For over three months we have anxiously awaited the re-release of this paradigm shattering documentary film.  With over a dozen mainstream archaeologists, anthropologists, museum directors, geneticists, historians, authors and Native Americans, The Lost Civilizations of North America is an incredibly compelling new film that finally answers the question of why most Americans (and most Mormons) have never heard about the tremendous, highly advanced civilizations that once existed anciently in the 'Heartland' of the North American continent and why information about their origins have been systematically erased from American history.

Take a moment to watch the video trailer and clips from this fundamentally important film to all those interested in learning about all the exciting new evidences for the Book of Mormon as a literal historical record of real people and places. Watch Wednesday's broadcast of Glenn Beck on FOX NEWS referencing this documentary film by clicking HERE.

This hour long film will forever change your view about the strength of the claims of the Book of Mormon relative to where it may have taken place.  Nowhere has this level of evidence been provided by mainstream, non-Mormon scholars from so many diverse fields of expertise as you will find within this extraordinarily well done film.  This is truly the 'must see' film of 2010 for every Book of Mormon believer and skeptic alike!  It has been said that Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church, believed that someday the 'Gentiles' would prove out the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon...could it be that today is that day?  Watch this film and see what you think!

Our new website, www.FIRMLDS.com , dedicated to exploration and research involving the Heartland Model geography is now officially launched!  Over the coming months and years you will find informative articles and news items involving this research.  It is intended to be a more intellectually based information repository, ultimately with thousands of articles and information that will be offered by many authors involving various aspects of this research. 

We are pleased to finally have the site up, so please feel free to explore the site and especially the first of two articles, one on the recent articles from Mormon Times and another regarding the Mississippi River as the Book of Mormon's River Sidon.  Enjoy them both. There will be many more to come!

You will also find hundreds of new testimonials from those who participated in the survey!  We haven't added any testimonials for well over a year, so it is wonderful to have some fresh thoughts about this research, which is now being hailed as a 'movement' within the membership of the Church! 

You may enjoy getting to know some of the many speakers and presenters who have spoken, or who will be speaking at different events sponsored by the FIRM Foundation.  Please visit the 'Events' page to see some of the upcoming events.  More are being added soon, so please keep an eye on it! 

Our 4th Semi-Annual National Book of Mormon Prophecies Conference; A CELEBRATION OF THE PROPHET JOSEPH, sponsored by The FIRM Foundation was held April 1-2, 2010 at the Zermatt Resort and Conference Center in Midway, Utah.  By all accounts, it was a wonderful experience enjoyed by all who attended.  Distinguished speakers included: Elder Hartman Rector Jr, Michael Kennedy, Kimberly Smith and Bryan Davis (all descendants of Joseph Smith), Dr. Robert Fuller (Owner of Zermatt, researcher), Dee Jay Bawden and Jason Millward (LDS sculptors),  Jon McNaughton (LDS painter), Howard Carlos Smith (Joseph Smith sword researcher), Ron L. Andersen (Abraham Lincoln historian), Steven Smoot (Developer and film producer), Doug Brinley (Author and Researcher), Kay Godfrey (Joseph Smith epoch historian), and Rod Meldrum (Author and Researcher).

Rod Meldrum, President, The Foundation for Indigenous Research and Mormonism (The FIRM Foundation)

Coming this spring…the ultimate experience in LDS touring... (click on image below for more information)

Join us for an unforgettable tour of a lifetime to visit the sacred sites of Church History, combined with the proposed Book of Mormon sites of the exciting new Heartland Model which is causing what has been termed a ‘movement’ within the membership of the Church.  These are the most comprehensive and all-inclusive tours available for exploring this incredible new paradigm. Rod Meldrum has teamed with Legacy Tours and Travel to offer these incredible opportunities to learn and experience these sacred sites.

 Join our expert hosts on these incredible tours!

Rod Meldrum

Elder Hartman Rector Jr. (emeritus General Authority),

Kieth Merrill (award winning filmmaker of LDS films Legacy and The Testaments),

and Kay Godfrey (Joseph Smith epoch historian, see his website and biography HERE )

along with experts with over 50 years travel experience

Lynn and Betty Leasure (formerly of Leasure Travel) and

Mark and Jill Clifford (hotel developers).

Welcome aboard your “two tours in one” excursion of a lifetime that will take you through the sacred Promised Lands of the Heartland of America where new evidence and discoveries are indicating that an ancient history of a highly advanced civilization, recorded on plates of gold and recovered by a prophet of God from a hill called Cumorah in western New York, may in fact have taken place on these very same lands.  You will be among the very first to experience firsthand the tremendous connections between ‘this land’ and the many histories that have played out upon it through our ‘rolling academy of history’. 

The Book of Mormon prophesied that a ‘new nation’ would be established in the ‘latter days’ on its ‘Promised Land.’  There are 36 Prophecies and Promises that define this nation.  It must be a nation founded by men that God said he ‘raised up’ for the very purpose (D&C 101:77-80) of establishing freedom and liberty through its inspired Constitution.  This nation would become prosperous and known as ‘the land of liberty’ and would become a ‘mighty Gentile nation’ that would rise ‘above all other nations’ of the earth.  It must also be the ‘Gentile nation’ where the gospel was restored and the New Jerusalem will be built.  Only one nation qualifies in each and every one of these prophecies…and that nation is The United State of America.  If this is indeed the ‘Promised Land’ as indicated by scripture, then Lehi’s claim as they disembarked onto the new world takes on profound new meaning.  He claimed that they had attained the ‘Promised Land’ indicating that they landed on what is now known as North America.  The prophets of the Book of Mormon claimed that their history took place on this same ‘Promises Land’ which was promised to them for their inheritance and for a gathering place of the House of Israel in the last days at the New Jerusalem.  This too must lie within the boundaries of the new world nation prophesied of in the Book of Mormon and its location is known by revelation to be in Jackson Country, Missouri, USA.    

 Our Educational Church History and Book of Mormon Tours are now scheduled for the following dates in 2010.

 June 14 - 26      13 Day Comprehensive Tour with Rod Meldrum

 Sept. 3 - 11          9 Day Tour with Rod Meldrum and Kay Godfrey

 Oct. 11 - 23       13 Day Comprehensive Tour with Rod Meldrum, Elder Hartman Rector Jr. and Kieth Merrill

   For all the information click HERE or call Legacy Tours and Travel directly at 877-221-5161 (Toll Free) or 801-683-0123

The most exciting and comprehensive DVD series on Book of Mormon geography is finally ready for production after over 2 years of gathering high-definition film footage, conducting interviews, and creating graphics that has taken 8 months of editing to complete this massive project.  You will experience this research like never before!  On location explanations, interviews with renowned filmmakers, artists, historians, and experts in several fields.  Over 9 hours of in-depth explanations and presentations that will have you saying like so many thousands of others, "Why didn't I know this before?"  This DVD series is being described as the most powerful evidence for the truthfulness and historicity of the Book of Mormon ever assembled by those who have previewed it. 

The 5 DVD disk series includes:

DVD 1; Prophecies and Promises; Promised Land Correlations with the United States of America

DVD 2; Joseph Smith; Joseph Smith and Book of Mormon Geography

DVD 3; DNA and the Book of Mormon; Rediscovering the Book of Mormon Remnant through DNA

DVD 4; Book of Mormon Correlations; Correlations between the Nephites and the Hopewell Civilization

DVD 5; The Heartland Geography; Mapping the Book of Mormon using the Heartland Geography

Each of the DVD's is approximately an hour an a half in length plus bonus features making them about 2 hours total viewing time per DVD.

You will see interviews with:

Elder Hartman Rector Jr., emeritus member of the First Quorum of the Seventy

Kieth Merrill, award winning filmmaker and writer and director of 'Legacy' and 'The Testaments'

Wayne N. May, author and publisher of Ancient American magazine

Bruce H. Porter Ph.D., author and LDS ancient linguistics scholar, CES director

Kay Godfrey, 30 year Joseph Smith period historian and Church History tour host

David Lindsley, renowned LDS artist and painter of Joseph Smith artwork on the current Church manual

Dr. Robert Fuller, owner of the Zermatt Resort, Midway Utah.

Charles Allen, author of Out of Captivity and Zelph Mound location researcher

Shirley Whitlock, 15 year president of Eagle Forum of AZ, Constitutionalist

James Bradley, foremost expert and author of The Eternal Perspective of Zion's Camp

Jon McNaughton, renowned LDS artist and painter of One Nation Under God

Jason Millward, LDS sculptor, creator of Visions of the Past and The Promised Land sculptures

Michael Bedard, painter of the restoration, Nauvoo, IL

Cal Christensen, long time resident and historian of old Nauvoo

Click on the film frame below to see the introductory trailer to the DVD series

 LDS artist Jon McNaughton has created many beautiful pieces of art for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and he just finished one of the most amazing paintings he has ever done.  One Nation Under God is an incredibly powerful painting about the Christian founding's and heritage of the United States of America.  The scene, depicting Christ holding the inspired Constitution of the United States in his right hand and holding it out to the world, has been the subject of much debate and controversy in the past week or two. Articles both supportive and derogatory have been published in Europe and across the United States.  News channels and liberal and conservative blogs have begun a firestorm of controversy over the symbolism embodied in the marvelous masterpiece.  If you have not seen this incredible painting before you must take time to feel  its message.  An interview and video, which was filmed by Rod Meldrum, has had over 28,000 viewings in just over two weeks! (a 2.5 minute shortened version)  The longer version (about 9 minutes), which includes an introduction by Rod, gives much more information about some of the symbolism of the painting from Jon himself. 

"Some so called experts have implied or concluded that our Founding Fathers and Patriots were not religious.  These secular champions, in an effort to further their own causes, have even painted these great men and women from our history as devoid of religious passions or even a belief in God.  This is part of their strategy to remove any discussion of God from the public forum."          --   Jon McNaughton

This painting is moving the discussion directly into the public forum!  Jon's website has gone from 300 to 8,000 hits per day in the last couple of weeks and people are talking about it everywhere!

Jon is offering a special offer for FIRM Foundation supporters!  If you purchase any prints or giclee' paintings from Jon's  website, simply put in the promotional code FIRMPROMO to receive a 10% discount off of your order!  That's right, just for being involved with the FIRM Foundation you will get this special discount! We have also made arrangements for a special pricing on a 20x30 canvas giclee' painting in a solid wood frame for a very special price.  Click HERE to learn about this masterpiece made especially for our supporters. 

To see the newly released video about this amazing painting click on the PHOTO!  To read about the symbolism, click HERE. To view the INTERACTIVE website where you can scroll over each figure in the painting to find out about each individual, click HERE. See the shortened version HERE.

Deseret Book is now stocking the newly released Prophecies and Promises book by Bruce H. Porter and Rod L. Meldrum.  We are very excited that Deseret Book is  offering this important new research. Please be sure to THANK them for making it available either in person to a store manager, or online by clicking HERE. 

Download the free excerpt of the book with the Foreword by Kieth Merrill available simply by clicking  on the FREE DOWNLOADS tab above and following the instructions.   

Please note that copies of the book are always available on this website as well as many have found the books have been sold out in the Deseret Book stores.  If you can't get a copy at your local store, please order it online at http://www.bookofmormonevidence.org/products.php .  Copies ordered from this website can be signed by Rod Meldrum, one of the co-authors of the book!  Just be sure to ask for a signed copy when you order. 

Several news outlets covered portions of the National Book of Mormon Prophecies Conference held Oct. 1-2, 2009.  This included TV Coverage from KSL, channel 5, and KSTU FOX-13 in their evening news segments. 

To see what they said click HERE. 

The National Book of Mormon Prophecies Conference, held October 1-2, 2009 at the luxurious Zermatt Resort and Conference Center in Midway, Utah, was an overwhelming success!  This was a truly historical event that those who witnessed it will never forget!  The event was completely booked out two weeks in advance with over 400 in attendance, 25 incredible speakers, 34 lectures, and a magnificent keynote address by award winning filmmaker Kieth Merrill.  There were over 200 on the waiting list that could not attend the conference due to space restrictions.  To them we express our sincere apology for not being able to anticipate the interest and excitement about this information, and encourage those able to do so to plan to attend next years semi-annual conference being held April 1st and 2nd, 2010. 

Other speakers at the conference included Elder Hartman Rector Jr., Rod Meldrum, Wayne May, Bruce Porter Ph.D. Robert Fuller, Steven Smoot, Howard Carlos Smith, Mike Kennedy, Doug Brinley, Roger K. Young, Kay Godfrey, Harding Walker, Colette Smith, James Bradley, Donna Nielsen, Yvonne Bent, James Stoddard and George Papa with artists Jon McNaughton, David Lindsley, Jason Millward, Lois Kerr, and Dee Jay Bawden, with the most amazing musical voice talent throughout the conference by Michele Baer of Arizona.  See the bio's of these amazing speakers HERE. 

The National Book of Mormon Prophecies Conference was covered by major news media outlets in Utah through TV broadcast and Newspaper.  Saturday morning before LDS Church General Conference two articles appeared in the Deseret News, which carried the event in headlines and articles in the UTAH section on pages B1, B2, and B4.  The headline article "Joseph Smith's sword is on display" covered the historic unveiling of the Prophet's legendary Nauvoo Legion Lieutenant General's sword, seen in public for the first time in 165 years!  A second article titled "North America preferred site for LDS film" discusses the brilliant keynote address of the conference by award winning filmmaker Kieth Merrill , who wrote and directed The Testaments for the Church.  

The online LDS news journal  Mormon Times  also published two fantastic articles about the event, mirroring the Deseret News articles. See the sword article HERE and the Kieth Merrill article HERE.    

KSL-TV (Channel 5) showed excepts of the event during their 6 o'clock PM broadcast, Fox News (KSTU Channel 13) showed the event in their 9:00 news , and KSL again showed this historic event on the 10 o'clock news! 

Most of those in attendance came from the states of Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Arizona, Washington and California but some came from as far as Missouri, New York, Canada and three came 12,000 miles to be in attendance from South Africa!  It was an wonderful event with so many great individuals from so many areas. 

The conference opened the afternoon after an early winter dusting of snow on the Timpanogus Mountain range, making the combination of the brilliant red, yellow and orange fall colors with the snow tipped mountains a breathtaking sight.  The Salmon and Steak dinner Thursday evening was tremendous as was the herb roasted chicken and beef sirloin lunch on Friday, all served at our tables (not buffet style).  Thanks again for the efficient, friendly, and cooperative Zermatt staff for making this a truly memorable occasion. 

We'd like to extend a very special THANK YOU to all who participated and helped in so many ways, including Dr. Robert Fuller of the fabulous Zermatt Resort and Spa who sponsored and hosted the event, Howard Carlos Smith for obtaining permission from the Noble Family to display the sword of Joseph Smith, Steven Smoot of the Family First Foundation, Mike Kennedy and Barry Kent, descendants of Joseph Smith and Joseph Bates Noble respectively, for coming to be special witnesses of the unveiling ceremony, Kieth Merrill for his unforgettable keynote address, and all the other presenters and artists, many of whom came from other states to be in attendance.  Each of these speakers did so completely at their own expense which is notable due to their individual caliber and quality.    

There were 14 exciting new items seen or released for the first time at the National Conference event. They were:

• The Prophet Joseph Smith's legendary Lieutenant General sword
• Prophecies and Promises long awaited book by Bruce Porter and Rod Meldrum
• Rediscovering the Book of Mormon Remnant through DNA book by Rod Meldrum
• Documentary by Steven Smoot The Lost Civilization of North America preview
• Wayne May's newest book This Land: America 2,000 B.C. to 500 A.D.
• Doug Brinley's, American in Peril: Ten Stages in the Destruction of a Promised Land
• David Lindsley's new painting "Children of Light"
• Jason Millward's newly completed sculpture of Lehi's landing in North America
• Rod Meldrum's new book, Joseph Smith on Book of Mormon Geography
• Rod Meldrum's new 5 Disk DVD series Book of Mormon Evidences - The Heartland Model in the United States of America
• Jon McNaughton's new painting "One Nation Under God"
• Jason Millward's new sculpture "Visions of the Past" depicting the Zelph accounts
• David J. West, novelist, new Book of Mormon novel based in North America titled Heroes of the Fallen
• Michele Baer's new CD titled You're Worth it All

Click HERE for the archived email announcement. 

The FIRM Foundation and Rod Meldrum would like to extend our most sincere gratitude for everyone who contributed to making this all that it was hoped to be and it is hoped that all who were in attendance were uplifted by the speakers, messages, and music throughout the event.  If you attended the event and have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please contact Rod Meldrum at rodneymeldrum@hotmail.com

The Ancient American Artifact Exhibit is now officially opened in Palmyra, New York, near the ancient Hill Cumorah and the modern day Sacred Grove.  This newly created exhibit is housed in the luxurious Palmyra Inn, the nicest hotel accommodations near the Palmyra Temple and historic Palmyra.  Within the exhibit you will find ancient treasures dating back to before the time of Christ.  The ancient history in western New York and the heartland of the United States comes to life in this impressive new exhibit that allows a glimpse into past civilizations that thrived here in the Promised Land during Book of Mormon times. If you have the chance to experience the sacred sites in New York or are planning to attend the Hill Cumorah Pageant, you do not want to miss this beautiful new showroom quality exhibit. See the website at http://www.palmyrainn.com/