Debunking Anti-Mormon Free Mason and Seer Stone Myths (feat. Don Bradley) 

Thank you Don Bradley for all your research. It has been pivotal for our family. My husband was incredibly anti-mormon and over the past decade has had many discussions with missionaries, but could never accept Joseph Smith until he started watching this channel and your appearances on it. Now not only does he accept Joseph Smith, but finally was baptised last weekend. Thank you Ward Radio for all the guests you have on, we love watching this channel. 😊😊

I was slipping away from my LDS beliefs because of these exact questions(I am back baby!!!)thank you this stopped me leaving the church .

These Don Bradley episodes are top tier content.

Currently studying the lds church and its doctrine. Thank you guys for clarifying all sorts of things for me. Im currently trying to let the spirit guide me to the Lords church if thats where he wants me to be. Still unsure about many things and which church i should be going to to get the most out of my earthly mortal life but you lds people sure do have the spirit of the Lord and i love it!

The most sarcastic and entertaining of the LDS apologist shows.

This blows my mind. I am a convert to the Church and actually became a Freemason the year before I joined. I personally have always felt that the Masonic ceremonies are a modern take on an ancient temple ceremony. I had a friend who had left the Church who knew I was a Freemason ask me once didn’t I think that Joseph Smith stole the idea of the temple ceremony from Freemasonry and I told him I actually didn’t.

Don Bradley, you are a gem! I could listen to you all day. This has been so enjoyable and mind blowing!

Fascinating!! The more we go to the temple the more we learn about our Savior and understanding of the divine truth. Thank you for your service and sharing your wisdom.

I think we should start calling ‘Anti-Mormons’ what they really and to be grammatically correct whether they claim to be Christian or not, ‘Anti-Church of Jesus Christ’ 🙃

I love all the Don Bradley episodes! One of your best guests yet, Cardon!

Don Bradley is quickly becoming my favorite person to hear from. He sees things that are so fascinating. The Lost 116 pages is a great read as well.

Great episode! I’m totally bias because I was name dropped in it.😂 The temple connections pointed out by Don along with John Welches 47 points of ritual context in the sermon at the temple have made me realize I need to go back a reread the BOM even closer and in a temple context lense. Thanks Don and Cardon the whole crew was so on point in this episode.

Going to buy his book asap! Please post more with Don Bradley. The Liahona seems to represent the light of Christ/conscience or a preparatory tool, whereas the interpreters resemble the Holy Ghost which doesn’t just tell and point to what to do, but shows you, like the interpreters do. Reminds me of when Nephi says the Holy Ghost will show you what you should do and he’s frustrated because he can’t explain more simply than that. Really neat symbolism.

I love sacred geometry, and I love to see LDS doing more to claim and use it as part of our religious life and expression. So glad to have discovered Don Bradley and his work. Thanks all, for this excellent conversation.

Oh man best episode ever guys. Sorry it's all downhill from here. You just opened up so much to my mind. If those symbols are on the temple garment and they represent the urim and thummin or lights and perfections. Then that means the temple garment are representative of the white stone we will all receive in the ceslestial kingdom. That's why they are a necessity for passing through the veil and are in fact part of the veil itself. And since they are the coats of skins, that means Adam and Eve had access to urim and thummim too. Thanks a ton.

Joseph stated that there was a lot more that occurred during the first vision that he never talked about and that he never disclosed to anyone. So in my opinion, the vision happened like he stated, the light came down, rested upon him, the Father and the Son stood there in the light, God introduced his Son, Jesus Spoke to him and answered his questions about which church to join, called him to be a prophet….and then after these occurrences, could’ve touched his eyes and opened up more visions for him to see. Who knows what else was revealed to him at that time? Maybe he saw a little bit of his own life and what that would look like and some of the challenges he would face as a prophet. Maybe he was shown visions of past prophets and dispensation heads or even instructed by them. Maybe he met Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Moses, etc, or saw visions of their lives, how they were called and and how they handled their responsibilities. In one account he said there were also many angels present in the vision. Maybe he was also ordained, set apart, and anointed by Jesus Christ himself, with Christ’s hands on his head, to be a prophet. We know there was much more that occurred during that first vision, the possibilities are endless!

yeh this series of videos has been amazing. love how Don rolls with the jokes but then manages everyone else's attention to get down to business :)

The more I listen to Don the more I like him, he seems to be a very cool, smart guy.

Ward radio and Don Bradley are my two favs. And together? 🎉 It’s fun to hear him say some of the things I read in his book, and then expound on them a bit. Great content Brethren. You’re all doing a great work.

This makes me want to start a podcast just so I can talk to Don 😂

Don Bradley discussions all day every day 🙌

These Don Bradley episodes have been so compelling. Better than "Ashoka"

Loving these Episodes with Don! Love the faith promoting content.

I have absolutely loved Don Bradley’s episodes!! Amazing content!!

Shabaka stone play tells me we got the temple items from a much older source than FMs.

Thank you for listening to the viewers Cardon and allowing Don to grace our presence.

This has been one of my most favorite videos from y’all yet! I got chills from this, so cool!

Masonry has as much in common with the Restoration as apostate Catholicism has with the LDS Church. Bradley shouldn't be super-imposing Masonry upon elements of the Restoration.

This is seriously one of the most mind blowing videos y'all have had!

My dad has had a lot of questions about the free-masons connection to the church for about 30 years now. He hasn't known what to make of that connection. Kinda got lampooned by anti in his early 30's. And while I dont think he would be ready to see this episode, I am :) God and I have been on a journey about the free masons since I was 8 and watching this was literally adding another mind blowing piece of the puzzle! Ya know the puzzle that when it comes together, you just start crying cause you're so happy? That may or may not have been me today watching this. True story. It's nice to have friends that dont just bandaid or skim over the tough questions. Tons of respect for Don Bradley. And for all you guys at midnight mormons/ward radio. Super grateful for you guys! Keep it up! This is fantastic! p.s. There's a chance that what I've written sounds like I'm comparing my dad and I. That's not my intent. This is me letting him have space to see things how he sees them, while embracing what resonates with me.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ll be watching and sharing a few times. This is so enlightening. Thank you.

34:40 Joseph Smith described the light as Brighter far than noon-day sun. One would need a welders mask to be able to see with the natural eye.

Rock on, Don! thanks for the mind-blowing insights. Im going through your book right now, and enjoying every page and footnote.

I love that Joseph become a Freemason and was inspired through the Holy Ghost to create a way to practice ceremonies that help teach, guide, uplift, edify, seal, bless, endow, baptize and bring people into an experience that is powerful. The Mason Ceremony is for the earth while the LDS Temple Ceremony is for Heaven. God can take something that already exists and bring people to create something that is truly more elevated and spiritual to bring restoration to an even greater reality.

My most recent visit to the temple, as the endowment session began, my vision changed and there was a literal expansion in my mind and view of something I just could not comprehend. I could feel and knew I was on a deeper spiritual plane. Within a minute of the experience I began to let doubt in and the experience ended. I was left to my mortal state of mind fighting my mild narcolepsy and trying not to doze off so much but I did have another touching experience later in the ceremony. This conversation helped me understand a little bit more about my experience as I was “seeing”. I have dreams and visions but this experience was deeper and sadly short lived. I believe the Lord is working in my hard heart, especially when it comes to my La k of temple attendance. There truly is much deeper things to experience, almost in another dimension where revelation can be opened up to us in a state of peace, minus the anxiety, as you spoke of.

God touches Moses' eyes so that he can see in the Book of Moses too. So cool

Im surprised you guys didn't bring Kwaku El in for this one. I think there's a lot of good esoteric elements that are connected to all this. Awesome none the less. Can't tell you guys enough how great it has been to have more material from Don Bradley. A scholar and a gentleman.

Wow these same experiences happened to me. I started my own channel about it to try to explain it but in a different way. I realized this when I studied the tabernacle and realized all these stories follow the same patterns and sequences. All leading to becoming a purified vessel and seer stone.

Awesome discussion! Nice job, Cardon, getting an "ohhh!" from Don! And Shaun for his honorable mention of a "yeah". Lol!

Awesome episode! Thank you, Don, for sharing your research and testimony.

We need a pt. 2 to this one.

This episode was 🔥🔥🔥. Please bring Don Bradley back again!

This is one of my favorite episodes from this channel ever! Can’t wait to get his book!

First time watching your channel, definitely subscribing, great conversation guys!

Regarding skins, made me think of Adam and Eve being covered by coats of skins when leaving the garden

Wow this is fantastic! I want an audio book of Don's book.

Don Bradley’s research and writing are treasures to BoM understanding and interpretation. We all want to read whatever he publishes next.

I am a very active member of the church and have held positions such as High Priest Group Leader , Elders Quorum Pres. etc.. I am also a Freemason. I became interested in Freemasonry because of Joseph Smiths involvement in the Fraternity. He said that The degrees of Freemasonry were an apostate endowment. i believe that means that it came from the ancient gospel. That is why they use the Compass and Square,. The third jewel is the plumb. It's not surprising at all that there are similarities between the endowment and the degrees. The endowment has much deeper and spiritual meanings that pertain to our salvation. Freemasonry does not claim to offer salvation at all. Just a way to become a better man. I believe the prophet was led to it to learn how to teach symbolic principles. Hugh Nibley said that the Egyptians had the Endowment based on hieroglyphic writings in their temples. Great conversation.

Very cool topic! I’m totally going to need my Indiana Jones fedora while watching this!

Thank you all for sharing such valuable insights.

WW Phelps wrote the following as part of the hymn "Redeemer of Israel" - published the following words in the 1835 version of the Hymnbook: "As children of Zion, Good tidings for us. The tokens already appear." Joseph had been teaching elements from the temple ceremonies for many years before becoming a mason.

Cardon: "Remove thy feet." 😅

Thank you for this discussion. It helps more than you guys will ever know.

Its cool to have been here since like 3000 ish subscribers and to see yall reaching 15k now. Wild.

God acclimatizes us by degrees to walk back into his presence and be permanently transfigured through the atonement of Jesus Christ in order to live with Him. For we will see as we are seen and know as we are known and we shall see that we are like Him. Sons of God.

Wow, this was an awesome video! Super cool to hear some insight into the lost pages of the BoM

Don "The Dot Connecting, Deliberator, Deliberating Delicious Devotedness, Divulging Dutiful Dogma, to Disciples of Christ" Bradley has been quite helpful in my faith journey, along with Margaret Barker. Sure its not enough to convince non believers, but it is enough to convince struggling believers. Thats all I needed, just that one extra ancient thread connecting our religion to the past. Thank you Don Bradley, and thank you Ward Radio for having him on.

This video made me make a comparison of the mormon temple and indiana jones and the last crusades end scene. Only the penitent man shall pass? Temple recommends? Kneeling before God? The name of God? Names?? The walk of faith? Taking on covenants and enduring till the end? Choosing wisely to gain eternal life? Keeping the commandments? I love this church 😊

I love everything about this. So many things making sense right now. Also, YT added a Free Masonry context notification. Feels like they show their hand when they do things like this. Definitely doing something right.

Is there any relation between the skins Don Bradley talks about and the skins of the Holy Garment?

I've never understood why the different versions of the first account are a problem for some people. When you read them all they all align and you realize he is telling the truth but he is emphasizing different elements of the experience depending on who he is talking to and what he feel is important to communicate or remembers in that moment. Everyone one in their lives who has recounted an experience of importance to them at different times of their life will all tell it differently simply based on the situation and the audience. I myself have done it sometimes for lack of time or who I was talking to have omitted or consolidated certain points of detail. Sometimes I remember afterwards I forgot to mention certain points just based on the circumstances. This does not mean my experience or event was not real it simply means memory is not photographic. even in my life history I have written things about my life and come back later to add footnotes about something I remembered about the event to add later and sometimes for the ones who will eventually read it I have left little notes translating or explaining what I meant or felt or was using as a definition to myself based on my point of view. For example when joseph in one account mentions only the lord singularly we need to understand a couple of things. 1 when people in his time talked about the lord who is he referencing? When people of his time referenced the year of our lord who are they speaking of. The answer is Jesus Christ. This is consistent with the official 1st vision account in the JSH 1 as the father only addresses joseph and then defers to the Savior. so when he says the lord talked to him he is meaning Jesus Christ. doesn't mean the father was not there or did not speak to him at different times of the same experience. Also even if Joseph had downplayed the fathers presence in the first vision I could understand as a 14 year old boy he didn't realize by just mentioning to the pastors and others his account of seeing 2 people he was already coming into conflict as a heretic with apostate Christianity which had been teaching a false interpretation of the godhead for at least 1600 years. He would later mention just about the members of the church how he could have revealed far more to the saints if they didn't fly apart like glass whenever their TRADITIONS were challenged. He even mentioned to Brigham Young once that if he knew what Joseph knew even he wouldn't stay loyal to which Brigham was wise enough to say well joseph then don't tell me, because I know what I know. That is wise to know where your limits are and where you still need to grow before you gain certain experiences and knowledge.

Oh my gosh!! The prophets saw one eternal round. Mind blown……

There is great symbolism in the "line" and "plummet" in addition to the square and compass - tools for building/creation

I DEMAND MORE DON BRADLEY!!!

After many years, I now see how the U&T that was prepared by the hand of the Lord and given to the Brother of Jared came to the Nephites and could be passed on to Moroni to Joseph.

This is probably my favorite episode ever! ❤

@32:00 gives new meaning to the "eyes of our understanding" were opened.

Thank you for the discussion!! God is doing amazing works and giving amazing words even today! Will you come see and hear them?

Would have loved to have seen this discussion with one of the Jewish converts on the panel such as Robert Kay, Ross Baron (Los Angeles native) or Avraham Shannon. Seems like there could have been many blanks filled in had there been someone with Tanach background. There were several conclusions kept to that would not be consistent with the law or temple worship. Was a good show nonetheless is still sad that there is such a strong appeal to frame Joseph Smith by “Mormonism Unveiled”. I am still finding it odd that you are all comfortable peering into the hat of a non kosher animal to do a Levitical act such as seership.

Your Don Bradley episodes are your best episodes so far! Love ‘em!

Just a note. Anciently in the Bible animal skins were related with callings of prophets but it is also associated with the garments of skin given to Adam and Eve.

This has made me think a lot about the ways in which the temple endowment is literally preparing us for the presence of God

SUPER fascinating!

Great insights ! Love it !

This is very fascinating and what surprises me the most about this with this subject of the Seears is how many counterfeits Satan really has had made throughout the history of the world. That he is taking something that is used for righteous purposes and he makes a counterfeit to it. What comes to my mind is like a pentagram.

Many don't understand that Satan takes holy symbols and perverts them to evil. This is historical. A great example is the symbol of the Nehushtan, or brazen serpent. It began as a symbol for Christ, and morphed into an idol by the Israelites. We read that King Hezekiah actually went out and destroyed them because of this. This symbol is now used for evil in pharmakeia. The "Star of David" is actually the Star of Remphran described by Stephen in Acts 7. The jews who went into and returned from Babylon were truly corrupted into evil. The masonic symbols are also an example of perverted symbols today.

Didnt think that Reid Moon could be topped as a guest. Great content

“I watched national Treasure…” 😂😂😂

26:00 also, remember when it said of the Liahona there were two arrows and the ONE pointed the way they should go? If the compass and square were indeed part of the Liahona, this would add layers of detail to the symbolism.

Jeff Bradshaw has a good book on freemasonry and the temple ordinences. Other than the general pedagogy and a few other elements, the temple ordinances have much in common with scripture and ancient Christian and Judaic sources than freemasonry. I do wish it was a longer book as half the book are the reference and citation lists.

This conversation was fantastic

Great episode. I wish it focused on free masonry a little more because I’ve studied that subject quite a bit. I will say, the “star of David” and the “seal of Solomon” are SLIGHTLY different in design and uses. Also, there’s conflicting evidence whether the Star of David is actually anciently historical at all.

Is the book available in an audiobook?

Fascinating stuff. I’m using the internet to learn from posts like this.

Great episode!

Great research and insight!

I assume that the account of Mosiah getting the interpreters also includes why the Mulkites accepted him as king.

This was rad! Thank you :)

Anyone know how to find the paper on the First Vision Don wrote with his friend Walker Wright? 41:16 I looked on BYU Religious Studies site, not finding anything.

Interestingly, the expansion of the senses that they talk about when different figures experience the presence of the Lord, seems to echo what people who have near death experiences recount. They talk about all their senses being hugely amplified after leaving their bodies. Just something that came to mind watching this video. :D

Wait you guys got a discord? 👀 The invite link on your website don’t work but I really wanna join

HOLY MOLY TEMPLE ORDINANCE! 😱🔥🔥🔥🔥 LOVE YOU GUYS

We need to find all the descendants of the suspects and see if they have the Lost pages. I mean if it hasn't already been done.

Something else I would add is that the formation of the school of the prophets in D&C which happened a fair while before Nauvoo is full of temple language

my mind is exploding holy crap this stuff is awesome

Do a search for Melchizedek's Temple found and look at the markings carved into the floor.

Another amazing episode!

AWESOME!!

Mind blown!!! Love Don Bradley!

The finest hat, of Joseph’s time, were beaver pelts. Today’s hats are 10x beaver, 3x beaver, 50x beaver, based on the quality of the specific beaver pelt from which the wool was harvested.