
The Scriptures Are Real
The Scriptures Are Real (TSAR) with Kerry Muhlestein is a podcast where we look at elements of the scriptures that have become real to us. We interview both experts (people with language, archaeological, historical backgrounds, etc.), and lay folks, and explore times when the scriptures became real to them. This is done from the viewpoint of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We believe that there is real power in the scriptures and that as they become more real we can better apply them to our lives and draw more power from them.
If you listen to this podcast you will learn all kinds of interesting background information that will help you understand and learn more from the scriptures. We believe it will allow you to add real power to your life.
My gratitude to my co-host Lamar Newmeyer. Also to my friend Rich Nicholls, who composed the introductory music.
Latest episodes

Apr 20, 2025 • 1h 8min
S4 E25 Faith that Moves: Revelations that Begin the Gathering (D&C 37-40)
Join us for the cruise of a lifetime! The Momentum 26 Cruise will have me speaking, along with Anthony Sweat and Elaine Dalton. It will also have Jenny Oaks Baker, Nathan Pacheco, and David Osmund. It is an incredible way to start the year! Go to GoandDoTravel.com and clock on the Momentum 26 West Cruise, and use the code KERRY to get a discount.In this episode Kerry and Maclane Heward explore sections that are crucial for understanding the rest of Church history. The investigate how the Lord teaches the Saints about Zion and Enoch through the translation of the Bible, and how that prepares them for being called to gather to Kirtland. They discuss how relevant this is to our day. They talk about how necessary it is to have God in our lives, as it was for the Saints in 1831, in order to gather and be protected in turbulent times. They discuss the difficulty they would face in gathering, and how Christ reassures them, and how faith in Christ made the journey possible. They also discuss how relevant this is to our lives. They circle back around to how knowing about Enoch's city helps to inspire faith. They also explore how God is with us and helping us to do what we need to do.We are grateful for our generous donors, and for our executive producer. B. Fisher. We are also grateful for Launchpad Consulting Studios for producing the podcast, and for Rich Nicholls, who composed and plays the music for the podcast.

4 snips
Apr 19, 2025 • 30min
S4 E24 Holy Saturday and Knowing of Christ with all our Holy Week Guests
Join us for tons of explanations and idea for your Holy Week celebration and commemoration on our Patreon Website (TSAR.website). You will find videos by my wife and I explaining what happens on each day of the Holy Week, and ideas of readings and how you can celebrate that day of Holy Week and prepare for Easter Sunday. You will also get access to all our other content. Join for at least this month and take advantage of ALL our amazing extra content. It will be the best $10 you ever spent. In this episode each of Kerry's guests, and Kerry, talk about how they came to know who Christ was and what he means to them. Pastor Jeff also teaches a short lesson about Holy Saturday. We are grateful for our generous donors. We are also grateful for our executive producer, B. Fisher, and for Launchpad Consulting Studios for producing the podcast, and for Rich Nicholls, who composed and plays the music for the podcast.

Apr 18, 2025 • 21min
S4 E23 Good Friday with Sahar Qumsiyah, an LDS Palestinian Christian
Join us for tons of explanations and idea for your Holy Week celebration and commemoration on our Patreon Website (TSAR.website). You will find videos by my wife and I explaining what happens on each day of the Holy Week, and ideas of readings and how you can celebrate that day of Holy Week and prepare for Easter Sunday. You will also get access to all our other content. Join for at least this month and take advantage of ALL our amazing extra content. It will be the best $10 you ever spent.In this episode Kerry explores with Sahar Qumsiyah, a member of the church who grew up in Bethlehem as a Palestinian Christian, what Holy Week was like for her and what it is like now and the meaning of Good Friday for her. She shares some of herstories of coming to Christ in Bethelem.We are grateful for our generous donors. We are also grateful for our executive producer, B. Fisher, and for Launchpad Consulting Studios for producing the podcast, and for Rich Nicholls, who composed and plays the music for the podcast.

Apr 17, 2025 • 10min
S4 E22 Maundy Thursday with Pastor Jeff
Join us for tons of explanations and idea for your Holy Week celebration and commemoration on our Patreon Website (TSAR.website). You will find videos by my wife and I explaining what happens on each day of the Holy Week, and ideas of readings and how you can celebrate that day of Holy Week and prepare for Easter Sunday. You will also get access to all our other content. Join for at least this month and take advantage of ALL our amazing extra content. It will be the best $10 you ever spent. In this episode Pastor Jeff and Kerry discuss the significant events of Holy, or Maundy, Thursday. They talk about the things to commemorate and the differences between Evangelical ideas of Thursday's happenings and those of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We are grateful for our generous donors. We are also grateful for our executive producer, B. Fisher, and for Launchpad Consulting Studios for producing the podcast, and for Rich Nicholls, who composed and plays the music for the podcast.

Apr 16, 2025 • 18min
S4 E21 Spy Wednesday with Minister Gabrielle Torres
Join us for tons of explanations and idea for your Holy Week celebration and commemoration on our Patreon Website (TSAR.website). You will find videos by my wife and I explaining what happens on each day of the Holy Week, and ideas of readings and how you can celebrate that day of Holy Week and prepare for Easter Sunday. You will also get access to all our other content. Join for at least this month and take advantage of ALL our amazing extra content. It will be the best $10 you ever spent. In this episode Kerry and local Catholic lay minister Gabrielle Torres discuss Ash Wednesday, Lent, and Spy Wednesday, exploring Catholic traditions about Holy Week and how it should affect us. We are grateful for our generous donors. We are also grateful for our executive producer, B. Fisher, and for Launchpad Consulting Studios for producing the podcast, and for Rich Nicholls, who composed and plays the music for the podcast.

Apr 15, 2025 • 15min
S4 E 20 Holy Tuesday with George Pierce
Join us for tons of explanations and idea for your Holy Week celebration and commemoration on our Patreon Website (TSAR.website). You will find videos by my wife and I explaining what happens on each day of the Holy Week, and ideas of readings and how you can celebrate that day of Holy Week and prepare for Easter Sunday. You will also get access to all our other content. Join for at least this month and take advantage of ALL our amazing extra content. It will be the best $10 you ever spent. In this episode George Piece, whose father and uncle were/are pastors, and who grew up following a few different faith traditions before joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, shares what the Holy Week was like for him in different traditions, and what it means to him now. Then he and Kerry explore what happened on Holy Tuesday and ways you can celebrate it now. We are grateful for our generous donors. We are also grateful for our executive producer, B. Fisher, and for Launchpad Consulting Studios for producing the podcast, and for Rich Nicholls, who composed and plays the music for the podcast.

Apr 14, 2025 • 13min
S4 E19 Holy Monday with Pastor Jeff McCullough
Join us for tons of explanations and idea for your Holy Week celebration and commemoration on our Patreon Website (TSAR.website). You will find videos by my wife and I explaining what happens on each day of the Holy Week, and ideas of readings and how you can celebrate that day of Holy Week and prepare for Easter Sunday. You will also get access to all our other content. Join for at least this month and take advantage of ALL our amazing extra content. It will be the best $10 you ever spent.In this episode Pastor Jeff McCullough and Kerry discuss Passion Week for Evangelicals, and Holy Monday in particular, They explore what Christ did on that Holy Monday. We are grateful for our generous donors. We are also grateful for our executive producer, B. Fisher, and for Launchpad Consulting Studios for producing the podcast, and for Rich Nicholls, who composed and plays the music for the podcast.

Apr 13, 2025 • 1h 12min
S4 E 17 The Resurrected Christ: Celebrating Easter Via the Stunning Appearances of Christ in Kirtland (Easter Episode)
Join us for the cruise of a lifetime. In the Momentum 26 West Cruise join me and others such as Anthony Sweat, Elaine Dalton, Jenny Oaks Baker, Nathan Pacheco, and others. You will be blown away with the spiritual uplift and enlightenment! You will also love the ports, which are Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas, and Puerto Vallarta. We will have opportunities to interact and to bless each others lives. This will be a spectacular opportunity. Go to GoAndDoTravel.com and look for the Momentum 26 West Cruise, and use the code KERRY to get a discount.We also hope you will join us each day this week for our special Holy Week episodes. Celebrate Easter and what Christ did for us during the entire week.In this episode Kerry is joined by celebrated Kirtland Historian Karl Anderson, who probably knows more about Kirtland than anyone else alive. Karl teaches about the stunning amount of times Christ, and even the Father, were seen in Kirtland. The resurrected Christ was seen more times in Kirtland than in any other place we know of. Explore with Kerry and Karl the transcendent stories of Christ's appearances and what we can learn from them. We are grateful for all our generous donors, we are grateful for our executive producer B. Fisher, and for Launchpad consulting Studios for producing this podcast, and to Rich Nicholls who composed and plays the music for the podcast.

Apr 13, 2025 • 28min
S4 E18 Palm Sunday with Father Eamon from Magdala, Israel
Join us for tons of explanations and idea for your Holy Week celebration and commemoration on our Patreon Website (TSAR.website). You will find videos by my wife and I explaining what happens on each day of the Holy Week, and ideas of readings and how you can celebrate that day of Holy Week and prepare for Easter Sunday. You will also get access to all our other content. Join for at least this month and take advantage of ALL our amazing extra content. It will be the best $10 you ever spent. In this episode Kerry and Father Eamon explore the whole idea of Holy Week, and then focus on Palm Sunday. We are grateful for our generous donors. We are also grateful for our executive producer, B. Fisher, and for Launchpad Consulting Studios for producing the podcast, and for Rich Nicholls, who composed and plays the music for the podcast.

Apr 6, 2025 • 58min
S4 E16 I Will Be in Your Midst, Susan Black on God Bringing Key Converts (D&C 30-36)
Celebrate Easter, and get something more out of it this year by getting the newly released audiobook version of my book the Easter Connection, available at DeseretBook.com. This book will help you think through Christ's suffering in a different way and see how He helps you in a different way. It doesn't cost much and will bless your life and enhance your Easter celebration. Consider staring to listen to it on Holy Thursday.Next week we will have a video every day that helps us celebrate Christ during Holy Week.Consider joining us on our Palm Sunday walk. It will be held on Palm Sunday (April 13), at 4 pm. It will begin on the Murdock Canal Trail, at the Lindon View Trailhead (330 N. 780, Lindon). You may want to come early to find parking. Additional parking can be found at the church nearby (325 Canal Drive, Lindon). Some palm fronds will be provided, but there will not be enough for everyone. Julianne Muhlestein and Andrew Skinner will lead and teach at this event. In this episode Kerry and Susan Easton Black go through a series of revelations aimed at new converts of the Church. They discuss who these people are, helping them and their stories come to life so that we can understand more from the revelations themselves. The focus is on the people and the context, with the hope that each person will take that context and dive into the scriptures armed with the ability to draw even more out of them. They talk about the things that helped these converts either stay strong or stray, and lessons we can learn from that. They explore the lives and conversions of men like David Whitmer, Peter Whitmer, Parley P. Pratt, William McLellan, Thomas B Marsh, Orson Pratt, Sidney Rigdon, and others. They talk about the consequences those who strayed had in the suffering of others, and lessons we can learn from that. They also discuss early conferences, which is wonderful timing since we are experiencing General Conference right now. We are grateful for our generous donors who make the podcast possible, and for our executive producer B. Fisher, and for Launchpad Consulting Studios for producing the podcast, and for Rich Nicholls who composed and plays the music for the podcast.
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