Thursday, August 15, 2019

Restoration Edition Scriptures Now Available

I’m very happy to report the Restoration Edition scriptures are again available for purchase. Some of the paperback sizes are available for immediate order, and other sizes, as well as hardback options will be available shortly. Here’s the website:



We all owe much gratitude to the people who spent thousands of combined hours to make these scriptures available. Likewise, the efforts to prepare and produce these current volumes, in all their size and cover options, as well as producing the online portal for ordering, have been quite significant. I offer my heartfelt thanks to all involved.

And finally, just a reminder that on the www.scriptures.shop website, these scriptures are sold directly at wholesale printer's cost, and that nobody is profiting in any way on their sales. All labor has been provided on a volunteer basis, and nobody has been, or is currently being paid for their efforts. 

These volumes are also available for sale on other sites for slightly higher prices, and the companies that run those other sites or offer those listings may be earning compensation for their services. 




11 comments:

  1. Probably the most significant miracle in this generation. I offer my best attempt, along with Adrian, to communicate how grateful I am to the volunteers and selfless, amazing people who have contributed to this effort. I know many of them. Words fall short to express gratitude for this. We all need to be going to God in our respective closets and pour out thanks for this one. Important beyond description.

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  2. I'm grateful too, thanks to everyone involved.

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  3. Can you provide evidence that this is actually the publisher's price? After all the priestcraft among the mormon people I will not accept on faith that you are not profiting in this. Please provide the receipt from the publisher or we will be forced to assume you are lying and doing exactly what Mormons have always done. Even Joseph Smith had to be warned over and over by Jesus and Moroni/Nephi to stop dreaming about the money to be made off the Book of Mormon. We know that your hearts are less pure than his, and you have done no miracles unlike him. So please, don't be insulted by this request, but recognize why it is necessary. Thank you

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    1. Hi Dallon,

      I have no part in any of the actual work to produce, publish, or make the scriptures available. My portion is simply to make the announcement. I have no access to the invoice you are requesting.

      Because I've personally witnessed the incredible sacrifices and labor of those who have done this work, I am disinclined to accuse them of anything. It is utterly incongruous to believe that the same people who sacrificed and labored for months, even years, to do this work and make these available, have now, somehow decided to lie, deceive, and profit. Further, because of the numbers of people involved, this would require a conspiracy of deception involving a group, and not a sole person.

      In short, I have ample reason to believe and trust these people, and no reason to doubt them. But you are, of course, welcome to make whatever assumptions about them you choose. If someone with access to the direct pricing information wants to provide it, I'll post it here. I leave that up to them.

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    2. Well, I don't doubt your testimony, but the vast majority of people who will buy these scriptures have not met any of these people and have no reason to trust them. We do have reason to be vigilant regarding secret combinations or "conspiracies" and priestcraft.

      It is very strange that they will allow others to practice priestcraft and profit off their sacrifice but they themselves will not. Why allow other sites to turn a profit? Why not direct everyone to the scriptures shop? Why are some people left to be swindled instead of getting a profit-free copy? What price were these other sites charged when they bought stock to sell at a profit?

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    3. Dallon,

      It’s clear from your comments that you have no understanding of the printing business, though you are quick to criticize those who do, and who have sacrificed to do this work. I promise you, the paper manufacturer is making a profit. The publisher is making a profit. All the suppliers who supply ink, card stock, glue, machinery, and everything else required are all making a profit. This is how they stay in business. This is not swindling, and it is naive and silly to consider it such. The only one NOT making a profit is the committee who actually did the years of work to recover a more accurate set of scriptures. They add no markup to the books and sell them at the printer’s cost.

      I’m no expert, but I know a little. Here’s an overview:

      There are a couple of ways to get books into the hands of people who appreciate them. One is to contract with a publisher (who WILL make a profit) to print a bunch of copies. Then you sell the copies. This requires that hundreds, or thousands of books be paid for up front, and the inventory held, handled, orders fulfilled, shipped, money collected, and the investment paid back. This would be impossible for a group the size of ours, and is a bad approach. It requires huge amounts of infrastructure and staff. This is not what is being done.

      The other approach is called “print on demand.” There are several large print-on-demand publishers, including Amazon, Lulu, and Ingram. They take on all the responsibilities I listed above, but rather than holding pre-printed inventory, they print the book and ship it when it is ordered. This is MUCH more efficient in the long run, and allows for single books to be printed, rather than thousands of books required to get any printed at all.

      These companies all list and sell each other’s inventory. This means that if you use Lulu to print your books, the publisher, Lulu, will also list the book on Amazon to get it wider availability and distribution. Of course, Amazon will charge a higher price because they have to pay Lulu for each book printed, but also handle their own costs. This is, of course, fair and proper, and has the added benefit of providing larger and easier worldwide distribution. This is NOT swindling. Further, this is beyond the control of the committee who has done this work. It comes with the print-on-demand business model.

      The bottom line is that, if we want books available at the click of a button, or indeed available at all, we have to work with the companies who make this possible. And they WILL make money. Printing is their business. There’s no sense in complaining about it, or calling it swindling when other companies handle fulfillment and add their own costs of business to the total. You said, “It is very strange that they will allow others to practice priestcraft and profit off their sacrifice but they themselves will not.” No, it’s not strange at all.

      Actually it is much more strange that you would call it priestcraft when a book printer prints a book and makes a profit. That’s called business, and with all due respect, how else are you going to get a book printed? Hand copy it yourself? Did E.B. Grandin turn a profit on the initial copies of the Book of Mormon? Of course he did. He was a printer. That’s what printers do.

      The committee has made available the books through the publisher’s direct website on www.scriptures.shop. This is the lowest price. But the books may also be available on Amazon and other sites, at a higher price. This is beyond the control of the committee, and the committee doesn’t profit.

      You asked, “Why allow other sites to turn a profit? Why not direct everyone to the scriptures shop?” Um…you might not have noticed, but that’s exactly what I did in this post.

      If your sensibilities are too offended to allow the printers and distributors to profit from their own work, you can always access the scriptures completely free at the scriptures.info website, which is provided and paid for by the sacrifice of others.

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  4. Brother Adrian you are hilarious. I appreciate the business lesson, you seem to know more about book publishing than you do about what constitutes priestcraft. Acting like it's impossible to not use the printers and publishers that spit in God's face by profiting off the scriptures is pretty lame though. The amount of money in the "temple fund" accruing usury in defiance of God's laws could easily cover the cost of acquiring a printing press and letting the church be independent of Babylonian publishers. Joseph was able to print all subsequent copies of the BOM after the first edition on his own press. The Lord considered not going into debt to a publisher to be important enough to command him to buy a printing press, which was far more expensive and unattainable at that time.

    I don't need explanations for the scripture committees actions. I need proof of their claims. Getting indignant and talking down to me won't deter my determination to find out the actual cost from the printer.

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    1. Bravo, Dallon, Bravo!

      This is a masterpiece of satire. I didn’t realize I was being punked. You got me so good! My hat is off to you, sir!

      I am, of course, making the presumption you are not serious in your suggestion that we liquidate the temple fund and buy a printing press. Hey, it worked for Joseph, right? Rich--oh so rich!!

      You even had me for a moment! But even so, let’s go with it. Let’s assume we purchase a printing press in a quest to make a “priestcraft-printing-free” set of “non-babylonian-economy” scriptures, free from the taint of paid labor or profit.

      First, we need a place to put that press. And presses that handle book-size signatures are quite large (and more expensive than you think), so your living room is out. We’ll need a commercial building, warehouse, something. And we can’t let any dirty landlords profit off the printing of the scriptures, so we’ll need to purchase a building, too. Or get one donated. You don't want those realtors getting a cut!

      Printing is naturally only one of the steps. We’ll need the computer equipment needed to lay out the signatures properly and run the press. And we’ll need the precision folding equipment required to fold the signatures into folios. And the pressing equipment to press the folios into books ready for binding. And the sewing equipment to sew the bindings. And the trimming equipment, gluing equipment, and so forth to make the printed papers into books. And we’ll have to own it all because we can’t let someone else profit or be paid for their labor.

      Naturally we’ll need paper, and there ain’t no way we’re going to let those Babylonian paper mills profit off the paper for the scriptures. So we’ll need a paper mill. And a forest. And factories to produce glue, cloth, cardboard, possibly leather, thread, ink, and likely a dozen other supplies required to make books. Oh, and a different press to print and coat the covers with UV resistant coating.

      And, of course, we’ll need volunteer labor to run all of this, because we can’t pay anyone for their honest labor. Then we’ll need to warehouse the finished books, set up a non-Babylonian web store, and we can’t take credit cards, because Visa and MasterCard will certainly want their cut.

      Then, we’ll need volunteers to ship the orders, (in boxes we don't pay for) and a way to ship them that doesn’t involve paying UPS, Fedex, or the Post Office, because they all want to profit from shipping the Lord’s scriptures. Maybe volunteers could drive them around the world, using non-Babylonian gas, or perhaps solar energy from non-profit solar panels. We’ll have to think on that one.

      Meanwhile, the utility company will want their cut for supplying the electricity to print the scriptures. So…maybe there’s a manual press somewhere that we could run by the light of a campfire? (unless we make our own candles, that is...)

      Yes, like I said, brilliant satire! Let’s cancel the temple, buy a press, and free the scriptures from Babylon! I love it! But there's more!!

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    2. And then the masterstroke to back it up with the story about Joseph Smith buying a press and printing all the subsequent editions! I’m dying here! I bet some people actually believed that one! (Forgetting that of the 4 editions printed during Joseph Smith’s lifetime, only one was printed on a church-owned press, and the other three were contracted to commercial printers—Priestcraft, I tell you!! Priestcraft!! Oh, make it stop! I can't breathe!)

      Okay, I’m still giggling and wiping my eyes, but back to your original issue. I don’t have the information you are seeking. Maybe ask the scripture committee?

      Thanks for the belly laugh. Totally made my night!! Meanwhile I’m amazed, humbled, and shocked by the incredible series of miracles that make it possible for me to click a few buttons, spend less than an hour’s wages, and have a brand-new, quality volume of scripture on my porch in a couple of days. Joseph Smith must have dreamed of such a miracle!! I’m so grateful and awed by what the Lord has made available! I hope the glue people, the ink makers, the paper mill workers, the delivery drivers, the press operators, the utilities and all the rest are all properly compensated for their labor in blessing my life. And for those who have opted to labor tirelessly for years to provide the text, and receive no compensation, I’m doubly grateful!

      “He commandeth that there shall be no priestcrafts; for behold, priestcrafts are that men preach and set themselves up for a light unto the world, that they may get gain and praise of the world, but they seek not the welfare of Zion.”

      Those darn printing companies, preaching and setting themselves up for a light! Dirty crooks!

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    3. Dallon,

      You can always ask the Lord to share with you what is in the hearts of these volunteers and if they have it in them to profit off the scriptures. After all, He is the ONLY one who actually knows that. I asked Him, even though He already addressed the hearts of those involved more than once in recent revelations directly in His Voice. Those involved in this project are among the most pure in heart of people now on the earth. By that I mean they “fear” and love the Lord above all else and have extremely high respect for His holy words. Even the idea of profiting off His words disgusts people with hearts like that. Accusations are almost always a reflection of what is in the heart of the one accusing.

      All that being said, I agree the more in the Light the better. I would not be surprised one whit if someone with the information you request did share it, even though your inquiry is far more accusatory than sincere. Even if they do share, I sense you will find some other reason for mistrust and suspicion. I would recommend some self reflection as to your own motives in your heart. And I’m not singling you out. We all need to be continually doing that to keep our hearts as close to the Lord as possible as His spirit now steadily withdraws from the world.

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