his own existence, from which resulted the expression "Cogito, ergo sum." (I think, therefore I am). But this leads to the question, "Why does anything exist?" Is it all "just there"? Where does the universe come from, and where do I come from? In his last book (posthumously published) physicist Stephen Hawking opined "I think the universe was spontaneously created out of nothing, according to the laws of science." Of course this flies in the face of the Law of Conservation of Mass, which states that for any system which is closed to all incoming and outgoing transfers of matter, the mass of the system must remain constant over time. This implies that mass can neither be created nor destroyed, contra Hawking. If you want to blow your mind, read D&C 93:1-40 with an open heart and mind. Sometimes when reading it I get a feeling like I just jumped out of spaceship and am falling into an infinitely deep hole. Trying to comprehend it with my limited mind is a bootless exercise. But it is nevertheless a glorious experience trying to imagine what it all means. Consider these verses out of Section 93: 21 And now, verily I say unto you, I was in the beginning with the Father, and am the Firstborn; 23 Ye were also in the beginning with the Father; that which is Spirit, even the Spirit of truth; 29 Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be. The physicists are still arguing with each other about whether the Big Bang occurred or not. Was there a beginning to all this, or was Fred Hoyle's Steady State theory right that it has always existed? If the BB is fact, where did all the matter and energy come from if as D&C 93:29 says, intelligence cannot be created or made? And if Hoyle was right, how can the Lord say that He was there in the beginning with the Father, if there was no beginning? I must conclude that there is something beyond the universe, and something beyond the beginning. Hawking concluded that there is no creator God. He wrote: "As we travel back in time towards the moment of the Big Bang, the universe gets smaller and smaller and smaller, until it finally comes to a point where the whole universe is a space so small that it is in effect a single infinitesimally small, infinitesimally dense black hole. And just as with modern-day black holes, floating around in space, the laws of nature dictate something quite extraordinary. They tell us that here too time itself must come to a stop. You can’t get to a time before the Big Bang because there was no time before the Big Bang. We have finally found something that doesn’t have a cause, because there was no time for a cause to exist in. For me this means that there is no possibility of a creator, because there is no time for a creator to have existed in." Of course, Hawking's argument falls apart because it presents an absurdity, that of the creator creating Himself with His universe. Therefore, He exists outside the universe, and can see it all from the beginning to the end, as if it were all one to Him. Like I said, blind men describing an elephant.

I wondered that, too. It seems to me that he might have wondered why, himself, but he didn't speak of it. Perhaps it was important that the English version remain the "authoritative" text, while a Swedish version given by the Spirit would have seemed to override President Lee's own words, and not respected his position as prophet?

I note in passing that two of Jacob's/Israel's "partners" aka "concubines" were Bilhah and Zilpah, handmaidens of his legal wives Leah and Rebecca. The interesting thing about them is that rabbinical literature says that they were either half-sisters of Leah and Rebecca (same father, different mothers), or were cousins of some degree to Leah and Rebecca (making them cousins of Israel as well). The authorities differ. So they weren't exactly servants. Israel's family was complicated.

The US definitely needs to stay out, IMHO.

My personal search for Pro-LDS YouTube channels has been a great boon to my understanding of the gospel. For example, here is a very inspirational video concerning an instance of the gift of tongues (experienced in a very different manner from that which we usually hear). If I hadn't have been served this by YouTube's algorithm, it possibly wouldn't have come to my attention:

Ark-steadying in the context of my list consists of channels that contains content that denies or contests canonized doctrines of the Church. Which Faith Matters does. Not all the time, or even most of the time, but often enough for my purposes. For example, they have devoted five recent videos to plural marriage. And much of the discussion goes down the route of denying that plural marriage (specifically D&C 132) was a true doctrine of God, but was an invention borne out of the patriarchy. Understand that I believe there is a place for this kind of discussion, but my list consists of Pro-LDS channels whose purpose is to advocate for and defend the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Not ones that attempt to steady the ark of the Church by denying the divine origin of canonized doctrines. Which plural marriage is, regardless of anyone's personal opinion. Now, please note that I am not going to discuss the topic of plural marriage here. It's off-topic for the thread, it's been beat to death in General Discussions, and my opinion on the subject, if expressed, invariably causes several people to pile on top of me at once. I just don't see the utility of my discussing it, especially since it gets hot and heavy, and if the Spirit were present in the discussion, it flees very quickly once the hot-headedness enters. I don't need it.

I know about that channel, but didn't add it because its premise was not specifically pro-LDS. It's in my spreadsheet under the tab "Is LDS". This is for channels whose creators are Latter-day Saints but whose content isn't specifically advocating for the Church. I only have four entries, which are: Gwowls; 52 Churches in 52 Weeks; Falter Media; and Shadiversity. 52 Churches may graduate to the Pro-LDS list eventually.

It has been said that sometimes we have buried people who died years before, because they mistook retirement from work for retirement from life. So, stay busy, exercise both body and mind, and find something worthwhile to do. Some suggestions: Start a YouTube channel! Perhaps you have wisdom or knowledge you can share with others. Write a book about something you enjoy, or do a George Eliot and write the Great British Novel! Read the Bible in one year; read the Book of Mormon in one year. Make a list of classic works of literature that you haven't yet read, and read them all If you're physically able, take on athletic challenges such as the 24 Hour UK Mountain Challenges. Note that since the UK doesn't have high mountains like the Alps, you don't need technical climbing equipment for this Learn a foreign language or two, and visit their respective countries to practice. You could start with Welsh, since you wouldn't have to go too far to find speakers Learn to play a musical instrument you haven't yet learned to play, and perhaps use it to entertain others. Or if you already can play one, set a goal to play it even better.

The creation has actually been gradual. After a short deliberate search to see what was already out there (because as I told Blue Dreams I was thinking of starting a YouTube channel myself with church content), the YouTube algorithm started feeding me more channels, and I decided to catalogue them as a hobby. I find a few new ones every week, mostly little channels now. Although "Messages of Christ" popped into my feed only recently, and it's the largest channel in my list in terms of subscriber count. It came later probably due to not being specifically pro-LDS, but deals entirely with the Bible with no mention (as far as I've seen) of Latter-day scripture. But the channel description reveals who's behind it: "*A Scripture Central Production*". Scripture Central is very much pro-LDS. Very sneaky!

Yes, I would, and thank you very much! It happens that when I read your post it seemed to me that I had seen both of these before. The Come Back Podcast has now been added to my spreadsheet. The Faith Matters channel I had already catalogued, but under the "Ark Steadiers" tab of the spreadsheet, which I haven't published. This classification was based on the content of some of the videos I saw on their channel. But perhaps I was too hasty? I haven't been making a systematic search for LDS content; I've just caught them as the YouTube algorithm has been throwing them at me. But to start out, I did do a bit of a search. I commented in a post here some months ago that after a few years enjoying making content for my little YouTube channel about the places I've seen here in England (A Yank in Sussex), I had the idea that maybe I could make a pro-LDS channel. But of course, one doesn't do this kind of thing without seeing what has already been done. So I looked for that which was already being done and was shocked to see many more such channels than I expected. And then, you know how the YouTube algorithm works: they will serve up more of what you're already looking at, so now I get more as time goes on. Previously I wasn't spending my YouTube time looking at church-related content, except occasionally FAIR and the official church channel. What my search did was to convince me that there are so many high-quality channels already running that there doesn't seem to be a point in my chiming into the chorus. There was one happy accident in being able to reconnect with an old acquaintance of mine, a young man who was my home-teaching companion for a few years before he served his mission, who was actively involved in helping produce some of the channels I found, especially Ward Radio and Thoughtful Faith.

You seem annoyed.

Nevermind

Pro-LDS YouTube channels Cataloging Pro-LDS YouTube channels is a recent hobby of mine. These channels are not officially associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but are independent efforts. I try to update this list as I find more. These are not the "official" church channels. I will continue to update the list on my personal webpage, so in the future if you want to see if I've added any, you can check here: https://www.mikeclark.co/index.php?title=Pro-LDS_YouTube_channels This current list includes 161 channels. Sorry there's no description of each of them -- I haven't figured out how to include that kind of information without overbearing the table! This list was last updated on 17 March 2026 - It's sorted by number of subscriptions in descending order. I've reviewed the sub and video counts, so they should be fairly accurate at this point. Website Date Started Subscriptions Videos Messages of Christ 4/28/2009 526000 384 Scripture Central 1/28/2016 307000 2560 Unshaken 3/19/2020 130000 1117 Saints Unscripted 7/15/2016 93800 1300 Gospel Lessons 9/20/2020 88099 188 Dennis Schleicher 7/17/2017 85300 2418 Called to Share 7/8/2013 82199 1792 The Stick of Joseph 2/9/2023 76199 240 Thoughtful Faith 10/22/2020 67400 613 LDS Living 9/13/2010 66400 1523 Let's Get Real with Stephen Jones 6/7/2011 64599 214 RISE ZION 6/27/2024 63799 719 Ward Radio 10/12/2020 62799 1900 Church History Matters Podcast 11/11/2020 61299 396 The Words of Christ 6/18/2024 53700 1462 True Millennial 1/28/2023 51500 106 Book of Mormon Central 6/17/2017 47299 177 Christian Homestead 5/4/2018 43799 2886 Keystone 5/2/2024 42599 157 Come Back Podcast 10/27/2022 39900 484 "FAIR - Faithful Answers, Informed Response" 2/4/2008 37200 3400 LDS Gospel 12/15/2024 33000 340 Ensign College 12/9/2008 28600 922 David Alexander 1/19/2020 25500 309 Jasmin Rappleye 5/10/2025 25100 179 Marilee Kay Music 5/2/2022 24500 270 Latter Daily Saints 8/23/2025 21100 92 The Last Dispensation 1/12/2018 19700 1228 Zion Media 5/26/2024 19700 1028 Latter-day Divers 10/22/2019 18899 158 Anticipating Christ's Return 3/24/2024 18200 685 Wisdom From Beyond The Veil 4/16/2024 15800 794 Watcher Palmer 11/18/2009 15000 762 All Those In Favor 10/24/2024 14600 120 Book of Mormon Evidence 2/17/2012 14100 373 Faith Insights with Tyler Griffin 10/1/2025 13600 36 LDS Lights: Uplifting Messages 1/17/2023 13300 482 Let's Talk w/ Hayden Carroll 5/19/2015 13100 196 Leading Saints 10/24/2014 11600 654 Missionary Universe 10/2/2020 11000 697 Latter-day Believers 4/30/2024 10699 133 LDSConservative 11/21/2008 10600 126 Gospel Tangents 7/15/2013 10600 1602 THINNING OF THE VEIL 5/27/2024 10399 516 The Interpreter Foundation 9/3/2012 9699 764 For All The Saints With Ben Hancock 7/2/2023 9699 464 Women & Priesthood 2/21/2020 9350 89 What Mormons Believe 11/12/2012 8989 18 FHE On the Road Podcast 2/24/2024 7420 139 Latter-day Light 7/24/2010 7190 1866 Jesus Christ Inspiration 3/4/2019 7039 111 Marvelous Wonder 5/20/2024 6980 89 Mormonism with the Murph 8/18/2020 6869 331 Authentic Gospel - For Returned Missionaries 7/15/2025 6730 37 Families in the Millennium 7/18/2024 6599 129 Eternal View For Latter Days 12/2/2024 6300 296 Inspiring 6/7/2020 5820 963 Journal Of Discourses 4/11/2023 5800 730 Sacred Grove Insights 7/17/2025 5690 66 Scripture Notes 9/12/2018 5639 197 Nibley BookofMormon 1/18/2013 5610 32 Ether's Elephants 9/16/2024 5510 154 Brothaz in the Foyer 11/4/2023 5389 290 RestoredTruth 5/13/2016 5380 8 Missionary Discussions 8/2/2022 4980 265 The Holy Rebellion 2/4/2025 4980 401 Approaching Zion 8/1/2023 4889 2308 B.O.M. Socks 11/11/2018 4710 1510 Covenant Origins 5/19/2021 4510 255 Rayden Rose 9/20/2020 4309 62 Lili Anderson 10/2/2009 4300 151 The Latter-day Knight 8/10/2023 4260 11 Historical General Conferences 8/2/2020 4150 1155 2 Converts 8/21/2022 4110 157 Explore Church Sites 1/6/2022 4000 152 Robert Boylan 4/18/2008 3960 360 Uncovering Lamanite History 10/22/2023 3920 72 Saints In The South 3/4/2020 3799 703 "Hey there, friend." 2/16/2013 3559 3 By His Fruits 2/24/2023 3529 29 The Covenant Path 4/2/2023 3509 87 Heaven's Code: Temples & Texts 12/30/2025 3430 15 Salty Saints 12/3/2024 3190 199 Brother Gabriel Mirah 10/4/2022 3140 1367 Cj j 4/26/2007 3130 75 Ward Radio Women 8/21/2024 2920 58 Mormons 101 6/4/2008 2619 85 Michael Kennedy 10/31/2011 2529 48 Chris Heimerdinger 3/7/2017 2390 207 Daily Quotes from Prophets of God 1/3/2025 2259 434 LDS Essentials 2/26/2025 2200 203 Send Me 2/19/2024 2190 223 Edwin Patterson 10/24/2023 2150 99 The Things of my Soul 12/12/2014 2119 13 Jevonne and Michaelle 1/10/2026 2099 48 Saints and Screens 12/9/2024 2009 104 Latter-day Lion 7/13/2008 1970 529 Doctrine & Governance with Luke Hanson 6/25/2025 1960 4 Liberty Mills 4F 12/29/2023 1830 134 Autumn ****son - Come Follow Me 3/22/2020 1830 602 Brother Miller's Notes 10/8/2011 1730 309 Coffee for a Dream 10/4/2024 1710 19 Inspired by Elder Bednar 3/3/2015 1600 170 BOOK OF MORMON: A Graphic Novel 12/27/2023 1429 122 Answering LDS Critics 7/12/2023 1419 37 Jonna Veach 12/13/2018 1299 212 Priesthood Men 2/27/2025 1240 681 Samuel Richardson 4/20/2008 1230 331 oneClimbs 3/21/2013 1159 50 The Rational Theology Podcast with LJ Saurman 1/27/2025 1120 63 Read it BOM 6/5/2020 879 135 Jonathan Ames 7/27/2024 870 91 Book of Mormon Chronicles 8/14/2024 845 818 Sword of Laban 8/29/2013 834 43 An Engineer's Journey thru the Book of Mormon 7/17/2023 699 116 The Convert Devotionals 10/6/2013 689 85 Christ's Wondrous Words 12/8/2020 681 414 Restored Ephraim Publications 11/20/2019 662 460 Mormon Apocrypha 9/18/2024 654 136 My Faith Story 6/8/2014 639 299 Saint Explainer 5/17/2025 607 28 Sincerely Heather Lynne 10/29/2022 588 96 LDS Gold Pill Reviews 10/8/2025 575 85 Three Brothers 2/8/2022 541 103 Become 1 in Christ 7/24/2024 531 635 Let Your Heart Be Glad! 3/9/2017 510 139 Sanctuary Podcast 9/25/2025 481 14 Saints and Sources: Restoration History 7/7/2025 416 6 Urban Saint Channel 7/11/2016 414 63 Gray Area Faith 9/13/2022 414 7 The latter day Light on the Hill 5/9/2020 405 114 If You Could Hie to Kolob 1/1/2024 368 176 Trust Him 1/9/2021 365 900 GOSPEL PRINCIPLES TV 11/28/2020 356 789 InwardVessel 12/23/2024 351 125 CCD Europe Area (LDS Church) 11/4/2013 335 36 S A I N T C O R E 2/1/2015 335 27 An Elder in Israel 11/21/2012 308 1030 Come Follow Christ 2/27/2019 301 199 Dillone 5/22/2014 289 12 Finding Peace through Him 12/28/2022 280 187 Jessica Linford : Light and Knowledge 7/7/2014 272 922 Nursery Leaders Unite! 5/24/2024 257 216 The Amateur Historian 1/11/2025 246 216 Bite-Sized BoM 12/18/2024 223 198 Finding My Savior Podcast 3/11/2025 206 4 All In 7/23/2025 187 313 Doctrine of Christ & Hebraic Restoration 1/2/2018 157 36 Jennie Michelle Bravata 11/13/2011 131 23 Andrew Dilts 7/8/2013 70 260 Guided by the Iron Rod 6/13/2025 68 309 D' Saints Wisdom Oasis 9/20/2024 67 12 Faithfully Following Jesus Christ 9/5/2025 61 53 My LDS Music and more! 3/12/2023 57 73 Zander Sturgill 12/8/2024 57 7 Storms in Life - Christ is There! 8/24/2024 54 40 Brazos River Saints 11/4/2024 48 29 crown_apologetics 2/9/2023 25 30 Yolked2Jesus 2/12/2026 20 2 Mr. Plumb 5/21/2012 17 32 Latter-day Saint MissionCast 1/19/2018 14 4

In the comments to this video on YouTube was the following entry: The missionaries asked me to come to a discussion with them about a month ago and the man we were speaking with brought up the book of Abraham. After a little back and forth I ended up asking him “listen, if I could refute all of your concerns with facts that you could corroborate, would that change your mind or help you to ask God if the things the missionaries are trying to share with you are true?” He said “I don’t think so” That was it, that’s all that mattered and I at that point let the missionaries and the man know that I needed to get back to my family who I had left just before the wind down portion of our nightly routine. The Millenium will come and go, and there will still be people who do not believe the gospel. But we press forward and share the truth of the restored gospel for those individuals who are willing to ask with a sincere heart, with real intent. For those who don’t have to be like Thomas and believe because they see, but see because they believe.

I present the following video from Thoughtful Faith that talks about the Book of Abraham and its production in connection with the papyri. It is long, and I don't know quite how to comment upon it. I am wondering if there will be a book produced based on the content, and I hope so.

The King is the titular head of the church, but he doesn't really have a voice in it. He is constitutionally restricted to rubber-stamping whatever the current government decides to do. Probably the moment he rebels he will be side-lined even more than he is now. Especially since Labour is in power, and their traditional principle is egalitarianism and in their heart of hearts they want to see the monarchy abolished and whatever privileges remain with the Lords go down the drain with him. Charles III has a very real, though figurative, Sword of Damocles hanging over his head. His predecessor Charles I literally lost his head over defying Parliament. I think the current monarch is well aware of how precarious his position is.

I'm certain Charlie Kirk was not unbiased, and sometimes he said things that were incorrect, and/or poorly expressed. But the overwhelming message he had was something I could appreciate. I don't demand perfection. The thing that has dismayed me was that so many people (including LDS) whom I know in real life could say things like how they felt the man was actually evil; that his message was abhorrent; that his assassination, though sad, had the good effect of silencing his hateful rhetoric. When the song asks "Who's on the Lord's side? Who?" I have to wonder about those folks. Anyway, I'm going to stay away from this topic from this point (I may have said this already, so how good is my promise?). This is the first time I've signed into MDDB in two weeks or so. Sometimes the place makes me depressed, especially when it digs into politics -- because I am very political and opinionated, and find it hard to resist chiming in. I have become a British citizen, and of course the first thing I did was join a political party. Not going to say which one, except it definitely wasn't Labour. I've thought about standing for public office (that's British lingo for "running for office") in the upcoming local elections (village council), and my wife says it's up to me, but it would traumatize her! So I will forbear. Besides, I don't think they would like a Yank helping to run the place. Well, maybe they would, but I'm not going to find out. On a completely different topic, I've recently updated my list of pro-LDS YouTube channels. Check it out on my personal wiki: https://www.mikeclark.co/index.php?title=Pro-LDS_YouTube_channels

Just to allude to Falung Gong-connected news sources (that some people like to discount because of a "uniquely-biased" point of view </sarcasm>, here's China Uncensored reporting on the "disappearing" of the native Chinese pastors of the Zion Church of Beijing.