A Promising New YouTube Channel Has Appeared....

[yellowstone123]

Congratulations, Kishkumen. This takes a lot of courage. I wish you great success in explaining simple historical truths regarding the LDS church.

[Kishkumen]

Kish, I thought you were more active/pro Mormon. I remember you saying you are Mormon but not LDS (paraphrased) but I didn't know what that meant so I just let it go. Lol.

No problem! It is confusing. I am not sure that the confusion will be completely settled in the YouTube episodes, but it will at least be partially clarified.

[Kishkumen]

Keep ‘em coming, Kish.

I have a question for you. Before the family’s reactivation to start the branch, were you involved with the church prior to that?


How did you become a coffee drinker? I tried smoking back in my teens. I didn’t even like it at first. It made me dizzy. Unfortunately, it took hold for a few years. Thankfully, it is thing of the past. Just curious. Not that the two things are even related, but I wish the tobacco had not appealed to me like coffee has not appealed to me thus far. Seems the thing that stinks appealed to me, yet the thing (coffee) that smells so good, hasn’t tickled my taste buds favorably so far.

We were active in an LDS ward in Alexandria, Virginia. I can still remember bits of that experience. We moved out to the country when I was 6.

I became a coffee drinker after I quit attending the LDS Church 2007. I remember going out to Walmart to buy my very first Keurig machine. I felt pretty self-conscious about it. I started drinking coffee with donuts on Saturday mornings, and then I started drinking coffee regularly at work. I found I liked it with a little creamer and sweetener. I love it. My spouse says I don't really like coffee because I don't have it black like she does.

I never really took to tobacco. Both of my brothers started smoking after they left the LDS Church, or maybe before . They left long before I did. My sense of self was very much about being Mormon and it still is.

[Kishkumen]

Due to the impact of the great American Mormon culture on current United States law and politics, there is perhaps nothing more important to discuss than the church’s 19th-century history concerning its treatment of women, the reaction of the United States in the 19th century, and how the problems festered in the Intermountain West, growing in secrecy beginning with the 1890s manifesto until, today, we are witnessing evidence of a culture of extreme organized child sexual abuse (think the BSA bankruptcy and the church’s co-liability; where women are sexually exploited, children are sexually exploited) and such discrimination against women . . .

That's a complicated and important topic, Rosebud, even the parts in which you are not the center of the topic. I doubt I can do it the justice it deserves. Still, I doubt I will be able to avoid touching on it and even devoting some episodes to it, since Sonia Johnson attended my branch when I was a kid and I remember her fairly well.

[Kishkumen]

Congratulations, Kishkumen. This takes a lot of courage. I wish you great success in explaining simple historical truths regarding the LDS church.

Thank you, yellowstone123! I am learning and I hope improving over time. Today's episode will be about changes to the LDS temple ceremonies from a long-view historical context perspective.

[Tom]

I hope you will interview some Cassius faculty soon.

Thanks, Tom! I hope so, too! We are a very anonymous bunch, so that may be a challenge.

Kish, I enjoyed listening to your videos last night. I had a few questions and comments after listening to “Summer in Mormon Land”:

1. When you referred to your exposure to the Nibley book, One Eternal Round, I was a bit confused about the timeline. Are you referring to the 2010 book? (That book seems late because you then talk about taking classes with Nibley.)

2. Do you recall the name of the Skousen book?

3. I found a website for Jacob Vidrine’s work: http://oneeternalround.org/. (Disclaimer: I have no connection to him and have not read any of his writings.)

4. What is the title of the book on the far right of the photo? (I enjoy looking at bookshelves.)

[Kishkumen]

Kish, I enjoyed listening to your videos last night. I had a few questions and comments after listening to “Summer in Mormon Land”:

1. When you referred to your exposure to the Nibley book, One Eternal Round, I was a bit confused about the timeline. Are you referring to the 2010 book? (That book seems late because you then talk about taking classes with Nibley.)

Oops! I meant to say Since Cumorah. Yikes. I should make a note of that on the channel.

2. Do you recall the name of the Skousen book?

I do not. It was written by a son of the famous Cleon Skousen. He was a science PhD, and I think the book had something to do with cosmology from an LDS perspective. It was a small run from a small press, I am sure.

3. I found a website for Jacob Vidrine’s work: http://oneeternalround.org/. (Disclaimer: I have no connection to him and have not read any of his writings.)

He is on Facebook, too. I sent him a message thanking him for his writings. I am not interested in following his beliefs, but he is a researcher along the lines of Don Bradley, although I am of course more partial to Don.

4. What is the title of the book on the far right of the photo? (I enjoy looking at bookshelves.)

Vogel's Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet

Thanks for listening, Tom!

[Tom]

Thank you, Kish, for your responses. The author may be Eric Skousen.

[Kishkumen]

Thank you, Kish, for your responses. The author may be Eric Skousen.

That was it!

[Doctor Steuss]

I heard that if you play the videos backwards, it says "Paul McCartney is Melchizedek." They also supposedly link up to the Metropolis, if you start the YouTube videos right after the opening credits.

At least that's the rumors.