I am Ryan McKnight.

I'm Kara Santa Maria.

I am Christopher Smith.

Hi, I'm Andrew Torres.

This is Naked Mormonism.

The Serial Mormon History podcast.

Have you ever heard a politician make a speech about, you know, rooting out corruption?

You know, they're going to get elected and fight the entire system of corruption and restore power back to the people.

It's an old yarn. We've listened to for a long time, but rarely seems to go anywhere in spite of people generally wanting less corruption.

We may disagree about the means to attain less corruption, but most of us would agree that it's a good thing. The Navu Kingdom on the

Mississippi had a corruption problem. Religion, politics, and money flowed in all directions,

and many people were living in quite comfortable means by ill-gotten gains.

The city itself was led by someone who was perceived as an incorruptible white knight who spoke for God.

Well, Joseph Smith may have been a man.

He was so much more than a man.

He was an icon of perfection.

He communed with Jehovah and secured the political power enjoyed by the Mormons for the

past five years in Navu. He worked endlessly, not for himself, but for the common good of the

Mormon people. And all of those were lies that Joe worked very hard to keep true in the minds of

over 10,000 Mormons living in the area. However, there were others.

Joe's hold on power hadn't come from being born into a, you know, like a royal family

or owning many large businesses in order to buy himself into the highest cast of society.

...