17: Was Grant Palmer's Informant, Elder Enzio Busche, a New Age Spiritualist?

Grant Palmer wrote in 2013, and stated on Mormon Stories, that he had a general authority who had lost his testimony. After both Palmer and the general authority had passed, John Dehlin revealed in 2020 that the general authority was F. Enzio Busche, an emeritus member of the first quorum of the 70. However, one Redditor had tracked down and spoke with Enzio Busche years earlier. That encounter not only challenged Palmer's narrative, but also revealed that, rather than having lost his testimony of Mormonism, Enzio Busche instead held esoteric or New Age beliefs, including that Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ were "ascended masters." This episodes covers the relevant posts related to this story.

Links

Screenshot of John Dehlin's post explaining his motivation - https://i.redd.it/0f58oop23o751.jpg

Grant Palmer's account of his meetings with Busche - https://journeyofloyaldissent.wordpress.com/2013/04/06/6/

Reddit comment by one who found Busche years before the disclosure - https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/comments/7ihkil/i_have_been_asked_why_i_wrote_a_letter_to_an/

Additional Reddit comment by the same individual after the disclosure - https://www.reddit.com/r/mormon/comments/hgef3i/f_enzio_busche/

New to the podcast? Make sure you watch Episode 2 or read it in on the Substack for the integrative narrative of Mormon origins:

https://youtu.be/5YBeMrR1seM

https://open.substack.com/pub/mormonsmysticsandmuons/p/mormonism-psychedelics-quantum-physics

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Chapters

00:00 Grant Palmer and Dehlin's Reveal

02:27 F. Enzio Busche's Spiritual Beliefs

05:03 Grant Palmer's Report of Meetings with Busche

10:08 Reddit Posts about Busche's Beliefs

13:23 Joseph Smith and Jesus Christ as Ascended Masters

18:45 Busche Challenging Palmer's Account

23:10 Reddit Post about Busche's Belief from a Second Hand Account of a Former Missionary Under Busche

25:56 What do the Authorities Believe?

31:00 Recontextualizing Spiritual Experiences

37:05 Conclusion