Rian Nelson promotes the claim that Russell M. Nelson is “the prophet who teacheth lies”

I’m taking a break from my very busy summer schedule to share what should be a warning to all Saints to not believe or follow the teachings of Rian Nelson, blogger and social media coordinator for Rod Meldrum’s Book of Mormon Evidence website.

For many years, Rian Nelson has been blogging and posting about his opposition to COVID-19 vaccines. He’s compared vaccines in general to sorcery and the occult and called pharmaceutical drugs “poisonous.” (Click here to see more examples of conspiracy theories he’s peddled.)

The problem of course with Rian Nelson’s anti-vaccine stance is that it’s in direct opposition to the repeated counsel of the First Presidency. This has forced him to make increasingly convoluted claims in order to justify his positions in the light of prophetic statements.

The latest example of this is his promotion of Alexander Tibekizis’s Kindle book—available for just 99 cents (you truly do get what you pay for, I suppose)—that claims “by teaching lies, the president of the Church fulfilled the prophet Isaiah’s prophecy” in Isaiah 9:15.* (If his blog post ends up being deleted, you can see a screenshot of it here.)

Rian Nelson first reprinted the Amazon.com description of Tibekizis’s book, unintentionally referring to it as “an amazing quote by Joseph Smith”:

During COVID-19, many members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints were shocked to have their church leaders encouraging them to take the COVID-19 Vaccine. Some questioned the faith of those who would not take the Vaccine; others accused any who spoke against the Vaccine of promoting apostasy. Some questioned their own faith when confronted with their prophet promoting what they saw as a lie. Still, others took the Vaccine even against their better judgment, believing that God would not hold them responsible for the damage it caused if they followed the prophet’s counsel.

By teaching lies, the president of the Church fulfilled the prophet Isaiah’s prophecy in the Old Testament, accompanied by many other leaders worldwide. Avoiding the Vaccine was not only the right and privilege of every member but standing for truth is precisely what the Lord has called those loyal to Him to do, both in and outside the Church. The Book of Mormon records that more part of the people came to believe in the Gadianton’s and thus took part with them in their spoils. This book documents how that same process occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. It also witnesses that none need question their faith in God, the Book of Mormon, the restoration of the Church, or their own membership, but it rather invigorates all to remain faithful to the purposes of the Lord and stand for truth at all times and all places.

Rian Nelson then followed that by reprinting this comment that he wrote to Tibekizis:

I absolutely love the premise of your book. It is the message the Saints need to hear. Often, I think how the Word of Wisdom was not given as a commandment, as it was written for the WEAKEST of the Saints, which is very similar to what you are speaking about.

Over 70% of my family took the jab, which I didn’t, as I was blessed with a calming spirit that told me not to take it. My family didn’t listen, as they were deceived by the craftiness of man. Now, I know the Lord forgives and He will bless my family as they show faith in Him.

Our dear Prophet was not wrong, as he was speaking to the entire world. Many countries would have ostracized or rejected the Church in many countries, like they did in Utah and our own USA. President Nelson knows the Lord will bless those who truly understand or repent. It was a huge trial of our faith and we will go through much more as the Prophet [Joseph Smith] said,

“Does God really want to speak to you? Yes! “As well might man stretch forth his puny arm to stop the Missouri river in its decreed course…as to hinder the Almighty from pouring down knowledge from heaven upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints.”

Let’s break this down, shall we?

• Rian Nelson believes that the First Presidency’s repeated counsel to get vaccinated against COVID-19 was, like the Word of Wisdom originally, not a commandment. (Nelson is correct that the Word of Wisdom was originally given “not by commandment or constraint,” although that changed in the 1920s under President Heber J. Grant.)
• Rian Nelson believes that the First Presidency’s repeated counsel to get vaccinated against COVID-19 was “written for the WEAKEST of Saints.” This would imply, it seems, that spiritually elite Saints knew that President Nelson didn’t mean they should get the vaccine, but all the spiritual commoners didn’t understand this coded message and failed the test.
• Rian Nelson believes that over 70 percent of his family members were “deceived by the craftiness of man.” (Wow, I’ll bet Thanksgivings and family reunions are blast with him around!)
• Rian Nelson believes that the First Presidency’s repeated counsel to get vaccinated against COVID-19 was a ploy to keep the Church in good standing among the nations of the world, and that President Nelson “knows the Lord will bless those who truly understand”—wink, wink—that he really didn’t mean for people to get vaccinated. This was just a secret code that only the spiritually elite like Rian Nelson would understand, while Saints who lacked his understanding or were disobedient (i.e., those who need to repent) didn’t understand and follow.

In an ironic twist, on the very same day that Rian Nelson published his “the prophet who teacheth lies” blog post, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced a contribution of $3 million to procure and distribute the new RTS,S malaria vaccine to help 39,500 African children receive the four doses required for immunity against malaria.

Rian Nelson is a false teacher who is leading unsuspecting Latter-day Saints into apostasy. Avoid and shun his teachings, and warn your fellow Saints also against them.

—Mike Parker [“Peter Pan”]

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* Addendum: Who was “the prophet that teacheth lies” in Isaiah 9:15?

I haven’t (and won’t) read Tibekizis’s book, but if he truly believes that Isaiah 9:15 is prophecy of Russell M. Nelson—or even that President Nelson fits some sort of prophetic type in connection with that verse—then he’s gravely mistaken.

Isaiah 9:8–10:4 is an oracle (prophetic saying) made by Isaiah some time around 730 b.c. against the nation of Israel (also called Ephraim), which lay to the north of Judah where Isaiah lived. Israel had formed an alliance with Syria (also called Aram) to jointly throw off the yoke of Assyrian oppression. The two small nations wanted Judah to join them against Assyria, but king Jotham of Judah refused to participate in their coalition. Israel and Syria responded to Jotham’s decision by attacking Judah to force her to join their alliance. Shortly after the war began, Jotham died and was succeeded by his young son, the wicked Ahaz (r. 732–716). Judah suffered significant defeats during the reign of king Ahaz, and eventually the armies of Syria and Israel marched to Jerusalem and besieged the city. It was at this point that Isaiah gave Ahaz the Immanuel Prophecy to reassure him that Israel and Syria would both be defeated within a few years (Isaiah 7:3–17).

Isaiah 9:8–10:4 follows that by declaring the Lord’s coming punishment on Israel/Ephraim, and its capital city Samaria:

¹¹Therefore the Lord shall set up the adversaries of Rezin [the king of Syria] against him [Jacob, meaning the people of Israel],
 and join his enemies together;
¹²The Syrians before [i.e., from the east], and the Philistines behind [i.e., from the west];
 and they shall devour Israel with open mouth.
For all [despite] this his [the Lord’s] anger is not turned away [does not subside],
 but his hand is stretched out still [to strike Israel].
¹³For the people [of Israel] turneth not unto him that smiteth them [the Lord],
 neither do they seek the Lord of hosts [turn to him in the spirit of repentence].
¹⁴Therefore the Lord will cut off from Israel head and tail,
 branch and rush [i.e., shoots and stem], in one day.
¹⁵The ancient and honourable [i.e., leaders and highly respected people], he is the head;
 and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail.
¹⁶For the leaders of this people [i.e., the “ancient and honourable” and the prophets of v. 15] cause them [the people of Israel] to err;
 and they that are led of them are destroyed.

This prophecy was fulfilled a few years later (ca. 721 b.c.), when the Assyrians attacked and overran the nation of Israel and deported the ten tribes who lived there to the east.

Isaiah’s prophecy condemned the false prophets of the nation of Israel in the eighth century b.c. It has nothing whatsoever to do with modern times, COVID-19, or (heaven forbid) Russell M. Nelson.

“And in these things they do err, for they do wrest the scriptures and do not understand them.” (D&C 10:63)

Antisemitism is alive and well on the FIRM Foundation website (UPDATE: sort of)

I’ve been very busy the last couple of months, partly because I’m engaged in re-reading the Book of Mormon over the summer. (I should have some things to say about that in a future post.)

Right now, however, it looks like Rod Meldrum still hasn’t reigned in Rian Nelson’s antisemitic crackpottery over at the FIRM Foundation website.

Earlier this year, the FIRM Foundation’s site was down for a couple of days after being suspended by its hosting service. When their site came back up, an antisemitic blog post they had recently published had been removed, but several other antisemitic posts were still up and available, as I documented at the time.

Today, the FIRM Foundation’s Facebook page reposted one of Rian’s articles from September 2022. It’s another one I haven’t seen before in which he references the vile antisemitic “Khazarian” conspiracy theory:

This kind of swill has no connection to the Book of Mormon, which condemns antisemitism in the strongest possible terms, as have leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

—Mike Parker [“Peter Pan”]

Update, Tuesday afternoon, June 13th: I commented on the FIRM Foundation Facebook post about the antisemitism in Rian’s article. Rian claimed that I was “putting words in his mouth,” so I shared the link to the AJC article (screenshot 1; screenshot 2). He then deleted my Facebook comments, blocked me from the FIRM Foundation Facebook page, and edited the article. It now reads:

I guess that’s an improvement. The post still includes the terms Zionists and cabal, which can and are used in antisemitic ways.

I honestly don’t know if Rian understands that the things he believes and espouses are vulgar anti-Jewish slurs. And blocking me because I pointed this out? Nice touch.
 

An open reply to Jonathan Neville, part 2

The following is my reply to an email I received from Jonathan Neville on April 5, 2023. See my earlier response for context.

Brother Neville:

Hi “Peter.” Thanks for answering. I’ve been traveling and just got onto this email account.

It’s no problem whatsoever. I completely understand that you and I have lives beyond our online activities. I hope your travels were enjoyable.

If you don’t want to meet, that’s fine, but the offer remains open because it’s a rare chance to bring more mutual understanding to these topics.

I appreciate that. I’m open to meeting with you, but I have just one condition, and that’s that neither you nor I engage in name-calling or profaning the temple endowment. I have never called you names (like “Joker Jonny” or “Nutty Neville”), and I expect the same from you. If you’re willing to remove from your blogs instances where you’ve referred to my friend Daniel Peterson as “Slander Dan” and used phrases from the endowment to imply that he is like Satan, that would be a good-faith gesture, and I would be happy to to meet at a time and place that is convenient for both of us.

One of the problems with these discussions is your ongoing ad hominem site, which I read only once but ignore as I do all ad hominem sites.

If you’ll forgive me for asking a pointed question: If you don’t read my blog, how do you know that I use ad hominem arguments?

Additionally, I want to be certain that you know what an ad hominem argument is, because it’s not just “he said mean things about me”—it’s a specific type of logically fallacious argument. I don’t believe I’ve done either of those things, but I’m certainly willing to correct any place in my blog where I may have. If you find any such instances, please let me know.

I appreciate your input on the table. I like the way you try to nuance your position. With your permission, I’d be happy to post it on my blog in the interest of clarity and accuracy.

Please feel free to do so. I consider all of our communications to be subject to public posting, unless you specifically tell me otherwise.

But it is evident that the bottom line remains that you claim Oliver was wrong, isn’t it?

I cannot accept that summary of my beliefs because it uses loaded terminology to create a rhetorical trap that you expect me to fall into. (“Mike Parker believes Oliver Cowdery was wrong! He rejects the teachings of the prophets!”)

The truth is that you and I both believe that Oliver Cowdery was wrong about some things. I think you would agree with me that he was wrong when he insinuated that Joseph Smith was guilty of adultery. I think you would also agree that he was mistaken (or at least overlooked certain facts) in Letter III and Letter IV when he claimed that Joseph Smith’s confusion about which church to join led to the visit of Moroni, not to the First Vision.

Statements made by Oliver Cowdery—and anyone else, for that matter—need to be weighed and given context. When you insist that Oliver was “right” about something that is important to your personal beliefs and that everyone who doesn’t agree with you believes he was “wrong,” you’re not doing history—you’re weaponizing Oliver and his words in an ideological war against your opponents. (This weaponization goes back to the birth of the Heartland movement, when Rod Meldrum twisted President Hinckley’s words to assert that Latter-day Saint scholars “disdain” the Prophet Joseph Smith by arguing that the Book of Mormon took place in Mesoamerica.)

We both accept that the gospel is true, that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon by divine means, and that the Book of Mormon is a real history of real ancient people. We may disagree over how best to understand and interpret some of the finer points of those beliefs, but when you insist that those who don’t interpret those points the same way you do are “rejecting the prophets” or whatever, you are only causing division and contention.

All the best,

Jonathan Neville

And to you,

—Mike Parker [“Peter Pan”]
 

Rian Nelson posts antisemitic comments; Jonathan Neville blames Daniel Peterson for pointing this out

From the “You Can’t Make This Stuff Up” department:

In my last blog post, I detailed how the FIRM Foundation’s website was taken down by their host, probably due to antisemitic conspiracy theories that Rian Nelson had posted on the site. After a couple of days, the site was back up again with another host, minus the offending remarks.

Over on his own blog, Sic et Non, Daniel Peterson pointed out Rian Nelson’s problematic posts, including the most recent ones that were taken down (Feb. 9, 2023; Feb. 12, 2023; Feb. 28, 2023;) and some similar, older ones that are still on the FIRM Foundation’s site (Mar. 17, 2021; Apr. 19, 2021; Jun. 13, 2022).

Now, here’s the fun part: Jonathan Neville called Daniel Peterson “Slander Dan” for pointing out what Rian Nelson had written.

As a lawyer, Neville should know the difference between slander and libel. He should also know that the key component of both is that the person makes “a false statement purporting to be fact.” In this case, Daniel Peterson has “slandered” no one, since he has quoted and linked to actual statements made by Rian Nelson.

Neville’s account of what happened is, shall we say, factually lacking.

Recently on his blog [Daniel Peterson] posted excerpts from a brief Facebook post by Rian Nelson in which Rian described his belief in a conspiracy theory.

In truth, Peterson posted lengthy remarks from six blog posts on the FIRM Foundation website.

And this isn’t just any old conspiracy theory we’re talking about here—it’s a thoroughly vile conspiracy theory that claims that Ashkenazi Jews aren’t real Jews and that they’re trying to take over world government and banking institutions. By calling it “a conspiracy theory,” Neville is dramatically underplaying the disgusting depths of Rian Nelson’s beliefs.

Neville continues:

Rian made the post in response to an accusation from an anonymous person that he was anti-Semitic. Rian foolishly fell for the bait, posted his response, and then removed it.

The Facebook comment was not “anonymous.” Rian was responding to Rebecca Clayton, a woman who comments on many of Rian’s posts. She seems to be a sincere Heartlander who calls out conspiracy theories and antisemitism. This was their exchange:

Please explain to me, Brother Neville, how Rian Nelson’s disgusting remarks about “evil Khazarians who claim to be of the tribe of Judah” are an example of “foolishly [falling] for the bait.” How exactly was he “baited” into making that statement? It seems, based on the links I provided above, that it’s actually right in line with what Nelson firmly believes and has no problem telling the whole world about through the FIRM Foundation website.

But one of Dan’s henchmen screen-captured Rian’s post and sent it to Dan so Dan could publicize it to the world in an effort to slander all Heartlanders.

Wrong again, Brother Neville. Daniel Peterson, in his blog post, specifically noted in connection with these quotes from Rian Nelson, “I’m deeply disappointed (to put it mildly) that at least one member of my Church is trafficking in such ideas.” He did not in any way claim that “all Heartlanders” shared Nelson’s views.

People sent me Dan’s post, of course. I hadn’t seen Rian’s post previously, and hardly anyone else had, either. Like the rest of the world, I would never have known about it if not for Dan’s post.

Except we’re not just talking about one Facebook comment, are we, Brother Neville? We’re talking about a long history of posting bizarre and abominable conspiracy theories via the FIRM Foundation’s website.

FWIW, I think Rian’s post was dumb. His conspiracy theories are delusional, IMO, and I’ve told him that many times. But people are complicated, lots of people think crazy things, and normally that doesn’t matter because we recognize that none of us is perfect.

I admire Neville for calling out Rian Nelson’s conspiracy theories as “delusional,” but claiming that “none of us is perfect” does not excuse Nelson’s many lengthy tirades about a secret Jewish cabal that’s trying to take over the world. These are not just unfortunate beliefs; they are repellent views that should be condemned as loudly as possible.

Dan and his cronies and followers are so insecure about their SITH and M2C dogmas, which they cannot defend openly on their merits, that they resort to such a desperate tactic as capturing a momentary Facebook post and publishing it to the world to falsely slander a group of fellow Latter-day Saints.

“They cannot openly defend on their merits”? Good grief—for years Neville has been pointing out the published writings and statements made by those who believe Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon with a seer stone and that the Book of Mormon took place in Mesoamerica. If these aren’t open defenses of these beliefs, I don’t know what he would consider qualifies in that category!

And, once again, this is not about “a momentary Facebook post.” It’s about a lengthy paper trail of repugnant antisemitic statements. Neville is proving he either can’t read, can’t count, or is just making up a false narrative to help his friend, knowing most of his readers won’t bother to read Daniel Peterson’s post for themselves but will just take Neville’s word for it.

Rian, as an individual, is fair game. He can speak for himself.

But he doesn’t represent Heartlanders who are a diverse group of Latter-day Saints who have a common belief in the teachings of the prophets about the New York Cumorah. They have a variety of beliefs/opinions (multiple working hypotheses) about Book of Mormon settings beyond Cumorah, about interpretations of Church and secular history, as well as about politics, science, sociology, music, art, literature, and every other human interest.

No, Brother Neville—Rian is not just an individual with his own views. He is the webmaster and chief blogger for BookOfMormonEvidence.org, the flagship website of the Heartland movement and the site where the semiannual FIRM Foundation Expo is organized. It is the largest and highest-traffic Heartland site on the internet. The very name “Book of Mormon evidence” undoubtedly draws in many unsuspecting members and nonmembers who Google that term (as it was designed to do, no doubt), where they stand a reasonable chance of being exposed to Nelson’s loathsome antisemitic and QAnon conspiracy theories.

No matter how much Neville or Rian Nelson claim that Nelson’s views don’t represent the FIRM Foundation or the Heartland movement, Nelson is the most prominent blogger on the FIRM Foundation’s website. That gives him at least some measure of authoritative status.

The problem here isn’t Daniel Peterson; it’s Rodney Meldrum for giving Rian a platform and not cutting him off when he went full “Jewish cabal” conspiracy theorist under the banner of the very Book of Mormon that condemns such views.

—Peter Pan

Afterword: Imagine for a moment that Interpreter published multiple, lengthy blog posts denying the Holocaust and, when called out on this, Daniel Peterson just said his webmaster is a nice guy with some nutty ideas, and those posts don’t represent the views of the Interpreter Foundation.

And then he left those posts up.
 

FIRM Foundation web site down after antisemitic blog post

Regular readers of this blog—I’m assuming there’s more than one and therefore it’s acceptable to refer to them using the plural—will notice that I haven’t posted anything in over a month. Without going into too much detail, my life has been unexpectedly busy, and taking a break from Neville Land has been a huge weight off of my shoulders.

Something interesting happened this last week that I believe deserves some attention, though. BookOfMormonEvidence.org, the flagship site of Rodney Meldrum’s FIRM Foundation and the Heartland movement, has been down since Friday, March 3rd. Visiting the site or any of its pages produces only this placeholder message:

What’s most interesting about this is the URL of the placeholder page:

The URL indicates that their page has been “suspended”—taken down by Bluehost, the provider that hosts their site.

Bluehost’s knowledge base article on site suspension indicates that “the most common reason for the suspension is non-payment.” However, Bluehost’s user agreement also stipulates, “You will not use the Services in any manner, as determined by Bluehost in its sole discretion, that…engages in or promotes behavior that is defamatory, harassing, abusive or otherwise objectionable” (9.6.2).

I mention Bluehost’s user agreement because the last blog post written and published on the FIRM Foundation site by Rian Nelson, in addition to promoting his usual QAnon nutbag conspiracy theories, made the antisemitic claim that the United States government caused the recent chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio, as part of its “agenda to depopulate the ‘eaters’ and ‘goyim’ [non-Jews].”

When confronted about this on the FIRM Foundation’s Facebook page, Nelson doubled down on his views about a Jewish conspiracy:

For those of you not familiar with the term “Khazarians,” this article by the American Jewish Committee explains its meaning and history. It’s a very old antisemitic conspiracy theory “that Ashkenazi Jews—Jews descending from Eastern Europe—are not ‘real Jews’ and are working to infiltrate other nations on their quest for world domination.”

Was the FIRM Foundation website taken down by Bluehost because it’s been pushing antisemitic tropes? I don’t know. It may be down simply because they forgot to pay their hosting fee. That seems unlikely to me, however, because the next FIRM Foundation Expo is being held in early April 2023, and tickets are on sale right now. Not paying their hosting fee would be a huge blunder right now.

If you have any inside information about this, please feel free to leave a comment below.

Update, Sunday evening, March 5th: The FIRM Foundation website is back up and using a different host. The antisemitic post and the Facebook post about it are gone, but hereʼs an older post babbling about the Khazar conspiracy. And hereʼs some antisemitism and 9/11 trutherism together. And from two years ago, more about the Khazars and the Jewish cabal.

Update, Monday afternoon, March 6th: For more links and information about antisemitic remarks made by Rian Nelson on the FIRM Foundation blog, see Daniel Peterson’s blog post, “Hijacking the Book of Mormon for the Satanic Cause of Anti-Semitism.”

—Peter Pan
 

The conspiracy mindset of the Heartland movement

A friend, who I’ll call Wendy Darling, has been looking at the schedule and “speaker bio’s” [sic] for the upcoming “FIRM Foundation EXPO, featuring the 30th International Book of Mormon Evidence Conference,” scheduled for October 20–22, 2022.

Wendy sums up Saturday’s presentations thus:

Dean Sessions: Scientists are lying to you about the age of the earth, the Flood, and evolution.

Tim Ballard: Historians are lying to you about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Hannah Stoddard: The Church is lying to you about Church history.

Bob Wright: Scientists are lying to you about the age of the earth, the Flood, and evolution.

Rod Meldrum: The Church is lying to you about Book of Mormon geography.

Eric Moutsos: Everyone is lying to you about COVID, Trump, and the 2020 election, and the prophet is wrong about masks and vaccines.

Jonathan Neville: The Church is lying to you about Church history and Book of Mormon geography.

Jen Orten & Sophie Anderson (“Two Red Pills”): Everyone is lying to you about COVID, Trump, and the 2020 election.

Kate Dalley: Everyone is lying to you about COVID, Trump, and the 2020 election.

The dozens of booths on the convention center floor: Doctors are lying to you about the true causes and treatments of disease.

In short: Flattery upon flattery that you, the FIRM conference attendees, are the very few who see through all the lies.

An astute observation. As I’ve pointed out numerous times, the Heartland movement is thoroughly rooted in conspiracy theories.

Something else interesting about the FIRM EXPO schedule web page is that it uses the acronym LDS over fifty times. (This is something that Jonathan Neville also does regularly on his blogs). This is contrary to the explicit instructions in the Church’s General Handbook that, when referring to the Church or its members, “titles such as ‘Mormons’ or ‘LDS’ is discouraged” (38.8.33).

—Peter Pan
 

Follow-up: The character of Stephen Reed (“TwoCumorahFraud”)

My last post was an open letter to Stephen Reed, a zealous Heartlander and conspiracy theorist (two things which often go hand-in-hand).

Mr. Reed regularly comment-bombs this blog with hateful, petty, immature remarks. I don’t usually approve his comments to be published; this only causes him to mock me for supposedly being afraid of the truth, yadda, yadda.

Here’s an example of one of his latest comments. I’m posting this only because I want my readers to know the kind of remarks that prompted my open letter to him.

I don’t know Mr. Reed personally, but his comments clearly demonstrate that he’s obsessed and possibly somewhat unhinged.

Rod Meldrum’s FIRM Foundation has published Mr. Reed’s writings. Take that as you will.

—Peter Pan
 

Peter’s hiatus and three brief notices

Things have been quite busy at the Pan household recently, and consequently this blog has suffered for want of attention. I can’t guarantee that will change any time soon, but I’ll do my best to continue exposing the distortions, misrepresentations, and fallacies of the Heartland movement.

Here are three recent examples of such from the keyboard of Jonathan Neville:

1. Correspondences

Neville recently visited Louvre Abu Dhabi where, he tells us, he “spent some time in the opening exhibit that celebrated similarities among cultures around the world and throughout time.”

His takeaway from this exhibit? “It reminded me of the futility of finding ‘correspondences’ as evidence of the Book of Mormon in Mesoamerica.” (Because everything for Neville is an allegory of “M2C” in some way.)

Neville again attacks John Sorenson’s, Mormon’s Codex, a book about which he complains much but never actually rebuts or even engages. Neville sums up:

The basic M2C logic works like this:

Nephites were farmers.

Mayans were farmers.

Therefore the Nephites were Mayans.

Neville’s laughably oversimplified version of Sorenson’s 714 pages of evidence and argumentation betrays that he either hasn’t read Mormon’s Codex or, if he has, he hasn’t understood it.

What’s worse, however, is that Neville considers it “futile” to find correspondences “as evidence of the Book of Mormon in Mesoamerica,” yet he’ll gladly accept such supposed correspondences as long as they’re found in North America and confirm his own biases. The Heartland Annotated Edition of the Book of Mormon is full of such parallels that are questionable at best and laughable at worst, so it’s more than a bit hypocritical of Neville to misrepresent Sorenson’s correspondences while offering up his own bogus ones.

2. Jonathan Neville on John Dehlin

John Dehlin has made a very comfortable living by accepting tax-deductible donations from people who dislike The Church of Jesus Christ for one reason or another. Jonathan Neville has a blog where he’s posted a handful of lackluster reviews of Dehlin’s claims. Seemingly, the worst he can say about Dehlin is:

Mormonstories provides a useful service for people to vent, form a community of like-minded people, and confirm their respective biases. That’s all fine. People can believe and do whatever they want.

Neville keeps his powder dry, as it were, for the real problem—believing, faithful Latter-day Saint scholars who haven’t fallen for the claims of the Heartland movement:

In a sense, Dehlin has an easy job. He just has to point people who have a faith crisis to the writings of LDS scholars in the citation cartels who have repudiated the teachings of the prophets. Then he asks, if Joseph and Oliver were wrong about the translation and historicity of the Book of Mormon, what’s left?

I honestly don’t know if John Dehlin has ever connected the dots in the way the Neville frames it. (Let’s just say I have my doubts that Neville is accurately describing Dehlin’s approach.) By a strange coincidence, however, Neville’s friend and fellow-traveler Rod Meldrum recently went on Dehlin’s MormonStories podcast. The entire podcast is seven hours long (!), and it’s a cringe-fest from start to finish. Here are just a few examples of how jaw-droppingly awful their conversation was. [Comments in italics are mine.]

• Dehlin claimed that before FARMS was founded, there weren’t any theories about a limited Book of Mormon geography. [Limited geography theories have been around since the late 19th century, and John Sorenson developed his in 1955, over twenty years before FARMS came into existence.]
• Regarding limited geography theories, Dehlin claimed it was Daniel Peterson, Lou Midgley, and “the apologist Egyptian guy…. I’m spacing his name…. [5 second pause] …oh, Hugh Nibley started the movement.” [This is a wonderful example of the level of Dehlin’s knowledge base. For someone who is arguably the best-known critic of the Church today, Dehlin’s handle on basic facts is shockingly low. Not only could he not recall the name of Hugh Nibley—the best-known Latter-day Saint scholar of the 20th century—but he also incorrectly believes that Nibley contributed to the development of Book of Mormon geography.]
• Dehlin gave Meldrum this backhanded compliment: “If you read the scriptures, the Book of Mormon and the Bible, seriously, and take them literally, there’s little wiggle room for there having been a global flood, Adam and Eve being literal, etc. And there’s also little wiggle room for the prophets, seers, and revelators who have taught that these things are literally true for centuries.… [Because Heartlanders believe these things are literal] there’s a level of integrity that I think fundamentalist Mormons [i.e., Heartlanders] have, that I think apologists like FARMS and Maxwell Institute, and even neo-apologists like [Richard] Bushman, [Terryl] Givens, [Patrick Mason], they lose integrity because they massage words in ways that make words lose all their meaning. And in that sense I’m giving you and other ultra-orthodox Mormons credit. I’m tipping my hat because you’re saying that when prophets, seers, and revelators say something, they mean it.” [This exposes an important fact: John Dehlin and Rod Meldrum are not that far apart in their thinking. Both of them are hyper-literalists. Dehlin’s inability to use nuance and think below a surface-level reading led him out of the Church; Meldrum’s similar inability led him to double-down on fundamentalist, literalist readings and interpretations of history and scripture.]
• [Meldrum explaining how the FIRM Foundation came into being]: “So I start doing these firesides [about the Heartland theory], and I’m running around, it’s costing me gas, it’s costing me time, it’s costing me money, I’m getting emails left and right, and I realize that there’s no way I can continue to work full time while doing this.”
  [Dehlin]: “Oh, I relate to this part.”
  [It’s amazing and wonderful to see two grifters empathizing with each other’s experiences.]

Who’s more on “team Dehlin”? Latter-day Saint apologists or Heartlanders? You be the judge.

3. Jonathan Neville on Jeremy Runnels

Speaking of grifters, Jeremy Runnels, author of the past-its-expiration-date anti-Mormon Letter to a CES Director was the subject of one of Neville’s recent blog posts. Neville wonders:

It has always seemed strange to me that CES [the Church Education System] never responded to Jeremy Runnels’ questions.

Jeremy was entitled to answers to his questions (at least, to his original, non-snarky questions).

Instead, he gets silence from CES and a torrent of sophistry from FAIRLDS and other apologists.

This statement pulls back the curtain and reveals how truly ignorant Neville is about Runnels. Neville actually believes Runnels’s fabricated history of how the CES Letter came to be! He accepts at face value Runnels’s lie that he was a sincere truth-seeker who took his questions to a real, honest-to-goodness CES director.

The truth is that, two years before he invented that fiction, Runnels was circulating a draft of his document on Reddit’s exmormon forum, claiming that he wanted input from others who were critical of the Church of Jesus Christ and that he wanted the document to “go viral.” (You can read the real history of the CES Letter in this Reddit post.)

The worst part of all of this is that Jonathan Neville believes that Jeremy Runnels is honest and sincere while Scott Gordon of FAIR and other faithful apologists are the real cause of lost testimonies. Neville truly lives in a bizzaro world where up is down, black is white, anti-Mormons are just misunderstood, and defenders of the gospel are conspiring to destroy faith.

—Peter Pan
 

Daniel Peterson lives rent-free in Jonathan Neville’s head

[Yes, I realize that one could claim that Jonathan Neville lives rent-free in my head. And someone has.]

The origins of the Heartland movement are rooted in the creation of an “enemies list.” About fifteen years ago, Rodney Meldrum began giving public presentations about his theory that the Book of Mormon took place in the American Midwest and that the Nephite city of Zarahemla was on the Mississippi River. In his 2008 DVD presentation, he said:

This is the kind of stuff that the anti-Mormons just love. They love to see our LDS scholars dismissing Joseph Smith because they know, they can see these things that Joseph Smith has written and they’re not being followed by the scholarly community of the church, unfortunately.

Meldrum followed this by quoting Gordon B. Hinckley about those who “disdain” the Prophet Joseph Smith and then falsely implying that President Hinckley was speaking of Latter-day Saint scholars who believe the Book of Mormon took place in Mesoamerica.

Since that time, Heartlanders like Meldrum and Neville have continually and falsely accused good men like Daniel Peterson and the late John Sorenson, and good organizations like The Interpreter Foundation and Book of Mormon Central, of “rejecting the teachings of the prophets” and teaching that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery “misled the Church.”

Daniel Peterson’s reactions and responses to Neville’s accusations has barely risen above the level of bemusement. When Neville recently compared Peterson to Satan, Peterson responded to this slur with his usual self-deprecating humor:

A small coterie of my most obsessive ex- and anti-LDS critics effectively appear to be convinced that I’ve never done a decent deed, thought a humane or honest thought, achieved even the most insignificant competent act, said a civil or charitable thing, been impelled by an honorable motive, behaved other than in the most buffoonish possible way, or breathed a worthy breath. And now Mr. Jonathan Neville seems to have come to a similar conclusion, albeit by a rather different route. In view of such a growing consensus, I find that I myself am almost persuaded.

Commenting on Peterson’s reply, Neville bizarrely claimed that Peterson’s “reputation for taking offense is legendary…and it detracts from his overall message.” (Does anything in Peterson’s puckish response indicate that he was offended?)

To start off the new year, Neville has published on one of his blogs “More thoughts on getting offended.” He writes:

My critics, including Dan [Peterson] and his followers, express great offense because I disagree with them on a few topics and I explain why.

Neville gives us no examples of the supposed “great offense” taken by Peterson. (Probably because there have been none.)

Chill, people. Don’t confuse your opinions with who you are. You can consider what other people think, even (especially) when they think differently from you, without taking personal offense.

Maybe you’ll even learn something new.

Neville’s pretension is on full display here. His arrogant directive, “chill, people,” tells us that he believes Peterson and his followers are in some sort of state of frenzy about what he believes. (Nothing could be further from the truth, of course.)

The concern that scholars have with Heartlanders like Neville isn’t that they “think differently,” it’s that Heartlanders use pseudoscholarship to advance their claims, and that Latter-day Saints who believe their false assertions are likely to suffer damage to their testimonies when they discover that they’ve been misled.

This tweet succinctly explains what’s going on.

Ed Latimore
@EdLatimore

Disagree [sic] only offends you when your perspective is based on feelings rather than fact.

Mr. Latimore’s poor English aside, Neville still hasn’t produced a shred of evidence that Daniel Peterson or anyone connected to him has been “offended.”

Everyone at the Interpreter should realize that, despite the name of their organization and journal, and the arrogant editorial tone of their management and editors, they are not really “Interpreters” for anyone but themselves. People can and do read the same evidence and reach different faithful conclusions.

If anyone is displaying an “arrogant editorial tone,” I would submit that it’s Jonathan Neville, who has falsely insisted—repeatedly now—that people who disagree with him are “offended,” that they should “chill,” and that these people are upset because Neville and his comrades “think differently.”

Neville’s arrogance is also demonstrated in how he has misunderstood the name Interpreter. No one at the Interpreter Foundation has, to the best of my knowledge, ever claimed that they have some special dispensation to “interpret” the scriptures or the gospel for members of the Church. My recommendation would be for Neville to take a step back and ask Daniel Peterson what the name “Interpreter” means and why he chose it.

The Interpreter would be far more effective if it stopped pushing Dan’s ideology with a series of logical and factual fallacies and instead encouraged contributors and readers to share facts and multiple working hypotheses.

As I’ve already pointed out, Neville’s call for “multiple working hypotheses” is a sham designed to get his flat earth-style theories accepted in reputable Latter-day Saint publications.

Beyond that, though, it’s quite audacious for Neville to suggest that others stop “pushing [their] ideology with a series of logical and factual fallacies,” when it’s Heartlanders who, for years, have been pushing fraudulent artifacts (like the Michigan Relics), abusing DNA science, and misrepresenting historical sources.

Sadly, Jonathan Neville appears to lack the self-awareness needed for him to see clearly that the problem lies in what he believes, writes, and teaches and not with his ideological opponents who have suffered his smears and dishonest attacks patiently and charitably.

—Peter Pan
 

Neville asks why, so we provide the answers

In a November 13, 2021, blog post, Jonathan Neville asked:

There’s plenty of room in the Church for those who believe M2C (the Mesoamerican/two-Cumorahs) and for those who believe NYC (New York Cumorah).

Why won’t LDS [sic] intellectuals and their publications and websites acknowledge that?

At the risk of repeating what this blog has been saying for nearly three years, here are five reasons why responsible Latter-day Saint scholars don’t take the claims made by Neville and his Heartlander comrades seriously:

1. Because they accuse those who disagree with Heartland claims of “rejecting the teachings of the prophets” and causing loss of faith among Church members.
2. Because they use fake artifacts and bogus scientific claims (including bogus DNA science) as evidence that their assertions are true.
3. Because Jonathan Neville has, from the beginning, been untruthful when dealing with “M2C scholars.”
4. Because Neville claims to desire “multiple working hypotheses” of Book of Mormon geography and Church history, but he attacks “M2C” scholarship that he disagrees with and claims that “M2C scholars” are part of a conspiracy to “hide historical information they don’t like.”
5. Because, despite being corrected numerous times, Rod Meldrum and other Heartlanders continue to lie by claiming that Daniel Peterson and other faithful scholars were fired from the Maxwell Institute because they were critical of Heartland claims.

Now, that’s not to say that there is no good evidence for a New York Cumorah. Andrew Hedges, an associate professor of Church history and doctrine at BYU, has argued persuasively for a New York Cumorah without the pejoratives, pseudoscientific claims, and dishonest fabrications that are part and parcel of the Heartland movement. Hedges’s articles in Religious Educator and BYU Studies Quarterly clearly indicate that mainstream Latter-day Saint scholarly outlets do in fact acknowledge the range of beliefs about the location of Cumorah.

The problem isn’t “LDS intellectuals and their publications and websites” refusing to give room for alternative theories. The problem is Heartlanders want to be invited to the table but don’t want to play by the rules that require honesty, charity, and rigorous scholarship.

—Peter Pan
 

Assertion ≠ evidence

One of the greatest vices of Heartlanders in general—and Jonathan Neville in particular—is their tendency to make assertions without providing any evidence that their assertions are true.

Here’s just the latest example from Jonathan Neville’s blog Book of Mormon Central America:

Does Brother Neville have any evidence that this supposed progression happens in real life?

Consider for a moment that Book of Mormon Central, perhaps the best-known and most popular Book of Mormon site on the internet,* teaches both “M2C”** and “SITH,” and yet the organization, its officers, and its employees are completely faithful to the gospel and to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Elders Jeffrey R. Holland and D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have spoken at Book of Mormon Central events. Yet Neville would have us believe that Book of Mormon Central is just one step away from apostates like Jeremy Runnels and John Dehlin!

(And before Book of Mormon Central existed, Elders Neal A. Maxwell, Dallin H. Oaks, Henry B. Eyring, and L. Tom Perry spoke at the annual FARMS banquets. The fact that an apostle or other current general authority has never spoken at a Heartland event tells us a lot about who the Brethren trust.)

And what of members of the Church who believe that Joseph Smith translated the Book of Mormon with a seer stone (“SITH”) but also believe that the hill Cumorah of the Book of Mormon is in New York? Did they just skip a step in Neville’s supposed “progression”? Let’s not forget that, until a few years ago, Heartlanders believed in “SITH”; how did they manage that without accepting “M2C” first?

Perhaps the most damning contrary evidence against Neville’s assertion is that the prophets teach “SITH.” I’ve presented the abundant evidence for this multiple times on this blog, but Neville has yet to engage with or respond to any of it. The list of Church presidents, apostles, and other general authorities who have taught that Joseph Smith used a seer stone to translate the Book of Mormon includes President Russell M. Nelson, President M. Russell Ballard, President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Elder D. Todd Christofferson, President Wilford Woodruff, President George Q. Cannon, and Elder B.H. Roberts. Are the prophets themselves progressing away from the teachings of the prophets?

Does Jonathan Neville have an explanation for any of this? Perhaps he can deign to give us some evidence of his supposed “progression away from the teachings of the prophets.”

—Peter Pan

* bookormormoncentral.org gets nearly six times as many monthly visits as Rod Meldrum’s bookofmormonevidence.org site. BMC also has nearly 43 times the number of links to its content from other sites (backlinks) than Meldrum’s site does. (Site vs. site comparison data.)
** “M2C” is Jonathan Neville’s acronym for the theory that the Book of Mormon took place in Mesoamerica and that the hill Cumorah in the Book of Mormon is not the same hill in New York where Joseph Smith received the plates of Mormon.
 

When Jonathan Neville gets it right, he deserves credit

It’s no secret that I disagree with Jonathan Neville on several key beliefs upon which his worldview is founded.

However, occasionally he surprises me by posting something to one of his blogs that is so clearly and obviously true that I must give him credit for it. (See here, for example.)

Today is one of those days.

On August 13, 2021, Neville posted the following to his Book of Mormon Consensus and Moroni’s America blogs. I’m going to quote his entire post because it is highly worthy of dissemination:

Face masks and vaccinations

Because I get asked often, here’s what I think about face masks and vaccinations.

I’ve lived in China and the Philippines. I’ve worked in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, China, Malaysia, and Thailand, and I’ve visited those countries plus Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam. In all these places, it has long been standard practice to wear a face mask if you have a respiratory illness. It’s common sense.

We were living in China when COVID broke out.

It seems to be a cultural and political issue in the U.S., not because of science, but because of economics. Corporate media profits by controversy. In my view, Church leaders have given common sense advice ever since the COVID outbreak started, regarding both the face masks and the vaccinations.

People can do whatever they want, but I want to be clear that I support Church leaders, including the recent advice. I got vaccinated early on and I have no problem wearing a face mask when it makes sense.

I hope everyone can make good decisions for themselves without being angry or oppositional about others’ choices.

In his post, Neville refers to the First Presidency Message released August 12, 2021, in which President Russell M. Nelson, President Dallin H. Oaks, and President Henry B. Eyring wrote to the Saints, “To limit exposure to [COVID-19 and its variants], we urge the use of face masks in public meetings whenever social distancing is not possible. To provide personal protection from such severe infections, we urge individuals to be vaccinated. Available vaccines have proven to be both safe and effective.”

Peter Pan agrees with the First Presidency that COVID‑19 vaccines “have proven to be both safe and effective.”

Unfortunately, the First Presidency’s message has been treated with disdain by some Latter-day Saints who have fallen prey to baseless conspiracy theories. Among these Saints are many Heartlanders, for whom conspiracy theory is the basis of their worldview.

Most prominent among them is perhaps Rian Nelson, blogger and social media manager for Rod Meldrum’s FIRM Foundation. I’ve mentioned Nelson before on this blog; he is a conspiracy theorist extraordinaire. Earlier this year he published a blog post in which he compared vaccines to sorcery and the occult and called pharmaceutical drugs “poisonous.” The week before that, he published a post in which he tried to thread the eye of needle with a camel by claiming that he agrees with President Nelson about the importance of “vaccinations administered by competent medical professionals,” while also questioning who can be considered “competent” and rejecting the entirety of mainstream medicine. He then went on to recommend the views of Sherri Tenpenny, one of today’s leading anti-vax conspiracy theorists who has falsely claimed that COVID-19 vaccinations can cause people to become magnetized and are connected in some way to 5G cellular towers (another bizarre conspiracy that’s in vogue today).

In the midst of the deeply flawed and dangerous misinformation being spread by Rian Nelson and other Heartlanders—one of whom will be a speaker at next month’s FIRM Foundation EXPO (speaker bio archived here in case the page is changed)—I applaud Jonathan Neville for being clearheaded about this matter and supporting the leaders of Church without looking for creative ways to dance around their counsel while pretending to sustain them.

—Peter Pan
 

Rian Nelson rejects charges of Heartlander apostasy

Although the primary focus of this blog is the writings of Jonathan Neville, I’ve also on occasion been critical of his fellow travelers in the Heartland movement, most notably Rian Nelson and Rodney Meldrum of the FIRM Foundation (the “Foundation for Indigenous Research and Mormonism Foundation”).

Meldrum’s organization produces books, DVDs, and articles in support of the Heartland theory of Book of Mormon geography. They also put on a semiannual expo with a large slate of speakers and presenters, most of whom are amateurs with no credentials in the subjects on which they present.

Among other responsibilities, Rian Nelson maintains the FIRM Foundation’s blog and Facebook page. His posts in these two outlets frequently appeal to bizarre conspiracy theories, including material about QAnon, globalist cabals, and anti-vaccination tirades. He also appeals to vaguely racist notions of the United States being in danger of being “overrun” by “illegal immigrants” from south of the border.

On July 20, 2021, Nelson took issue with this blog’s claim that he and other Heartlanders are on a “long slide into apostasy.” In his post “An Absurd Character Assassination From a Meso-Blogger called Peter Pan,” he claims that I “[get their] position very wrong.”

I reprint Nelson’s response with his usual spelling, punctuation, and grammatical errors unchanged:

“I wish Peter and his Pan would fess up to his secrecy. What is he hiding? I personally put up the quote above from Pres Benson last Feb. It fit perfectly into my feelings that many in the church even the very elect will be deceived. My mind has never been on the General Authorities or leadership of the church although some GA’s have led some astray in the past. The Brethren are NOT leading anyone into apostacy and they are men who I and all those at the firm foundation love and respect. Please

President Nelson and the Apostles are wonderful men and lead and guide the Lord’s true Church. I have always felt as has Rod or any other person associated with the FIRM Foundation that we love and follow the Lord through His Apostles and Prophets. Mr. Peter Pan is lying and it is not right to promote such slander. If any of you reading this post decide to email him please be nice and loving as we don’t want to treat others as he is treating us.

We advise our Heartland supporters and all people to be kind to those of other Apologetic groups just as we should be kind to all of God’s children. We are simply requesting an honest treatment from these other groups and find some way of working together to build the Lord’s Kingdom and share Christ together with the world.” Rian Nelson

Allow me to remind our readers what Nelson’s original claim was. On February 17, 2020, he posted the following on the FIRM Foundation Facebook page:

(Note: The date of Ezra Taft Benson’s BYU address was October 25, 1966, not 1996.)

Nelson protests, “My mind has never been on the General Authorities or leadership of the church although some GA’s have led some astray in the past. The Brethren are NOT leading anyone into apostacy [sic] and they are men who I and all those at the firm foundation [sic] love and respect.”

But does Nelson read the things that he writes? His Facebook post began with the question-begging assumption, “For those concerned how this occultic ‘Joseph Smith’ could make its way into Church publications.…” In other words, according to Rian Nelson of the FIRM Foundation, Church publications are teaching an “occultic” version of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

I, for one, would never claim that Church manuals and other publications are perfect or without error, but Nelson’s claim goes far beyond simple mistakes. Since Church publications are produced by committees headed by general authorities and general authorities provide the final review and approval for all Church publications, any claim that these publications present an “occultic Joseph Smith” ultimately means that general authorities are leading the Church into apostasy, as I claimed Nelson had asserted.

And this is just one example of Heartlander comments that flirt with apostasy or explicitly advocate for apostate ideas and actions. Like Rian Nelson, Jonathan Neville has also accused the Church of printing false doctrine and even anti-Mormon material in its publications. (See here, here, and here.) I’ve collected dozens of examples of this behavior over the two-and-a-half years this blog has been operating; anyone is free to examine what I’ve written and decide for themselves whether or not the Heartland movement is potentially dangerous to the faith of the Saints.

In the meantime, Rian Nelson’s protests fall quite flat, for he did indeed directly imply what he claims he didn’t.

—Peter Pan
 

Heartlanders and “rejecting the teachings of the prophets”

Heartlanders continually and emphatically assert that people who don’t believe the hill Cumorah of the Book of Mormon is in New York are “rejecting the teachings of the prophets.” (Jonathan Neville has made that very claim hundreds of times.)

And yet it is becoming abundantly clear that it is Heartlanders who are rejecting the teachings of living prophets. For example, they insist upon claiming that their geographical theories have prophetic support (contrary to the explicit counsel of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve), and they reject the teachings of apostles in General Conference about the identification of modern descendants of Lehi.

In just the latest example of Heartlanders rejecting the counsel of Church leaders, Rod Meldrum’s September 2021 FIRM Foundation EXPO has at least one speaker on the schedule who practices and advocates for “energy healing”:

The program also features Angie Christensen, who the FIRM Foundation once described as a “certified neurofeedback and energy healer,” but for this conference has been demoted, I suppose, to someone who has simply “been trained in” neurofeedback and energy therapy.

Apparently, Meldrum hasn’t gotten the memo from Church leaders:

Church members are discouraged from seeking miraculous or supernatural healing from an individual or group that claims to have special methods for accessing healing power outside of prayer and properly performed priesthood blessings. These practices are often referred to as “energy healing.” Other names are also used. Such promises for healing are often given in exchange for money.

This counsel was issued seven months ago, so there’s been plenty of time for Meldrum and the FIRM Foundation to distance themselves from the “energy healing” grifters who are so closely tied to the Heartland movement.

The only conclusion I can draw from this is that Meldrum doesn’t want to distance himself and his organization from those people, because there is money to be made.

—Peter Pan
 

The whackadoodle world of the Firm Foundation Facebook page

I’ve mentioned Rian Nelson’s Facebook posts before. Nelson runs the Facebook page for Rod Meldrum’s FIRM Foundation (the “Foundation for Indigenous Research and Mormonism Foundation”) as well as FIRM’s blog. And both are simply overflowing with crazy conspiracy theories, including material about QAnon, globalist cabals, and anti-vaccination (just to name a few).

Nelson believes in so many conspiracy theories that he can’t even keep it straight if Freemasonry is a great evil like Satanism and the Illuminati, or if Freemasonry “promote[s] self-improvement, brotherhood, charity, and fidelity to truth.”

Sometimes Nelson’s posts—and the comments they generate from other Heartlanders—border on the frightening. Take a look at this Facebook post from June 9, 2021:

Nelson and other Heartlanders love to mine old quotes from Ezra Taft Benson to support their conspiracy mindset. Elder Benson—until he was told to tone it down by President McKay and President Kimball—would frequently promote anti-communist conspiracy theories, even from the pulpit. He certainly wasn’t a believer in Nelson’s long list of conspiracies, but that doesn’t stop Nelson from using Elder Benson to further his own agenda.

Even more disturbing, however, are the comments on Nelson’s Facebook post.

One disturbed Heartlander claimed, “Ezra Taft Benson was a very different man, from the current leadership, and the Church in 2021 is VERY different from the church in 1972.” And Heartlanders wonder why I accuse them of being on the verge of apostasy from the Lord’s Church.

Another commenter claimed that “DC”—presumably referring to Washington DC, the capital of the United States—“must fall before the Lord’s millennial reign from the new Jerusalem.” Nelson responded, “It will.” Exactly how this fall will take place neither of them said. I can only guess that it will involve some sort of uprising, similar to—but more successful than—the crazed mob violence that took place in the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021.

Meanwhile, today’s prophets and apostles—who Heartlanders apparently reject, based on the comments above—continue to teach peace and obedience to law. President Dallin H. Oaks stated in October 2020 General Conference, “Though Jesus’s teachings were revolutionary, He did not teach revolution or lawbreaking.” In April 2021 General Conference, he taught:

We must pray for the Lord to guide and bless all nations and their leaders. This is part of our article of faith. Being subject to presidents or rulers of course poses no obstacle to our opposing individual laws or policies. It does require that we exercise our influence civilly and peacefully within the framework of our constitutions and applicable laws. On contested issues, we should seek to moderate and unify.

And so the gap between the teachings of the Lord’s apostles and the leaders of the Heartland hoax continues to widen.

—Peter Pan
 

Rod Meldrum: The Church History Department is an “antagonist” that “attacks” Heartlanders

In yet another example of Heartlanders distancing themselves from the Church and Church leaders, yesterday Rodney Meldrum (with “input from Rian Nelson”) published a blog post that identified the Church History Department as an “antagonist” to his Heartland group and linked it to critical ex-Mormons like John Dehlin and Simon Southerton.

After giving praise to a long list of misguided amateurs and frauds in the Heartland movement, Meldrum concluded:

So there’s a lot to this story, and if the story needs a couple of good antagonists we could talk about the attacks from FARMS, FAIR, Maxwell Institute, Lost Civilizations Documentary, Simon Southerton, John Dehlin, the Church History Dept, and others… it’s all part of the story!

The Church History Department is headed by Elder LeGrand R. Curtis Jr., a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy who serves as Church Historian and Recorder and Executive Director of the department.

It is striking—and telling—that Rod Meldrum, the de facto leader of the Heartland movement, has openly described the general authority-led Church History Department as an “antagonist.” Heartlanders have just taken another step toward their eventual, inevitable break-off from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

—Peter Pan
 

Elder Gerrit W. Gong: “Father Lehi’s faithful descendants” live “in Latin America”

At the Saturday morning session of April 2021 General Conference, Elder Gerrit W. Gong of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles declared:

By 2025, we anticipate as many Church members may live in Latin America as in the United States and Canda. The gathering of father Lehi’s faithful descendants is fulfilling prophecy.

Elder Gong specifically identified “father Lehi’s faithful descendants” as being in Latin America.

I imagine this will not sit well with Heartlanders. Jonathan Neville has downplayed the connections between peoples of Latin America and the Lamanites:

Lamanites have interacted with other indigenous people throughout Latin America and the Pacific. While DNA shows that the Native Americans in the northeastern U.S. have non-Asian origins (unlike most native peoples in Latin America and the Pacific), there’s no reason to think Lamanite ancestry is more widely dispersed, albeit in relatively low concentrations outside the northeastern U.S.

(Neville’s DNA evidence comes from Rodney Meldrum and is seriously flawed.)

In a disturbingly racist blog post at the FIRM Foundation’s blog, Rian Nelson quoted Meldrum:

If our research on the geography of the Book of Mormon is correct[,] then the vast majority of the remnant Lamanites are the North American Indians, not the Maya, Inca, or other populations of Central or South America who genetically are Asian, not Semitic or Hebrew[.]

Once again, we see Heartlanders rejecting the teachings of the prophets concerning the descendants of Lehi in the Americas.

—Peter Pan