There was a critical desire of Joseph Smith to fulfill his work of sharing the Book of Mormon with the remnants of Jacob, even the Native Americans. Joseph understood his calling to find, translate, print, and share this sacred book with the world. How are we helping the Lord today? Can we do more? I say of course we can!
Are We Flooding the Earth?
In 1988, President Ezra Taft Benson said, “The time is long overdue for a massive flooding of the earth with the Book of Mormon.”
In August 2005 President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) made this promise to members who read the Book of Mormon: “There will come into your lives and into your homes an added measure of the Spirit of the Lord, a strengthened resolution to walk in obedience to His commandments, and a stronger testimony of the living reality of the Son of God.” In October 2007 he said of the book: “Through all of these years critics have tried to explain it. They have spoken against it. They have ridiculed it. But it has outlived them all, and its influence today is greater than at any time in its history.”
How are we as a church doing with sharing this sacred work? Overall very well I think. As of 2021 we have 16,805,400 Total Church Membership, 188 Published Languages, and 31,315 Congregations. Source
“As of 2021, the Book of Mormon has been translated into 115 languages,[1] and there are active projects to translate it into a number of other languages. Portions of the book, as opposed to complete translations, have also been conducted for another 20 languages.” Source
President Benson said, “In this age of electronic media and mass distribution of the printed word, God will hold us accountable if we do not now move the Book of Mormon in a monumental way.”
Audio recordings of the Book of Mormon in English, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish are available at audio.ChurchofJesusChrist.org, with other languages to come. The electronic text of the Book of Mormon is available in 21 languages at scriptures.ChurchofJesusChrist.org; more than 740,000 people use the online edition of the scriptures each month.
“We have the Book of Mormon,” President Benson said during October 1988 conference. “We have the members, we have the missionaries, and the world has the need. The time is now!”
President Thomas S. Monson, 16th president of the Church, has emphasized the book’s importance as well: “The Lord brought forth the Book of Mormon at a period of time [that] would enhance its distribution far and wide,” he said. “It is my personal testimony that the Book of Mormon changes human lives. It is indeed another testament of Jesus Christ.”
“According to Guinness World Records as of 1995, the Bible is the best-selling book of all time with an estimated 5 billion copies sold and distributed. Sales estimates for other printed religious texts include at least 800 million copies for the Qur’an and 190 million copies for the Book of Mormon.” Source
As of Oct 2020, “The church has now published 192 million copies of the Book of Mormon in 112 languages… Elder Gong also noted that the Book of Mormon is translated into most of the 23 world languages spoken by 50 million people or more. Collectively, those languages represent 4.1 billion of the world’s people.” Deseret News. Retrieved 2021-03-15. Source
List of Speakers Tickets
We Live in a Time of Widespread War
“We live in a time of widespread war and violence. News sources report incidents of these awful events every day. The Lord’s prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, said, “We have come to the earth in troubled times.” He affirms what President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008) said: “We live in a season when fierce men do terrible and despicable things. We live in a season of war.”
While sobering, this should not be surprising. The scriptures teach that in the last days Satan will “make war” (Revelation 12:17) with the faithful and that “peace shall be taken from the earth” (D&C 1:35).
God foresaw our day and called the Prophet Joseph Smith to bring forth the Book of Mormon to help us (see D&C 1:17, 29; 45:26). Of the 239 chapters in the Book of Mormon, 174 (73 percent) deal with war, terrorism, murder, political conspiracies, secret combinations, threats, family collusions, and other hostilities.
Why did the Book of Mormon record keepers preserve so many incidents of war? President Ezra Taft Benson (1899–1994) answered, “From the Book of Mormon we learn how disciples of Christ live in times of war.” Following are insights that can guide us as we live in troubled times.” How Disciples of Christ Live in Times of War and Violence By David Brent Marsh, Priesthood Department
Our Heartland friend, actor and film producer, Darin Scott said”, Of the Book of Mormon’s 239 chapters, 174 of them (73%) deal with war, terrorism, murder, political conspiracies, secret combinations, threats, family collusions, and other hostilities. These are universal themes 100% of the world understands. In contrast, the Book of Mormon also references Jesus nearly 4000 times as “Another Testament of Jesus Christ”. It’s one of the most Christ-soaked books on the planet.
Remember the New Covenant
How critical is for us in the church today to share the Book of Mormon with the world and especially the Lamanites? According to the header in D&C 84 it says, The Saints must testify of those things they have received; Then the scripture says, “And they shall remain under this condemnation until they repent and remember the new , even the and the commandments which I have given them, not only to say, but to according to that which I have written.” D&C 84:57
How Hundreds of Thousands can hear about the Book of Mormon
Today we can reach hundreds of thousands of people with the Book of Mormon message through media and film. One example is the unreligious, ridiculous Broadway Play titled “The Book of Mormon” which I have never seen and I will not. This harsh movie has been an unusually successful missionary tool, which was hard to imagine at first, but the Church made it a success as I share below. Then I will speak about our friend and fellow Latter-day Saint, Darin Scott’s new movie, “The Oath”, which has the potential to reach hundreds of thousands of people and inspire them to read the Book of Mormon. I support Darin’s huge effort to share this important movie. Neither of these films represent the church’s opinion but both movies can inspire.
How can we help the Lord accomplish that goal? After you read the important information about how Joseph Smith and the Saints loved the Book of Mormon and desired to share it with the Lamanites first, I will then speak about the two films I mentioned above.
Joseph Smith and the Lamanites
Here I share some information from “Joseph Smith and the Lamanites” by Byron R. Merrill. In my opinion the Lord not only wants the members to share the Book of Mormon with the Lamanites, but with the world.
“William W. Phelps wrote to Oliver Cowdery in 1835: “The Indians are the people of the Lord; they are of the tribes of Israel; the blood of Joseph, with a small mixture of the royal blood of Judah, and the hour is nigh when they will come flocking into the kingdom of God, like doves to their windows.” (193).
At a meeting in Kirtland, during that same year, Joseph Smith proposed a mission for the Twelve throughout the eastern states. It was there resolved that Brigham Young should “go immediately from this place to an adjacent tribe of the remnants of Joseph, and open the door of salvation to that long dejected and afflicted people” (HC 2:224–25). Brigham Young was not then president of the Quorum of the Twelve, but the promise that this appointment would “open the door to the whole house of Joseph” (222) seems prophetic in view of his labors among the Lamanites when the Saints moved to the Rocky Mountains. There is no record, however, that his early mission resulted in any substantial work among that people (see Young 11).
Indicative of the continued concern for this chosen remnant was the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland temple, received by revelation, wherein Joseph prayed:
And cause that the remnants of Jacob, who have been cursed and smitten because of their transgression, be converted from their wild and savage condition to the fullness of the everlasting gospel; That they may lay down their weapons of bloodshed, and cease their rebellions.
And . . . come to a knowledge of the truth, believe in the Messiah, and be redeemed from oppression, and rejoice before thee. (D&C 109:65–67).”
What of Joseph’s Efforts? There seems to be a perception that Joseph’s efforts among the Lamanites were not only relatively unsuccessful but even superficial. It has been argued that “the initiative for [such] missionary work lay more with the members of the Church than with Joseph Smith” (Parry 74), and that Joseph did not see the redemptive work among the Lamanites “as essential to the ‘building up of Zion’” (72). To the contrary, Joseph’s commitment to the Book of Mormon promises to the Lamanites and the need to find a long term home for his people appear to have been closely connected priorities. Oliver B. Huntington recorded that early in the settlement of Nauvoo, Joseph Smith, Sr., confided in him that it had been revealed to the Prophet that the Church would stay in Nauvoo just seven years and “when we left there, we would go right into the midst of the Indians, in the Rocky Mountains” (18). Similarly, efforts by Lyman Wight and Jonathan Dunham appear to have combined proselyting the Lamanites and exploring for a new home for the Saints in their midst (Esplin 90–97). An 1845 mission call by the Council of the Kingdom was to “fill Joseph’s measures originally adopted . . . to seek out a location and a home where the Saints can dwell in peace and health . . . and proceed from tribe to tribe, to unite the Lamanites. . . .” (Ehat 269).
Had Joseph done nothing more than translate the Book of Mormon, his contribution would have been greater than all other efforts to help the Native Americans; yet an examination of his life indicates his concern for and involvement with them went much further. But his time and energy were limited. He was faced with continual personal persecution, legal battles, and imprisonment. He conducted the defense, movements, and growth of the Church and the founding of cities. The Lord gave him many assignments including the new translation of the Bible, the translation of the Egyptian papyri, the organization of the Priesthood, the revelation of temple ordinances and their dissemination, etc. All of these required concentrated effort and substantial time. Spencer W. Kimball summarized:
The very first thing before the Church was organized, Joseph Smith caught the vision of this work. He sent Oliver Cowdery, Ziba Peterson, and Parley P. Pratt and Peter Whitmer to the Indians immediately. They didn’t do very much. The brethren had their hands full: there were persecutions and the expulsions and the exodus and the settlement of this country. So missionary work with the Indians was limited in the Church to whom the great responsibility came. (Kimball, “The Children” 6)
Brigham Young indicated that “there was a watch placed upon [Joseph] continually to see that he had no communication with the Indians” (Journal of Discourses 4:41; hereafter JD). Perhaps the Lord inspired Joseph to proceed cautiously in the face of false accusations which so negatively impacted the Saints. One wonders if the Lord also revealed to him that as important as this work was, only the seeds thereof were then being planted, that the fulfillment of the promises awaited a future day. Whereas this effort had originally been a primary objective of Joseph’s ministry, as the flood of revelation broadened his assignments, it became one of the principal objectives in the midst of many others. In the Proclamation of the Twelve Apostles issued 6 April 1845, many of the 115 paragraphs discuss the Lamanites, giving a more balanced perspective of their place in the overall picture than perhaps would have been the case had such a mission statement been issued in 1829 (see Clark 252–66).
In Nauvoo, Joseph was heavily occupied in the restoration of the blessings given to Abraham as part of the gathering of the house of Israel, the initial stages of which were just then beginning. Who, in Joseph’s mind, would have fit more prominently into the family of Abraham (for whom the blessings were being restored) than the Lamanites? It seems Joseph knew they were of Israel before he knew he was. Was it not the spirit of the Book of Mormon and the continual leadership of the Prophet in this regard that led individual members of the Church to have special personal encounters with the Lamanites? (see Johnson 76). Contrary to general assumption, there were a few Lamanites baptized in his day. Panina S. Cotton, a Cherokee, and Lewis Dana, an Oneida, received their temple blessings in Nauvoo (Black 11:760, 13:194).”
Ultimately, what did Joseph accomplish? By the gift and power of God, he translated the Book of Mormon which revealed who the Native Americans are, their heritage of prophets and priests, of repentance and righteousness, and of pride and destruction. It discloses promises to this remnant of Israel, so diligently sought by their ancestors and vouchsafed by the covenants of the Lord. It proclaims their glorious future in the face of their state of poverty. In a personal way, Joseph seemed to feel a kinship to this people whose culture was so very distant from his own. He knew he and they were both descendants of Joseph of old, the son of Israel. He knew that Joseph of old, their prophet ancestor, had foretold that a mighty seer would be raised up from his posterity to bring to pass much restoration to the remnant of his seed (2 Nephi 3:6–12). From his early tutoring by Moroni to his personal visits with numerous Native American chiefs, Joseph Smith sought to bring to this chosen people the glad tidings of the restoration.
But what did he see in the way of fulfillment for his efforts? In mortality he saw very little, but in vision he must have seen the Lamanites “blossom as a rose” (D&C 49:24). Byron R. Merrill, “Joseph Smith and the Lamanites,” in Joseph Smith: The Prophet, The Man, ed. Susan Easton Black and Charles D. Tate Jr. (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1993), 187–202
How the LDS Church’s response to ‘The Book of Mormon’ musical is actually working
When “The Book of Mormon” musical opened on Broadway in 2011, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints issued the following statement:
“The production may attempt to entertain audiences for an evening, but the Book of Mormon as a volume of scripture will change people’s lives forever by bringing them closer to Christ.”
When the musical came to Los Angeles in 2012, the LDS Church bought ad space in the show’s playbill and similar ads later appeared in productions of “The Book of Mormon” musical throughout the country. The ads said things like, “The book is always better” and “You’ve seen the play, now read the book.”
Tyler Todd saw the play and it drove him to read the book, the Tennessean reported on Tuesday.
“I just thought it was really funny and obviously I knew it was kind of making fun of the religion,” Todd said. “I was like, ‘Well, I’ve heard their side of things, I want to hear what people who actually believe think about it.’”
Then there’s the story of Richard Marcus, a former California mayor whose viewing of the musical served as a catalyst in his investigation of the church.
The LDS Church has been applauded by both public relations professionals and media outlets for its response to the production in the more than five years since its release. Just this month, INC.com highlighted the Mormon strategy as a model for how to respond when “someone is rude to you.”
Award-winning public relations professional Chris Thomas offered his take on the church’s response in 2012.
“The playbill ad is another example of the LDS Church’s savvy response to ‘The Book of Mormon’ musical,” Thomas said. “Instead of protesting the musical, which is something that many would do, especially religious organizations, they made a bold and deliberate decision to embrace the situation. They have taken something that could have been detrimental to the church’s missionary efforts and made it positive.”
In fact, the creators of the musical told NPR that they “had faith” that the church would respond favorably.
“Before the church responded, a lot of people would ask us, ‘Are you afraid of what the church would say?’ And Trey (Parker) and I were like, ‘They’re going to be cool.’ And they were like, ‘No, they’re not. There are going to be protests,’” co-creator Matt Stone said. “And we were like, ‘Nope, they’re going to be cool.’ We weren’t surprised by the church’s response. We had faith in them.” Email: [email protected]
The Oath & Reign of Judges: A New Freedom
Listen to this!! Moroni’s Theme “THE OATH” Movie – SNEAK LISTEN with The AMAZING Trevor Morris!
Also, in case you missed our update explaining the name change to The Oath and other important things:
Last 8 minute update below, which includes a FIRST LOOK TEASER of our first full feature, The Oath, based on our Reign of Judges pilot short film. A lot to unpack since our last update but the video says it all. Get excited!
Also, this week we had another amazing investor come in with significant funds to help us across the production finish line. We are still raising capital for MARKETING. Our offering will remain open until The Oath is released, so you may direct any potential investors to fill out our brief INVESTMENT FORM and we can reach out to them personally. Thanks again for your continued support!
PS – Please, Forward this email to a friend
Yours in FAITH and FREEDOM,
Darin Scott
Actor/Writer/Director
http://www.imdb.me/realdarinscott
The Oath & Reign of Judges: A New Freedom
“The first North American (Book of Mormon) war epic set in the pre-Columbian New World.” Copyright © *2022* *Reign of Judges Movie, LLC*, All rights reserved
Below Darin Scott has answered a few questions about his two movies, Reign of the Judges and The Oath.
Are the filmmakers behind this all members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints?
No. This film is entirely independent of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and we are independently funded by over 43 amazing investors. 90% of the cast and crew on our pilot short film were not members of The Church of Jesus Christ, and an even higher number than that is true of our first full feature. We’re proud of the fact that so many of all faiths (and of no faiths) have joined our production team and lent their inspiring talents to this meaningful endeavor. Nearly all the Hollywood professionals we’ve consulted have been very supportive of (and genuinely intrigued with) what we are doing.
Yes, the Writer/Director, Darin Scott, is an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who has made a lifelong study of the Book of Mormon and is an enthusiastic fan of Captain Moroni.
Mark Burnett did a masterful job of producing the Bible and Son of God. Mel Gibson did the same with The Passion of The Christ. Should we not see these movies because they’re both Catholic? Of course not. Likewise, we will employ the best talent in Hollywood, regardless of religious or irreligious affiliation, but we also feel it’s important to have a few team members who are active members of the Church of Jesus Christ and can provide the necessary knowledge of the source material.
I’m a Christian, should I support this movie?
Absolutely, YES! If you are a freedom-loving patriot of liberty, you will support making this film. It’d be the “Christian” thing to do ;).
Of course, as Christians, we read many books about Christ that are not the Bible. C.S. Lewis’ “Mere Christianity”, Sarah Young’s “Jesus Calling”, or Max Lucado’s “Fearless”, for example, are excellent Christian choices. But these books may be (and often are) written by pastors from Church denominations other than our own. Does this mean we up and change our Church just because we read a book from a different denomination? Of course not.
Of the Book of Mormon’s 239 chapters, 174 of them (73%) deal with war, terrorism, murder, political conspiracies, secret combinations, threats, family collusions, and other hostilities. These are universal themes 100% of the world understands. In contrast, the Book of Mormon also references Jesus nearly 4000 times as “Another Testament of Jesus Christ”. It’s one of the most Christ-soaked books on the planet.
With these merits, Reign of Judges: Title of Liberty is a war epic based on a book capable of attracting one of the largest, most ideologically-diverse audiences in history. It’s no wonder the Book of Mormon will soon be the 9th most translated book in the world approaching nearly 150 languages. But here’s the thing, if you’re not member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the book is just another book about Jesus that’s also chock full of universally-relatable themes. Whether in a different religion or in no religion at all, you should support this epic film. Reign of Judges: Title of Liberty is really just an action-packed entertaining story about the blood cost price of LIBERTY that is soaked in the Spirit of Freedom. A period action film that follows a people who fled Jerusalem to declare independence from the oppressive king Zedekiah.
If you want to know something really interesting, the man our story centers around, Captain Moroni, actually coined the phrase “Christian” in 73 BC. Think of it, the inhabitants of ancient America had such faith in Christ they took upon themselves His name, even before He became flesh on earth. “And thus (Moroni) was preparing to support their liberty, their lands, their wives, and their children, and their peace, and that they might live unto the Lord their God, and that they might maintain that which was called by their enemies the cause of Christians. And therefore, at this time, Moroni prayed that the cause of the Christians, and the freedom of the land might be favored (Alma 48:10).”
Please, especially if you’re Christian, buy and share our concept short film, make a donation, or make an investment in our film, which represents your love of liberty, peace, and freedom that Christ affords His children. You won’t regret it
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What will the Nephites and Lamanites look like in Reign of Judges (as well as their armor)?
This is a long one, sorry :). Need to be thorough here.
First, I think it best to acknowledge nobody really knows what either people looked like (if we are taking the events as historical). Everything we have put into our film is derived from or inspired directly by the record itself (The Book of Mormon). This includes the necessary creative liberties that have been taken to fill story gaps and pertinent details. Sadly, much of what people believe with regard to how Nephites and Lamanites looked anciently and where Book of Mormon events took place is derived from outside of the record itself (from “Scholarly” sources), which inherently involve someone else’s interpretation. Moreover, embracing the temptation to view these events through modern political vernaculars would also be detrimental to their authenticity. It’s also important to note, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints does not have an official position on what the Nephites looked like, nor where Book of Mormon events took place. To get caught up in these matters would miss the mark and be exactly the kind of distraction the opposition would love to create. And certainly to withhold support based on such opinions would be an even greater advantage to the opposition.
That said, here is what we do know. There was a lot of mixing between the Nephites and Lamanites, per the record, throughout their 1000 year cohabitation in the New World. At times, the Lamanites were “more righteous” than the Nephites and visa versa. At times, the Nephites where “white” and the Lamanites “dark” and visa versa. As far as the way they looked and skin color, the prophet Nephi, the first (in the Book of Mormon), saw in vision the “Gentiles” taking possession of what is now America. We do know the Gentiles, or the people who established America, essentially looked (and still do look) like Europeans. We can readily observe this even today.
Nephi said in his vision:
“And I beheld the Spirit of the Lord, that it was upon the Gentiles, and they did prosper and obtain the land (the land that Nephi also possessed with his people) for their inheritance; and I beheld that they were white, and exceedingly fair and beautiful, like unto my people before they were slain.” 1 Nephi 13:15Here Nephi describes the Gentiles in great detail and then giving us the astonishing link directly to his people by saying the Gentiles looked “like… my people before they were slain.”
There are three critical points to consider in this vision.
1. If Nephi was a prophet we must believe he had this vision and he meant what he said. His words should not have projections placed on them to mean anything other than what he wrote, even if it doesn’t fit modern political vernaculars.
2. Nephi himself professed to be one who “(gloried) in plainness” and therefore his words must be taken plainly to mean exactly what they were intended to mean. White means white, fair means fair, and beautiful means beautiful. We also know that Lehi (Nephi’s father) and their families came from Jerusalem so that means they were white and fair Hebrews, essentially.
3. Nephi says, very importantly, that the Gentiles looked like his people “BEFORE they were slain”. The Native Americans found in America when the Gentiles drove them off the land, as was prophesied would take place in the Book of Mormon itself, were not the way the Nephites looked. There were nearly 1400 years of war, conflict, decivilization, and degeneration that took place among the Lamanites after they had destroyed the Nephites off the face of the land; so even the Lamanites in Nephi’s time likely looked very different from those found here at the time of Columbus and the early explorers.The Lamanites were described many times as having a darker skin color, shaved heads, and fighting in loincloths. So that gives us one image. But there were other times when the Lamanites looked just like the Nephites, a few years after Christ’s post-resurrection visit to the Americas, for example.
That said, again, there was much mixing so there were Lamanites who joined the Nephites and visa versa. Usually the white Nephites who dissented to the Lamanites did so for political purposes and used the Lamanites’ hatred of the Nephites to incite war. The ultimate end of such conflict was to supplant the Nephites’ free republic with a monarchy. This will all be portrayed in Reign of Judges: Title of Liberty.
Finally, the Nephites would not have looked Roman necessarily. The Nephites appealed more to Egypt than anything else. They spoke often of (and held in highest regard) Joseph of Egypt. This is why the armor we designed hints of Egypt. We also know there was Greek influence from the descendants of Mulek, son of Zedekiah, who also came to the Northern part of the Americas before Lehi’s group arrived. We have names like “Archeantus”, a Greek name, found among the Captains of the Nephites, for example. What is a Greek name doing in the pre-Columbian New World? As far as armor is concerned, we also know the Nephites had possession of breastplates from the fallen civilization of the Jaredites. These breastplates were likely highly influential in the armor designs that Captain Moroni developed for his soldiers. What influences did the Jaredites have, hailing from the Tower of Babel? There is much to consider but the armor we have designed and the actors who will be featured will reflect what we know, as taken from the Book of Mormon itself.
We want to strike a tone similar to Terrance Malick’s The New World for the Lamanites and Exodus: Gods and Kings or The Ten Commandments for the Nephites, with mixing on both sides.
There will be many people of color in our film. There will also be many white people, as described by the record. In this sense, Reign of Judges will be an extremely diverse saga and the first film, Title of Liberty, will feature a Lamanite group who joins the Nephites, laying down their weapons of war in a covenant of peace. A very moving story as a backdrop to the heroic action of Captain Moroni’s defensive warfare.
View the successful Short film, “Reign of Judges below.
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View the new Prequel called “The Oath- A Redeeming Love. A Transcending Mission”
https://youtu.be/wKq8hMcMdI4
We showed the first full cut of the movie “The Oath” at the 29th Book of Mormon Evidence Conference at the Davis County Conference Center, in 2021. We love and appreciate Darin’s dedication and hard work to share this film with us.
