Bud Hertig

@Sloanius @antiantimormon I highly suggest you listen to this podcast in its entirety: theancienttradition.com

@BudHertig @antiantimormon Except Masonry only goes back to 1300 CE. So, no, it doesn't go back to Temple of Solomon. That is the origin story in their Temple ceremony, the story of Hiram Abiff.

If Joseph Smith was a fraud trying to gain followers, why so much focus on the temple? And how did he know so much about ancient temple worship that was not understood in his day? Why Temple Focus? Joseph lived in Protestant America. In the upstate New York and New England religious world that shaped his early life, the population was overwhelmingly Protestant. Catholics were a tiny minority (less than 1%), and Jewish communities were almost nonexistent in that region. The dominant religious culture was Bible-centered Protestantism. Faith in Jesus, Bible, preaching worship services. But liturgy, ritual, priesthood ordinances, sacred clothing, and temple worship were generally viewed as things that had been fulfilled, replaced, or done away in Christ. In other words, Joseph lived in a culture of religion without temple liturgy. So if he was simply trying to attract followers, why introduce strange, foreign-sounding temple practices? Wouldn’t that make his movement harder to sell? And yet, from the beginning, the restored Church was pointed toward temples. When there were barely 1,000 members in Kirtland, the Saints began building a temple after being rebuked by the Lord multiple times for delay. When the Saints gathered in Missouri, they were immediately commanded to build a temple there as the center piece of Zion. This was a difficult, inconvenient expensive, demanding strategy if it was something Joseph was just making up. How Did Joseph Know So Much About The Temple? The Bible gives only limited detail about ancient temple worship. Much of the tabernacle system belonged to a lower law after Israel rejected the higher law. And by the Second Temple period, many scholars argue that Israelite religion had already changed dramatically from its older temple roots. Methodist scholar Margaret Barker has argued that Jesus came as a restorer of lost temple religion. Her research points to ancient temple themes involving the Holy of Holies, the everlasting covenant, the Atonement, Melchizedek, anointing oil, divine sonship, and the transformation of human beings into divine beings. Her work also identifies early Christian temple imagery involving sacred clothing, washings and anointings, new names, creation, the Garden of Eden, temptation, and special garments. Some of Jesus’s most significant moments happened around the temple. He taught there. He cleansed it. He called it His Father’s house. Clearly, the temple mattered to Him, though not in the corrupted way some religious rulers were using it in His day. Additional research by modern scholars also shows that early Christians retained elements of temple worship that closely align with the Latter-day Saint temple today. So how and why did an uneducated farm boy focus so much on the temple? Because he was not inventing something new to gain followers. He was doing what he was commanded to do. He was restoring ancient truths, covenants, ordinances, priesthood authority, and temple worship that allow mankind to be exalted through Jesus Christ. Joseph Smith was a prophet.

@Sloanius @antiantimormon It doesn’t have to go back to the Temple of Solomon to have borrowed traditions from the ancients.

@DominusAD78 @antiantimormon False.

@antiantimormon He didn’t “mysteriously recover” temple knowledge, he joined Freemasonry in 1842 and borrowed it. Handshakes, oaths, ritual structure...it’s documented. That’s not restoration, that’s repackaging.

@GHPsauce @antiantimormon Not insane at all.

@antiantimormon So freemasonry copied their gestures from the ancient Jewish priesthood? That’s insane. They’re a social club.

@antiantimormon @Sloanius That is exactly it.

@Sloanius Yeah... Not even close. A few parallels yes, but the overall temple worship is not even close. But are the Masonic parallels because the Masonic rituals actually did originate from ancient temple practices like they claim? 🤔

@MarioNawfal Nonsense.

When a human egg is fertilized, it releases an explosion of zinc fireworks visible under a microscope. Every single human life starts with a flash of light. The universe did the same thing 13 billion years ago, just bigger.

@acewizardnz Funny cause I feel the exact opposite. It’s so obviously true I don’t understand why more people don’t see it. It does take some work to find out though. I suppose that’s it.

I try to be tolerant of other religions but Mormonism is so profoundly fake in such obvious ways that I genuinely do struggle to respect it at all.

@mateiahlouise Agreed. 🤜🏻

Oh man. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is so true, it's ridiculous at this point. It is just beautiful, and whole and true! IT'S JUST TRUE!!!!

@theboocer @justin_hart Yet the fact people do should give you pause.

“have a firm testimony of the book of mormon from a personal witness” Do mormons just not get how stupid this sounds?? No one should make an eternal consequential decision on some stupid personal witness. That is why God gave us a brain to critically assess whether the book of mormon stands up to the Bible and its truth. It does not.

Here we go. I want you to know this: I'm going to be posting occasionally about my faith as a Latter-day Saint. I have a firm testimony of the Book of Mormon from a personal witness, but it's understandable if people have questions about its veracity. Note that the first several chapters of the Book of Mormon take place in 600 BC Jerusalem. The question at hand: how could Joseph Smith have gotten SO MUCH RIGHT about that culture, namesakes, locations, politics, language, of military practices from pre-exile Judah if he conjured the Book of Mormon from whole cloth in 1830?! We defer, of course, to the greatest LDS scholar and apologist: Hugh Nibley:

@Hayesfawcett3 @Rivals Cougs baby

NEWS: Four-Star Safety Malakai Taufoou is down to 5 Schools, he tells me for @Rivals The 6’2 195 S from Redwood City, CA is ranked as the No. 6 Safety in the Golden State (per Rivals) Where Should He Go? on3.com/rivals/malakai…

@Hayesfawcett3 @Rivals @Blake3229 Cougs baby

NEWS: Four-Star WR Blake Wong is down to 5 Schools, he tells me for @Rivals

The 6’1 184 WR totaled 84 receptions for 1,470 yards and 20 TDS in 2025 (10 games)

Where Should He Go?
 on3.com/rivals/blake-w…

@elonmusk Millions… lol

Teslas are in tunnels under Vegas transporting millions of people

@Samuraijrussell That’s not the church’s role. They’ll let others do it. youtube.com/watch?v=NquJh8…

If the LDS Church has billions of dollars, claims to be led by revelation, and insists the Book of Mormon is a historical record, why hasn’t it funded a comprehensive archaeological project to prove it? Surely any credible findings would bolster its membership growth/legitimacy.

@Tytan_Dejong08 @BYUfootball @Coach_Popp @CoachTyusMoe Let’s go!

First, I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and my family for giving me the opportunity to be the person and player that I am today. That being said after lots of thought and prayer I am excited to announce my commitment to BYU!! GO COUGARS!!🔵⚪️ AGTG!!! @BYUfootball

@boyblue Amen, bro.

I’ve read the CES Letter, watched the ex‑Mormon TikToks, seen the YouTube ‘tell‑alls.’ Yet I stayed. Not because I’m ignorant, but because I’ve also read the Book of Mormon, kept the commandments & my Temple covenants and watched God actually change me & my family for the best

@BetMGM Guess which one has 6 players out with season-ending injuries…

BYU: $12 million roster Utah State: $1.5 million roster Guess which one is headed to the second round

@DoctorLemma I was there that day and watched the whole thing unfold.

Sixteen years ago, one man stood alone on a grassy hill at a music festival in Washington State, USA, and started dancing by himself. People glanced over and looked away. Some laughed. His roommate leaned in and warned him people were filming him. He did not stop. Then one stranger got up and joined him. Then another. Then the hillside tipped. Within minutes, hundreds of people were sprinting from across the field to be part of something that, thirty seconds earlier, had been one man being laughed at in a field. Someone filming from higher up the hill said quietly: "See what one man can do. One man can change the world." The clip spread across the internet in 2009. Entrepreneur Derek Sivers played it at a TED conference to explain how movements actually begin. Not with the first person brave enough to start, he argued, but with the first person willing to join them. Collin Wynter, the man dancing alone, later said he had no idea he had done anything special. He was just tired of watching everyone sit still.

@DeadBug15 I love my ward.

I’ve lived in my current ward for 6.5 years and feel like I wouldn’t miss it if I moved away tomorrow. I participate in the activities we have, and I’m active in my calling, but do others (esp men) feel this same way? Almost zero emotional connection to the ward?

@glennbeck Irresponsible… unless it’s true.

Joe Kent, a top counterterrorism official, resigned today claiming that Trump was duped by Israel into starting a war with Iran. Ok, Joe. Where’s the evidence? The consequences of a claim like this are too dire not to be backed with facts. If you have them, I'll stand with you, but present the evidence.

@collinsworth55 I know this is slightly off topic, but based on some of the comments here, I’ve gotta say. Living in Utah, I’ve never once heard someone complaining about the time change when they fly to, say, California. It’s comical how much people fuss over the clock changing twice a year.

Alright let’s settle this. Standard Time or Daylight Savings Time? Give me your best response of which one is better!!