Mormon Land

• Why stories of the ‘Three Nephites’ continue to teach, tantalize and amuse members | Episode 417

  If you ask members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints if they know about the “Three Nephites,” chances are most will know the allusion. The story comes from the Book of Mormon in chapters where the risen Christ visits the Americas and chooses 12 apostles. Of those, three ask to linger in mortality until Jesus comes again, ministering to the people. From the time when the book of scripture was first published until today, members have reported encounters with these shape-shifting strangers, who seem to pop up randomly angelic visitors of sorts sent to help people. For decades, Brigham Young University professor William A. “Bert” Wilson, seen as “the father of Mormon folklore,” gathered these accounts. After he died in 2016, the collection went to one of his students, Julie Swallow, a teaching and learning consultant at the church-owned Provo school. The collection now forms the nucleus of a new book, “The Three Nephites: Saints, Service, and Supernatural Legend,” from Swallow and co-authors Christopher Blythe, Eric Eliason and Jill Terry Rudy. On this week’s show, Swallow and Blythe, an assistant professor of folklore at BYU and co-host of the “Angels and Seerstones” podcast, discuss these stories, what they mean spiritually and communally, and why the “Three Nephites” continue to engage and entertain believers.

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• How much sway do top LDS leaders hold over members’ views? | Episode 416

  A grassroots movement centered in Salt Lake City more than 40 years ago kept Utah and Nevada from hosting the world’s largest nuclear weapons system. During the final years of the Cold War, a peaceful rebellion against the MX mobile missile saved the Great Basin from significant environmental impacts and helped change the course of the arms race. Aiding the activists was a powerful ally: the then-president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Spencer W. Kimball. In 1981, Kimball and his counselors, apostles N. Eldon Tanner and Marion G. Romney, came out against the project in a lengthy statement that read in part: “Our fathers came to this Western area to establish a base from which to carry the gospel of peace to the peoples of the Earth. It is ironic, and a denial of the very essence of that gospel, that in this same general area there should be constructed a mammoth weapons system potentially capable of destroying much of civilization.” The church leaders’ forceful opposition helped turn the tide of public opinion in Utah against the MX, and the U.S. eventually abandoned weapons plan. Now, some of those same activists are agitating again, this time against the ongoing development, partially in Utah, of a new generation of nuclear missiles designed to replace an aging arsenal. Once again, they’re looking for an assist from the church’s top brass, now led by President Dallin H. Oaks. In an October letter mailed to the faith’s Salt Lake City headquarters, they called on the newly ascended prophet to condemn the Sentinel missile project. To date, church leaders have offered no response. How much impact would it have if they did is unclear and, according to political scientist Quin Monson, depends a great deal on how it would be framed and communicated. On this week’s show, Monson, a professor at church-owned Brigham Young University, outlines research on how Latter-day Saint leaders have shaped — and can shape — public opinion with members in the pews.

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• A deep analysis of the 55 new LDS missions | Episode 415

  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently announced plans to add 55 missions across the globe next year. That’s the most since the Utah-based faith of 17.5 million members created 58 missions in 2013 and brings its total tally worldwide to 506. At the same time, the current corps of full-time missionaries has topped 84,000 and, according to apostle Quentin Cook, convert baptisms during the first six months of 2025 ran 20% higher than the first half of last year. So what do all these positive numbers mean when it comes to the pace and prospects of church growth now and in the future? Independent researcher Matt Martinich, who tracks such data for the websites cumorah.com and ldschurchgrowth.blogspot.com, wrote an analysis of the new missions and discusses his findings.

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• Fact and fiction in “Truth & Treason” | Episode 414

  The heroic tale of Helmuth Hübener, a teenage Latter-day Saint activist who was executed in 1942 for trying to warn Germans about Hitler’s lies, is familiar to many members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the United States and abroad. He has been the subject of plays, articles, books and a documentary. For those who still don’t know it, though, there is now a feature film, “Truth & Treason,” that recounts Hübener’s harrowing experience of faith and courage. What is fact and what is fiction in the film? More important, what is its message to modern believers? Discussing those questions and more on this week’s show is Alan Keele, an emeritus professor of German language and literature at Brigham Young University, who first publicized the story.

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• 'Mormons in Media' crossover: Secret Lives vs. SLC Housewives: What's going on with Utah women and reality TV?

  On the November crossover episode between ‘Mormon Land’ and ‘Mormons in Media, ’ Rebbie and Nicole are joined by humor columnist Eli McCann to talk Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. Rebbie is coming in blind to the Real Housewives franchise, so this go around, she's the one with the questions. The three discuss differences between 'Secret Lives of Mormon Wives' and 'Real Housewives of Salt Lake City' and why one is so much easier to consume than the other. How is the church represented in RHOSLC? Let's discuss.

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