So I've put together a series of videos, they're short compared to how long they could be. But they're just little clips of thoughts that I had from a recent trip to Missouri. It was actually a road trip on our way to somewhere else. But we decided to stop by a bunch of church sites while we were there
. And here's a picture of the day we left. I thought it was quite stunning. We were doing a lot of driving. So we had to, this is a very tight budget trip and so we had to get up pretty early each day. But I thought this was a nice gift from the Lord when we left. One of the shocking, I don't wanna say
realization, but it's shocking to think about how different this area is compared to how it used to be 100 years ago and nearly 100 years ago. And I frequently stopped to think about how the people then would think about where things have gone since then, especially in that area. And I don't think they'd
be very happy. Speaking of happy, let's talk about mullets because the visitor center in Independence was quite an underwhelming experience. Um Upstairs, I was really excited to go to this place. I was very excited. It was the highlight of the trip for me. Uh Like I said, we're, we're actually going
to visit family. That's, that was how we were gonna get a cheap vacation. And um my kids and my wife were looking forward to seeing family. I was looking forward to, to seeing L DS church sites and this was the pinnacle of, of what I was excited to go and see. And it was such a letdown because upstairs
, it's a bunch of modern L DS propaganda. And downstairs, it was a replica cabin and a printing press. And I just found like that the whole thing was just the questionable choices have been made. So upstairs, you've got a Christi for who knows what reason. And um the little spiral table of book, books
of Mormon in different languages and modern prophets, this and that and whatever, which makes total sense in Salt Lake and makes just about zero sense in independence. Missouri downstairs, the cabin replica was cool because you got to see what that would look like. But again, is this really the most
important thing about this site. This ought to be one of the most sacred sites in Mormonism. And the best story they have to tell is everything that happened after that. And random facts along the way of, hey, they had to build a lot of cabins and they were in a, in haste and this is what it looked like
. Ok. And then the other thing that's in the basement is a, um, a scene from the printing press that was there in town. And, you know, important enough, I guess because that's where they printed the book of commandments. But the whole thing is about how, uh, persecution, the printing press was destroyed
and these little girls saved the pages. OK. Again, cool. But I mean, let's talk about the doctrine of why this place is important. And Zion, right? Where do you hear Zion at the end of the tour? They sit you down and they play this video which you've probably seen clips of before if you're affiliated
in any way with the L DS church because it's a bunch of Gordon B Hinckley era clips of young men going on missions. And here are all the flags of places where missionaries are and uh the conference center and they're playing, come come Ye Saints in the background, which I don't know who picked that,
but they should definitely be fired because the, the chorus from the hymn is all is well, I was literally sitting in Zion in an L DS visitor center hearing the words all is well be sung to me. All is not well in Zion. And I'm pretty sure you all say you believe in a book that, that warned you about saying
all is well, in Zion and there's like a million copies of it upstairs in all the different languages in the world. Anyway, one of the things that was in this visitor center, which I did find to be very informative. Although subsequently because this was just a photo on my phone. It's been a month now
, I'm questioning whether it was in that visitor center or the Liberty visitor center, it went to later. But regardless, I want to talk about this because it's important where it is, is not that important, but what it says is important. I guess it's ironic if it's in the in the Independence Visitor Center
and maybe I seriously doubt I have the kind of reach to have this kind of impact, but maybe it'll be taken down after this video. Um I have spent a lot of time studying Mormon history, although it's been a while. And so I don't remember if I ever knew this or not, but I found this to be so interesting
. The Independence Temple lot was dedicated in 1831. When you think of the first temple, you probably think of Kirtland if you're again affiliated with Mormon history, but nothing happened in Kirtland until after they were driven from Independence. And I'm not saying there weren't people there, but the
whole temple thing that was later. It's so interesting to see this map and think about the chronology and basically the, the Mormons were getting bounced out of each place they went to with rising persecution. But temples and I'm gonna talk about this more in the next video in the series. Just a little
, just trying to pique your thought temples have specific purposes. So this isn't a surprise for those that know a little bit about the Kirtland temple. But then we throw all that understanding in the trash when we think about modern temples, at least L DS people do. So what was the purpose of each of
these temples? What was God's purpose in each of these temples? And three of them never happened. What was the first purpose with the first temple? And what was lost when the saints were run out of that county? And why were they run out? And why were they run out of Clay County and Caldwell County and
Davies County? Why were they run out of these places that they settled in? Was it just because people didn't like their religion? Even if it was, what kind of, what kind of lessons can be learned through persecution and what kind of suffering can be avoided when you fully give your heart to God? What
is he willing to do to protect the people that love him from experiences? That wouldn't necessarily advance his plan. I'm not saying suffering isn't a part of his plan. I'm the last person in the world to make that claim, who would make that claim. But his statements about Zion were prominent, important
and don't seem to me to be time related in particular. And so what I'm suggesting here, which I'll just come out and say, what if Kirtland was a consolation prize for what was lost in independence? What if, what was meant to happen in independence still has to happen? And this was the first of many branches
off into something less that God offered early Mormons because they would not accept something greater. I think that's worth thinking about. What was the purpose of each of these temples? Did that purpose come from God or man? Was that purpose accomplished? What was the story of the purpose changed to
after the fact? Because, I mean, at least in independence, they still know where the lot was in Ataman Diam and they don't even know where that temple lot was. That's how little they cared about it after the fact. So what was the purpose of these places, which of them were appointed by God? And what