Hank Smith:                      00:00:03             Hello, my friends. Welcome to another episode of followHIM. My name is Hank Smith. I am your host. I am here with my handsome and smart co-host, John Bytheway. John, I was listening to a song the other day and the soloist said, “I am handsome, I am smart.” And I thought, John should sing this song.

John Bytheway:               00:00:23             Well, Hank, I am testing the limits of the processor chip in this MacBook Pro. I have got “improve my appearance” all the way to the right. It’s starting to smoke in the back, but I’m doing the best I can here.

Hank Smith:                      00:00:36             That’s so great. John, we are privileged. This is a special episode of followHIM, one that I have been looking forward to for, I can’t tell you how long. In fact, I’ll tell the story here in a minute. We have brother Donny Osmond with us. Donny, welcome to followHIM.

Donny Osmond:              00:00:55             Great to be with you. I just have to add something to what you just said. When I recorded that song, the true lyrics to it is, John is handsome, John is smart. John’s a walking work of art. Those are the real lyrics.

John Bytheway:               00:01:11             That’s the Donny translation right there.

Donny Osmond:              00:01:13             That’s exactly right.

Hank Smith:                      00:01:15             The DST. I want that edition. The DST.

John Bytheway:               00:01:20             Which means don’t say that, but yeah.

Donny Osmond:              00:01:22             Well, it’s good to be with you guys. I’ve been looking forward to this. We’re gonna be talking about one of my favorite subjects, Joseph. I’ve done so much research on that man. I played him for 2,000 shows. And starting in 92. Yeah. But actually, I’ve been singing his song about him. “Close Every Door” and “Any Dream Will Do”, and all that stuff. Here in Vegas, every night I sing, “Close every door”. The lighting and everything is so dramatic. So I’ve been singing about Joseph pretty much, well, for what? 30 years.

Hank Smith:                      00:01:54             As I search for guests to be on the show, I write down thoughts and impressions that come to mind. John, I bounce ideas off of you all the time. I had this impression, Lisa Spice, a member of our team can tell you this. It was years ago. Just after our last Old Testament year, I thought, “Oh, wouldn’t it be great if we could get Donny to come on the show?” And as we drew closer to this Old Testament year, I tried a number of different avenues on social media and things. Well, I wasn’t really having any success. I figured, you know what, this probably isn’t gonna happen. Even after years of hoping, I actually think I said out loud in a prayer, “It looks like this is not gonna happen. Maybe this wasn’t an impression. Maybe this was just me wanting to talk to Donny Osmond.

                                           00:02:38             Lord, if this is gonna happen, you’re gonna have to do some serious magic because I have come to roadblock after roadblock.” Donny’s obviously very busy. Within 48 hours of saying that vocal prayer, I was talking to Donny Osmond on the phone and I’m going, “Wait, how did this happen?” I think it was the Holy Ghost. I felt an impression say, “We were waiting for you to ask.” Like…and I thought that probably would’ve been helpful had I gone to the Lord at least once and said, “If you want this to happen, could you help me?” Once I invited the Lord, it happened and Donny’s been nothing but gracious.

Donny Osmond:              00:03:14             Well, thank you. That’s happened so many times in my life. You go as far as you can and then you turn it over to the Lord. He does work miracles. Yes, we have to work hard, but faith in our Heavenly Father’s abilities to make miracles happen, it works. I’ve seen it happen so many times in my life.

Hank Smith:                      00:03:32             Yeah. Now, John, let’s start with you before we turn the time over to Donny. First of all, when you think Joseph of Egypt, what do you think of?

John Bytheway:               00:03:42             Could this be one of the greatest stories ever? With family, with betrayal, with redemption, with forgiveness, uh, just crazy forgiveness, with, hey, maybe God had this in mind. Then foreshadowing future events of what Joseph’s posterity would do, I mean, how do you overstate what a great story this is?

Hank Smith:                      00:04:04             You’ve known me for a long time. I’ve often said, to me, this is one of, if not the greatest story ever told. With the drama and the characters and the depth, and like you said, the principles that are taught and the emotion, it really is divinely put together. Donny, as you’ve been thinking, what is your hope for today?

Donny Osmond:              00:04:26             I hope I can get through without looking like an idiot.

Hank Smith:                      00:04:29             Okay, that’s …

Donny Osmond:              00:04:31             Because I’m talking to theologians here. On a serious note, I hope that I can convey my innermost feelings about a man who I’ve studied so much. I’ve tried to live his life on stage and off. John mentioned a bunch of attributes. Joseph is kind of a guiding light to me because it is probably one of the greatest stories in holy writ in general because there’s so many principles you can take from it. The forgiveness is just one major factor. It’s the constant dedication to his covenants. I look at this man who was 17 at the time, that he was attempted to be killed, was thrown in the pit. 17. I teach the 17-year-olds in Sunday school. It was your age. I was doing the Donny Marie Show at 17. You’re trying hard to understand who you are as a person, and then your brothers try to kill you.

                                           00:05:28             13 years in slavery and in imprisonment, but he never gave up on his covenants. He never gave up on God. You would think that someday, a young man like this, “I’ve done my best. Thanks a lot.” But he never did. Then, this is a large swath, and then we’re gonna get into the details of it, but he started interpreting dreams when he was around 28 years old. He interpreted the dreams of the baker and I called him the butler in Joseph and the amazing technical dreamcoat. But he was a cup holder or something like that, wasn’t he?

Hank Smith:                      00:05:57             Yeah.

Donny Osmond:              00:05:58             Which is so weird. Handle your own cup, will you? But no, they needed a cup holder. Put it on the table, will you? The cup holder, Joseph, said, “You’re gonna get your old job back.” The baker, he says, “You’re gonna die.” He was so in tune with inspiration through the Holy Ghost. He knew exactly what was gonna happen. Now, those are all the things we know about. Then think about the fact that it took two years for the cup holder to say, “Oh, by the way, there’s this guy.” But he still didn’t give up his devotion to his covenants to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and his father, Israel. He stayed true to his covenants. That’s why he’s a guiding light to me. He knew when to run away when there was a compromising situation, like we know of Potiphar’s wife. He’s such an example to me, especially when I started living his life on stage.

                                           00:06:53             Now it was a musical. It was a comedy. There’s all kinds of funny things that we did on stage. But when I sang “Close every Door to me”, I lived it. I was behind bars. Guys, I have to tell you, I don’t wanna get too dramatic here, but when you’re acting a part and you’re singing that music and you’re behind bars, there were nights, you guys, that I literally started crying because I felt like I was in jail. That was the turning point. That’s when he started climbing out of this proverbial pit. He prevailed. He is a guiding light to me and has been for so many years.

Hank Smith:                      00:07:36             I’m excited to hear more about your experiences. That is why I invited you on, Donny. I am not a professional actor. John can do a pretty mean Barney Fife, but other than that-

Donny Osmond:              00:07:50             Oh, I’ve heard it. I’ve seen it. Yeah.

Hank Smith:                      00:07:53             I know enough to know that a professional actor will learn everything they can about a character. Will invest in this character. Will think about moments of their lives and really, really try to become the person, put themselves in their shoes from their perspective. How did they see this? What were they thinking? What were they feeling?

Donny Osmond:              00:08:17             There are five places, if I remember correctly, there are five places in Genesis where it mentions that Joseph wept. He balled his eyes out. Let’s take, for instance, when his brothers come and plead for food, and he saw them, they didn’t recognize him. Immediately after that, he went into the other room and cried his eyes out. Now, I’ve got a theory about this. Two theories. That if he would have just said, “Guys, I’m your brother”, right there and then. It would all been over. He wouldn’t have tested them and tried them. But here’s where I don’t have scriptures to back this up, but here’s what I’m gonna say. I think one of the reasons why he had to leave the room and cry his eyes out, his brothers tried to kill him. They sold him into slavery. He suffered in dungeons. And he finally got to a point where he’s now second in command, he’s the prime minister of Egypt.

                                           00:09:19             He had to go in the other room and say, “Why did they do this to me? Why would they kill me? Yes, I was favorite of my father, but it was the birthright. If Reuben fell because of moral sin. It fell upon me.” His father didn’t just say, “You’re my favorite child.” He gave him the coat. Now, for many years, you guys, correct me if I’m wrong on this, because I’m not a theologian. I always thought the coat represent priesthood authority. The research that I’ve done, I’ve come to find out that it represents more of a worthiness of a birthright. It’s not like I have authority. No, it says, “I am now the spokesperson of the family.” Now, put yourself in the brother’s position. And I used to think this when, “I dreamed that in the field one day, the corn gave me a sign”–as I sang that to my brothers and they were listening, or watching me with these angry faces, which is the way we were directed to.

                                           00:10:17             “Your 11 sheaves of corn all turned and bowed to mine. My sheaf was quite a sight to see, a golden sheaf and tall. Yours were green and second-rate, really rather small.” And the way I sang it was so innocent. “I dreamed that in…” I was just this young 17, 16-year-old kid at the time, living this role. “Hey, guys, I just dreamt this dream and you were bowing to me. Isn’t that cool?” Now, be one of the brothers for a second. “I can’t stand you, Joseph. You’re just this little kid. Now, our father has favored you, but worse than that. Their peers were probably mock- … You talk about bullying. Their peers would probably say,” So, Naphtali, you’re low on the totem pole. Hey, Dan, you didn’t get it. They were probably being bullied like–no wonder they were angry. But why did they want to kill me?

                                           00:11:14             There was that much vitriol. We’ve heard stories over and over again where anger can get the best of people unto death, where anger is such a cancer. It’s such a great example. That’s where we go back to the, what we first said, the story of Joseph. There’s so many principles to learn in this. One of them is anger. Don’t let it get you. That’s why he had to leave and cry many times. “Oh, man, this is really difficult, Heavenly Father. How do I get over this feeling of this anger that I had towards my brothers that tried to kill me?” Then ultimately, look what he did. He forgave them. But he put them through the test, didn’t he? Especially you’re gonna keep Benjamin back, Oh, but you’ll kill our dad. He took a chance to say, no, you bring your father here. And inside he’s saying, probably crying inside, bring my father back to me.

                                           00:12:11             Oh, I gotta tell you a story. I hope I can even get through this without being emotional.

                                           00:12:19             At the end of the show, when they go back and get Jacob to bring him to Egypt, when I say, “Your brother is me.” And there’s a party on stage and everybody’s jumping up and down and’s joyful. I exit stage. I go get myself into the chariot, this golden chariot, and the stage fills with fog. And everybody leaves. “And Jacob came to Egypt, his chariot of gold, of gold.” And I look and I see my father coming towards me with fog on the floor, and he sees me, and he falls to the floor. I get out of the chariot, and I pick him up out of the fog. Then, he hands me my coat that’s tattered and torn, that his father has kept, for all those years, holding onto who he thought was dead. He loved Joseph that much. And then I look at him in the eyes, and I say, “I close my eyes”, to start the song, just acapella. And you guys, there were so many nights that both of us were just crying our eyes out-

Hank Smith:                      00:13:45             Wow.

Donny Osmond:              00:13:45             … because it was real. Can you imagine what the real moment when Joseph saw his dad for the first time and gave him that tattered coat? However, that happened, however that took place, it did take place, because he did get that coat that his father kept all those years and held onto the love of his child, who he thought was dead. What a story of love and compassion. And I felt it every night.

Hank Smith:                      00:14:16             John, before we go any further, we do have listeners all over the world, so there may be someone listening who’s saying … Who are they talking to this week? Who is this Donny Osmond? John, give us a bio, give us a background of Donny.

John Bytheway:               00:14:29             I will from memory, okay?

Donny Osmond:              00:14:32             If you make a mistake, I’ll fill you in a little bit, okay?

John Bytheway:               00:14:34             Yeah, would you? Would you please? I’m the fifth of six children. My sisters, Jerry and Sally, they had Osmond family albums. My sister Becky too, who’s younger than me. We all loved the Osmond brothers. I think they first appeared on the Andy Williams show. Your older brothers, before you, you joined them, and then you started joining in too. Just amazing harmonies, barbershop stuff at first. Incredible harmonies. The kind of harmonies only a family could have because they just sang so beautifully together. It was the Osmond brothers for many years. I think that President Kimball actually called them on a mission. They were missionaries for the church. Then over time, Donny and Marie, oh, what did you sing together?

Donny Osmond:              00:15:22             A little bit country. A little bit rock roll.

John Bytheway:               00:15:25             Right. And that show, we used to watch that show because those were our people. These guys are in the church and the thing I just love about the Osmond family is they have never left the covenant path, just watching them. Over the years, going to Branson, Missouri, Donny and Marie’s show for so many years, and they had Paul, Paul Lynde on there.

Donny Osmond:              00:15:45             Paul Lynde.

John Bytheway:               00:15:46             Which I always, he always cracked me up because he had vibrado in his voice. But we used to watch them for years. Then, of course, of all the parts, Donny, that you could be associated with, how beautiful, how wonderful is it that Joseph was the part? Correct me if I’m wrong. Andrew Lloyd Weber wrote Joseph. Was he in college? Was he, he was …

Donny Osmond:              00:16:15             Well,  for those who don’t know who Andrew Lloyd Weber is, he wrote Joseph, obviously. Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, the Phantom of the Opera. If you look him up, if you Google him, he’s the most successful playwright in history. It’s fun to be able to have his phone number, call him up, just talk to him, whatever. But, uh, can I give you a story about how I got the gig?

John Bytheway:               00:16:38             Oh. Yeah.

Hank Smith:                      00:16:38             Please do. Absolutely.

Donny Osmond:              00:16:40             To answer your question, Andrew was 19. I think Tim Rice was 20. It was the first one they ever wrote. It was…

John Bytheway:               00:16:45             19.

Donny Osmond:              00:16:45             It was 20 minutes long. Yeah. It was a little high school project that he wrote.

John Bytheway:               00:16:49             It was a– that’s a high school project.

Donny Osmond:              00:16:51             That’s what it was. It’s 20 minutes long and it’s turned into be one of the most celebrated musicals in history. I’ll try to give you the short version. Debbie and I were living in Irvine, California at the time. Debbie, she’s a pillar of light. She’s really in tune with the spirit. She started getting these feelings that we really should move. Sweetheart, I’ve worked for 10 years to get back on the charts and I just had two hit record Soldier of Love and Sacred Emotion, and you want to move? This is where I need to be to continue my career. And she said, “I know, but it’s just the feelings I keep getting.” And then all of a sudden, you guys, I start getting these feelings of, go to acting school. You guys, I’m not interested in acting. Said, “Go to acting school.” So I enrolled in acting school, a beginner class, an intermediate class, and an advanced class all at the same time. Crash course.

                                           00:17:45             I also got the feeling, start training your voice to be theatrical. I said, “What? Why would I do that?” So, I pursued it. We sold our home. We looked all different places, ended up in St. George, Utah, which was not in 1991 the mecca of show business. They since, they’ve have some really good theaters with, like, Tuacan and stuff like that. It didn’t make any sense, but we both felt good about it. The script of Joseph came in. I thought, this would be interesting. It’s gonna require acting. It’s gonna require a theatrical voice, and it’s gonna require us to move, and we’re renting a home in St. George. You see where this is going now? They said, the auditions are gonna take place in New York City on such and such a date. I was so busy with my acting classes and stuff in Los Angeles.

                                           00:18:32             I said the only way I can make this audition is to take a red eye, fly to New York, do the audition, go back on the plane, and get back to Los Angeles. That’s the only way I can do this audition. On the way to the airport, it’s back when we had CDs, I stopped at tower records on sunset and got the CD of a soundtrack. I said, I’m gonna learn, “Close Every Door” and “Any Dream Will Do”. On the plane, on the way. I’ll be ready.

Hank Smith:                      00:18:57             Of course.

Donny Osmond:              00:18:58             Get on a plane, put my headphones on, I hit play, and I fall asleep. The next thing I know I’m landing.

Hank Smith:                      00:19:06             Oh, no.

Donny Osmond:              00:19:07             I’m unprepared. I go to this theater. You guys, it’s just like the movies. You got this one, they called it a ghost lamp on stage, a pianist with a piano, an upright piano, and you got the silhouette of these high, powerful producers and directors that you cannot see, it’s just a silhouette in the audience. Five people out there. Next person up, Donny Osmond–and there’s a line of people to audition. Donny Osmond, and I get on the mic, I said, “Mr. Drabinsky, my producer. I hate to tell you this. I’m unprepared.” Guys, you don’t say that to a big producer. He had a gruffy voice who said, “Well, you gotta sing something.” I said, “Well, I’ll, I’ll sing on the piano.” I kicked the piano player off. I sing a couple of my songs on the piano. There’s no applause. These guys are jaded. I hear him say, “You gotta sing something from the show, kid.” I said, well, if you want me to sing something, I’ll sing “Close Every Door”, the hardest of the two.

                                           00:20:04             I’ll sing “Close Every Door”, but I’ve gotta read the lyrics. He said, “Yeah, go ahead, go ahead.” He was very impatient. The piano starts. Before I sang, I said, “I’m unprepared.” And all of a sudden I felt, no, you’re prepared. You’re already prepared for this. You’ve gone to acting class. You’ve studied theatrical voice. You’ve been singing all your life. Now just execute. So I started singing, “Close every door to me”, very softly, “hide all the world from me”. And then I started building, “bar all the windows and shut out the light”. And I kept going, “Do what you … ” And I start building, “For I know I shall find, our own peace of mind, for I have been promised a land of …”. Then we did the instrumental, and then I do the ending. “For we know we shall find our own peace of mind, for we have been promised.”

                                           00:21:09             And I took a big breath, “a land of our own”, and I held it forever. And I stopped. You could hear a pin drop in that theater. And the next thing I heard was this gruffy voice that said, “Come here, kid. I walk out into the audience. As I got closer, I could see the faces start to materialize. There were several people there. I looked at Garth. He said, “Sit down. I’m canceling the rest of the auditions. You’re my Joseph.” That’s how I got it. It was just before I sang, I felt this, you’re prepared. And I thought back to what my mother would always say to all of our children, “Prepare yourself and the opportunity will come.” You don’t prepare yourself when the opportunity presents itself … No, prepare yourself. And the only way to know is through the spirit. In order to get through this sojourn, we call life. We can’t do it alone. I look at Joseph, which is our topic today.

                                           00:22:16             Boy, was he proven. Boy, was he tested. I’m not putting myself on the same platform as Joseph, but there were moments where I was in a dungeon in my … I lost my career and everything. Right just before I sang that song for Garth Drabinsky, I felt something that said, you are prepared. I’m with you. Now just do it.

Hank Smith:                      00:22:41             I love it.

Donny Osmond:              00:22:42             It was a great experience. Now, one more other experience with that song. During rehearsals, Phil Reno, I can’t believe I remember his name. Phil Reno, my conductor, he would always literally slap my hand because I would sing as a pop singer. “Close every door to me, hide all the world from me”. All these licks, you know… “all the windows. Shut out the light.” He said, “What is that?”

                                           00:23:14             He’s like, “You can’t sing like that.” Andrew Lloyd Weber didn’t write it that way. It was kind of a joke between the two of us all throughout rehearsals, teaching me, “Close every door to me”. The lyrics are the most important thing. Long story short, at the end of Close Every Door, “For we know we shall find…”That high note, I would sing that every once in a while, in rehearsal and Phil would say, no, don’t do that. Andrew did not write that note. It’s not in the script. Every once in a while, just to tease him, I would, I would sing it. Opening night, everybody’s nervous, including me because Andrew Lloyd Weber is dead center, third seat, third row back. The press are all in the back. At the very end of the show, I do a reprisal–have–of Close Every Door. “Close every door to me.”

                                           00:24:05             I’m in the outfit, the armor and everything, “hide all the world from me, bar all the windows and shut out the light.” Then at the very end, “for we know we …” And I look at Phil. And this is all in nanoseconds. If looks could kill, he would have killed me right there. Don’t do it.

John Bytheway:               00:24:23             He’s like don’t do it.

Hank Smith:                      00:24:23             Don’t do it.

Donny Osmond:              00:24:25             “For we know we shall find”, I went for it. And I nailed it. And he was so upset. And I thought, okay, I’m gonna be fired. I’m gonna get fired by Andrew Lloyd Weber. I did a cardinal sin. You never do this in the world of theater, particularly to Lord Lloyd Weber. We’re taking our bows. I’ve got the narrator next to me, Janet Metz, an amazing singer. Standing ovation, the press are up there recording, and I point to Andrew. “Come on up, Andrew.” You don’t do that!

                                           00:25:00             Without permission. You don’t do that. He gets out of his seat and walks up on stage. The place is going berserk.

John Bytheway:               00:25:10             Oh, I bet.

Donny Osmond:              00:25:11             Here’s Andrew Lloyd Weber, walks up next to me between the narrator, Janet Metz, and myself. We all hold hands, and we take one final bow. As we bow, he looks at me and he says, “Where have you been keeping that voice all these years?” That was all I needed, man. Right there. And I told Phil Reno that, and I said, “In your face, buddy.” But what was so funny, I’m leaving out the most important part. At the end of the show, he comes up to my dressing room, Andrew Lloyd Weber, and he says–and I don’t do a very good accent. He says, “You know, Donny, that note that you sang at the end of Close Every Door,” I said, “Yes, I’m so sorry.” He says, “Yeah, I did not write that note.” I said, “I’m so sorry. I’ll take it out.” He said, “I actually kind of liked it. Keep it in.” So, every time I hear somebody sing that note, I said, “That’s my note, baby. That’s my note.”

Hank Smith:                      00:26:10             That is beautiful. I love the look. Don’t you dare.

Donny Osmond:              00:26:14             Don’t you do it.

                                           00:26:19             Sometimes in life, you have to take chances, not unrealistic chances, but sometimes, like in that audition process, you just have to say, go for it. Believe in yourself. That’s the other thing that I’ve learned from, from Joseph. He could have given up so many times, you guys, so many times he didn’t. He said, I believe in my God, and he believes in me. I can prevail. I can do this. And he never lost his faith. There are times in my life that I look back where they were dark, very dark, because I lost my career, all my money, everything, but I never lost my faith in my Heavenly Father and my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Hank Smith:                      00:27:02             Thank you for that. Since we’re still talking bio here, it would be okay to tell us a little bit more about Deb?

Donny Osmond:              00:27:09             My wife, it’s an interesting story how we met. She was actually dating my brother Jay first.

Hank Smith:                      00:27:17             Okay.

Donny Osmond:              00:27:18             I stole my wife from Jay. Coincidentally, as we are recording this, it’s his birthday today. So Jay, if you’re watching happy birthday, my bro.

Hank Smith:                      00:27:28             Happy birthday.

Donny Osmond:              00:27:30             I was dating this girl named Tammy, and we double dated to an Elton John concert up in Salt Lake City at the Salt Palace. Debbie was in front with her date, Jay, and I was in back with Tammy. Debbie and I were doing all the talking. I remember sitting in the audience and Elton sat down to, “It’s a little bit funny”–Your Song–“this feeling.” And you guys, I remember looking over at my brother’s date and saying to myself, “I’m gonna marry that girl someday.” And I did. I told Elton this story. I said, “Elton, you know, your song- … It’s the reason I found my wife.” She is my Aseneth, who was Joseph’s wife. She was converted to the God of Abraham, Jehovah.

John Bytheway:               00:28:23             What you said a while ago is a, wow, never heard anybody say that, but when you could say the God of Abraham, Isaac, and of my Father.

Donny Osmond:              00:28:32             Is it an interesting way to say it, isn’t it?

John Bytheway:               00:28:34             Of course, well, go get your dad. Yeah, we’re all starving here in Cane and the future looked rough. Jacob’s family was finding it tough or the family that left them unprepared. I mean, I know this play.

                                           00:28:47             Of all the things he would pack, he brought the coat. I, I just never thought of that. That is the moment that brings me to tears. You guys do that beautifully when here’s Joseph and his father again. So that’s the part, and he has the coat, but what a moment. That’s one of the reasons why there’s a lot of Broadway plays, as we all know, but this one is out of books that we consider to be the word of God, and it’s just a different connection when, oh, this is actually a true story and it’s from the scriptures that I love. For you to have that part for all these years, gotta be by design.

Donny Osmond:              00:29:26             Do you know what’s interesting? I’ve done a lot of studying about this, particularly as a teacher, Sunday school teacher. The reason why the Savior taught in parables, and here I’m preaching to the choir, because you guys know this, is it transcends translation. The story of Joseph, regardless of the translation, or who’s telling it, the principles transcend translation. Jesus’ parables of the Ten Virgins and the, the Prodigal Son, all that stuff. Joseph and his coat and his Brother, all of these principles transcend any translation because the story cuts right through.

Hank Smith:                      00:30:07             They speak to generations, millennia.

John Bytheway:               00:30:11             Anybody who has a family gets it.

Donny Osmond:              00:30:13             Any generation. It’s not a specific generation or a time.

Hank Smith:                      00:30:17             That story of Deb makes me think, I need, I’m gonna listen to my wife.

Donny Osmond:              00:30:24             My mom had the greatest saying. Father was the head of the home, but mother was the neck that turned the head.

Hank Smith:                      00:30:31             Yep. You know, if she doesn’t say, “Hey, we need to move. We need to go to St. George.” And that moment of, okay, I’m …

Donny Osmond:              00:30:40             It all made sense. It made sense. In hindsight, this lesson I gave in Sunday School yesterday, we ended it with a statement from Elder Holland about trusting the Lord. And I’ve capped it off with, I’m 68. You guys are 16, 17 years old. I have a whole lifetime to look back on, and I can see where there’s only one footprint in the sand, so many times in my life. You just have to trust. Trust God. Just like Joseph trusted God his entire life, despite the adversity that he was under.

John Bytheway:               00:31:12             So often we hear I’ll keep the commands and everything will be all right. Well, here’s a kid who got him out when Potiphar’s wife … And what does he get for that? More years in prison. There’s got to be a level of–things will work out eventually.

Donny Osmond:              00:31:31             You gotta have patience. Wait upon the Lord. Let’s talk about that moment with Potiphar’s wife, as uncomfortable as it is to talk about. She tried to seduce him, and he ran. Now, what was he doing there in the first place? He was a servant. He had to be there. But he’d never let go of his covenants, which is a great lesson in living in the world, but not of it. He was surrounded by all this decadence and opulence, all that stuff, downright evil in certain places. But he ran. Now, here’s what’s interesting about the balance of this story. His wife, Potiphar’s wife, went to her husband and say, “This is what Joseph tried to do to me.” Now, Potiphar, he was in charge of the guard. He had every bit of authority to have him killed.

John Bytheway:               00:32:29             Mm-hmm.

Donny Osmond:              00:32:30             Why didn’t he kill him? He threw him in prison. He saved his life. Why did he do that? Because the only thing I can surmise from this is that his wife is a little bit of a troublemaker. He knows it. He knows Joseph. He knows the integrity of Joseph, so he’s … I’m gonna spare your life, but for the sake of my appearance to the public, because my wife is gonna go out there and say all this against Joseph, I gotta do something. I gotta appease the situation. I’m sorry, Joseph, but this is what I gotta do. But I’m gonna spare your life. Now, you’re Joseph and you say, thank you very much. I appreciate that.

Hank Smith:                      00:33:11             Yeah.

Donny Osmond:              00:33:11             Now I’m in prison. Okay. For doing the right thing, God … I said, you go back to Joseph in section 121. God, where art thou and where’s the pavilion that covereth thy hiding place? Don’t give up. Don’t ever lose trust in the Lord. When he was back in that prison, even after he told the cup holder–or the butlers, what I said in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. So you’re gonna get your job back. It took him two years to say, oh, by the way, there’s this guy in prison. But he was patient. Joseph was patient. He waited upon the Lord on the Lord’s time. I always love the saying, “If you wanna make God laugh, make plans.” All right. It’s gotta be on his time, on his watch.

Hank Smith:                      00:33:57             Donny, we have listeners who we hear from who are in real, just as Joseph was, real heartache, real pain. We actually do have people who listen from penitentiaries. Just last night, John, I told Donny this as we talked on the phone. A woman came to me and said, “Hey, I listened to your show through this period of–I was getting a divorce.” It really wasn’t anything we said, it was more the way she felt. Donny, I would love to hear from your perspective. Here you are really trying to invest into this character. This must have been on your mind over and over. How do you feel when you are in severe trial? In dark, dark places? How do you find hope? I just need something to hold onto and I can make it through. Please, God, send me a little light. Why is everything taken from me?

Donny Osmond:              00:35:00             There have been moments in my life. Again, I’m not gonna try to compare, but I have gone through some really dark times. I was 15, maybe 14. I did a concert in Nashville, Tennessee. And a place was in an arena. The place was sold out. Everybody was having a great time. And the next day, in a front page, is a picture of my brothers and me on stage, and the guy ripped me apart. Said it was the worst concert he’d ever seen in his life. It’s so tacky and it’s bubblegum and all this stuff. Maybe a year or two after that, Rolling Stone Magazine came out with an article that said, “The worst day in rock and roll history was the day Donny Osmond was born.” I mean, I’ve been through this my whole career, now granted, I have some wonderful fans out there, but you get darts.

                                           00:35:55             When you’re a target and you’re a big target, you’ll get darts. How do you get away from that? How do you withstand that? I go back to many conference talks. I love conference. I listen to it and I read the conference talks on my phone over and over again. There’s a common theme in many talks that says, by living the gospel principles, the standards of the church, it’s not gonna take away all your problems, but it’ll give you strength to bear them. It’ll give you just enough hope. I’m reminded of Elder Bednar’s talk. When he says, “Step into the darkness and the light will follow you.” If you’re living your life right, you’re gonna be in those moments where, guys, I don’t think I can do this. I trust you, Lord, and you take the step and He will follow you. I’m reminded of another–oh, this was such a wonderful experience a couple weeks ago. I had the privilege of having President and Sister Christofferson at my show here in Vegas.

                                           00:37:03             Not very many people get an opportunity of having a private audience with a member of the First Presidency in their dressing room. So after the show and they really enjoyed themselves and I said, “Was it a little loud?” He said, “No, we loved it. It was great.” It was fun. And I said, “Well, President, this is a great opportunity that I’ve got to seize. Is there some advice?” I don’t think he’d mind me telling the world what he told us. I said, “What would you tell me and my family to do right now?” He sat there and I watched this Second Counselor of the First Presidency receive inspiration. And he looks up at me and he says, “No one is immune from temptation.” He said, “Keep that in mind. Even the very elect can fall, as we learn in the scriptures. And here’s how you avoid the temptation.” He started quoting Elder Holland’s final talk when he came back from the dead, basically.

                                           00:38:08             Elder Holland, we’ve all heard the talk, and if you haven’t, you’ve got to listen to this talk. He said, I’ve been given a message to bring back to pray. And when you’ve prayed, pray again. And when you’ve prayed again, pray some more, unceasingly. To answer your question, for those who are suffering, trust in God, it’s not gonna save you from your divorce or your problems, health issues or whatever, but it’ll give you strength. It’ll give you that light as you go into a dark place. You know He’s there. I’ve felt it so many times in my life. I have such a testimony that He loves you. He loves us. Our Savior loves us. If you let them into your life, your burdens will be eased.

Hank Smith:                      00:38:59             Yeah. If we could circle back, John, I failed to ask this question. So, here’s Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. When they showed you your costume for that, w- Like, oh, yeah.

Donny Osmond:              00:39:18             There it is, man. That’s all I wore. I hated this loin cloth. But you know what, guys? This thing kept me in the gym. It really did. Because with this all you’re wearing on stage, it kept me … Oh, you know what else I should do? Hold on. There’s the coat. There’s the coat.

Hank Smith:                      00:39:41             Wow, look at that. Yeah.

John Bytheway:               00:39:43             There it is.

Donny Osmond:              00:39:44             There’s the coat.

John Bytheway:               00:39:45             There it is.

Donny Osmond:              00:39:46             Now, I got a funny story I gotta tell you about the coat. When I was filming the movie, the show was pretty much over. And now we do the film and that’s released to the world. So, I’d done my 2000 shows, live performances. We fly over to England to the Pinewood Studios. That’s where they shot all of the James Bond movies, and I love 007. I was filming Joseph in a James Bond studio. I thought, I’ve made it. I’ve made it in life. This was the end of Joseph for me. It was the end of the road, and we’re gonna close up shop, and I’m gonna find something else. Just before I walk out to do this final scene in my loin cloth, I turned to my dresser, his name’s Stephen McMulkin. I said, Stephen, here are the keys to my car. In the trunk, you’ll find two large suitcases.

                                           00:40:36             I want you to steal the coat. I want you to steal the armor. I want you to steal everything in my dressing room.

Hank Smith:                      00:40:42             This is my stuff.

Donny Osmond:              00:40:44             I started thinking, okay, blood, sweat, and tears, six years, 2000 shows in that coat. I’m not gonna let that be hanging in some warehouse someplace. They all turned their heads and they, I guess they had a good laugh that Donny just stole the coat.

John Bytheway:               00:40:59             That’s awesome.

Hank Smith:                      00:40:59             And the loin cloth.

Donny Osmond:              00:41:01             Oh, and this, I gotta show you, this is the, the golden cup.

John Bytheway:               00:41:04             There it is.

Donny Osmond:              00:41:05             There’s the cup that I would turn o- at the turnover. Yeah. That’s the one I did for 2,000 times.

Hank Smith:                      00:41:10             Wow. Yeah. What unique thing would you then tell the youth that find themselves in temptation? There’s Potiphar’s wives all around them, much more than ever before. What was going on in Joseph’s mind? I can’t do this. How could I do this?

Donny Osmond:              00:41:31             Well, I think of what I’ve told my students in my Sunday school class. Sometimes, like with Joseph, if you find yourself in a compromising situation, have you already made a decision beforehand what you’re gonna do in that situation? Because if you have, you know what you’re gonna do. If you haven’t, the temptations of the flesh will take over, and the adversaries got you. I had an experience. This is when I was really trying hard to get my career going over in the UK. I was at the Montrose Music Festival. It was back when it was called the Montrose Jazz Festival. There were some bands, I’m not gonna tell you which ones, but their lyrics were not the best, let’s put it that way, okay? I had to follow this one band. Um, I mean, I don’t even wanna mention the name because the name of the band is awful.

                                           00:42:28             I had to follow them, and then this other band, which was even worse, followed me. I’m in what we call the green room, waiting to go on. This whole show was being televised, and it was live. My manager at the time said, and I’m wearing this leather jacket, I’m trying to look cool with my torn jeans and stuff like that, played the part, and really trying hard to get my career going. He said, “It’s so hot in here. I’ll go get you something to drink.” I said, “Okay, thanks.” So, I’m watching the monitor, and I see him come up next to me. I know what he’s got in his hand. He’s got two glasses of ice cold beer. He gives me one of them. So, I said, okay, I’m gonna test him. I start to put it to my lips, and I’m just about to drink, and I put it down, and I look at it, his eyeballs were this big.

                                           00:43:15             And I said, “What would you have done had I drank that beer?” His response, I’ll never forget, it surprised me. He said, “I would never have forgiven myself because I was the one that made you compromise.”

Hank Smith:                      00:43:31             Wow.

John Bytheway:               00:43:31             Hmm.

Donny Osmond:              00:43:32             Isn’t that interesting?

Hank Smith:                      00:43:33             Just that lesson, decide beforehand.

Donny Osmond:              00:43:36             Decide beforehand. Am I going to take it to the limit? First of all, why would you go to the precipice? With just one little push you’re gonna fall over. Stay away from the edge. Now, granted, I’ve had to, to a certain extent in my life, play the part, be out there doing the rock and roll and stuff, but I don’t go to the edge. There have been television roles and even songs that I’ve turned down that I knew would be hits, but it would compromise my standards. Going back to what I said earlier, trust in the Lord. When I was about probably eight, seven or eight years old, my mom would have us memorize scripture. She was the greatest, she was this, a scholar, a theologian. Elvis Presley would call her all the time on the phone because he wanted to be a preacher.

                                           00:44:25             He loved to talk about the gospel because he loved gospel music. He wanted to be a preacher, so he’d call my mom all the time. She would make us learn these scriptures and one that is my guiding light is Proverbs 3:5-6: “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” In other words, make a decision beforehand. Don’t put yourself in a bad situation. If you do find yourself in a situation, be in the world, but not of it. Be like Joseph. This thing I mentioned about Elvis, I gotta tell you a funny side to that. My brother, Alan, was at the house when he called one day, when Elvis called. Picked up the phone, he said, “Hello”, and he hears this voice, “Is your mother there?”. He said- “Yeah, who’s calling?” He said, um, “This is Elvis.” He didn’t put two and two together.

                                           00:45:19             He said, “Mom, some guy named Elvis is on the phone for you.” This is Elvis Presley.

John Bytheway:               00:45:32             How many Elvis’s do you know?

Donny Osmond:              00:45:34             Yeah, exactly.

Hank Smith:                      00:45:36             Are you in the ward?

John Bytheway:               00:45:38             Yeah.

Donny Osmond:              00:45:39             Are you our home teacher?

Hank Smith:                      00:45:43             Oh, that’s great. I would love to keep asking you about the principles you learned playing the part. Let’s talk about family and betrayal. As Joseph is being drug away by this caravan, we find out later, John, you’ll have to correct me here. The brothers say something like we still hear his cries in our ears. It’s been decades. They’ve suffered with this decision as well.

John Bytheway:               00:46:09             Yeah. There’s some regret.

Hank Smith:                      00:46:11             Yeah. What did you learn from Joseph as you tried to put yourself in his shoes about family and betrayal?

Donny Osmond:              00:46:20             Well, I gotta be careful about that because my brothers didn’t sell me into Los Angeles, okay? They didn’t throw me in a pit. They were not those kinds of brothers.

Hank Smith:                      00:46:32             What happens when the person or the people who are supposed to love you betray you? And how do you not allow that become the centerpiece of your life? Because that can happen. Now, this betrayal becomes, in essence, who I am. I’m defined by it. That’s probably–I’m defined by this betrayal. And Joseph, that doesn’t happen to him. Like you said, he does not give up on his covenants. He does not give up on God. So in those moments in the show, I mean, these 2000 shows, how many times are you drug away by the Ishmaelites? Is there anything that went through your head, anything that you thought, “How would this be to be betrayed by the very people that are supposed to care for you?”

John Bytheway:               00:47:23             That’s what I love in, in Genesis 42 when Joseph is hearing them talk about still with the weepings of Joseph.

Hank Smith:                      00:47:33             It really speaks to the human experience of betrayal.

Donny Osmond:              00:47:39             I have an experience that I’ll tell you. I think I can mention his name because he’s passed away now. In the dark years, the ’80s, I couldn’t get a record deal. In this process of trying to climb out of the pit, my proverbial pit, I had all these record deals pending. In the 11th hour, they’d fall apart. I wrote a song about it called Groove. I wrote a line that says putting money where their mouth is took just a little too long. Said, “Oh, you’re a great singer. Yeah, we love you, and at time to sign the contract, we’ve changed our mind.” Well, I had a signed contract with Quincy Jones, Michael Jackson’s producer. He said, “We’re gonna blow the world away.” Signed contract, ready to go. 11th hour, he said, I can’t do it. My field people say it’s too hard to get radio play.

                                           00:48:34             I have to cancel the contract. Guys, I could have sued it like crazy. Now, here’s the principle that I learned from that experience. If I had vitriol against him, if I had anger, if I had all this pent up in me, in the long run, who loses? I do. In many instances, you just have to lick your wounds. Say, okay, Heavenly Father, that avenue didn’t work. Open up another door for me and I’ll try that. Otherwise, you’re living your life in regret, in anger, hatred.

Hank Smith:                      00:49:07             Yeah, it’ll consume you.

Donny Osmond:              00:49:09             It will consume you. I would rather say, okay, it didn’t work. All right, Heavenly Father, give me strength to go another path. And maybe the Lord allows us to go down these dead-end roads to strengthen us. Maybe the Lord allows that to happen to teach us a lesson that we can use later on in our lives. Everything is an experience. If you try, with humility, to say guide me, Heavenly Father, guide me. I will do thy will. Somebody said in a talk the other day, it was really interesting the way they put it, and I’m not gonna put it in the same impactful way, but he said, I kept praying. I want to do this. I really would like this to happen, Heavenly Father. Humbly, I’m speaking. I want this to happen. And after all this praying and, and weeks and weeks and weeks, he realized I started every sentence with I and me instead of thine and the.

Hank Smith:                      00:50:10             The fact that Joseph has this situation he didn’t choose in Potiphar’s home, but says, this is what I have. I will make something great out of this. And then it happens again, right?

Donny Osmond:              00:50:24             And again and again. I said, “How many tests do I need?”

John Bytheway:               00:50:29             Yeah.

Donny Osmond:              00:50:31             Be patient and wait upon the Lord because he’ll always come through for you. He’s there.

John Bytheway:               00:50:37             Yeah.

Donny Osmond:              00:50:37             And you’re gonna learn a lesson from it.

John Bytheway:               00:50:40             What you started with, Donny, was I think at the beginning of our recording, the anger. I think it was President Oaks that gave a talk called, Where Will This Lead? He had the power as Pharaoh’s right-hand man. Could have wiped them all out or put them all in prison.

Hank Smith:                      00:50:55             Let’s see how you like it.

John Bytheway:               00:50:56             But who would that have destroyed? Joseph. That question of where will this lead? That takes some maturity, some patience to humility to step back and say, “Yeah, I could do that.” But where would that lead?

Donny Osmond:              00:51:09             John, there’s an interesting point to follow up on that. There’s comes a point in time where you say, enough. Don’t push me any further. Turn the cheek. And I’ve learned this hard lesson in my life as well. Don’t cross me anymore. Don’t do that.

Hank Smith:                      00:51:25             Which is why he tests them. Have you actually changed? ‘Cause I’m not gonna reenter this.

Donny Osmond:              00:51:31             It’s exactly what Joseph was doing to him. He was testing them. In our lives, we have to find those moments, not all the time where we say, “There’s the line, don’t cross it.” I’ve had to do that in business, because I’ve been taken advantage of many times in my life. First time is your fault. The second time it’s my fault.

Hank Smith:                      00:51:49             Right. Yeah.

Donny Osmond:              00:51:50             I’m not gonna let it happen to me anymore. I say that with confidence because the Savior did it. When he went into the te–he was not just some weak little person. He went in there and turned the tables over on the money changers. He said, don’t do this anymore. Stop. He was authoritative. But then, just like in section 121, reproving be times and increase the love.

Hank Smith:                      00:52:19             You have to do both. You have to be able to forgive. You have to be able to have boundaries. The Lord is the perfect example of that. Donny, I’m interested in the conversations you and I have had leading up to this. You said you did the show six years, 2000 shows. That’s quite an investment in scripture study. I don’t think I can ever say I studied a certain character in the scriptures every night for six years.

John Bytheway:               00:52:47             For 2,000 times.

Hank Smith:                      00:52:48             Yeah, for 2000 times. And really invested. I’m really gonna put my heart and soul into this and feel what he felt and see what he saw. John, you told me, I mean, even just the few hours you played Amulek. You said it changed you.

John Bytheway:               00:53:03             Yeah, we did a voice recording of the whole Book of Mormon where every character was spoken by a different person. Oh, what an honor to be Amulek.

Donny Osmond:              00:53:13             I can’t even imagine. Oh, my goodness.

John Bytheway:               00:53:15             Amulek, who how can we witness this awful scene when the people … Ugh.

Donny Osmond:              00:53:21             I can’t even imagine. That’s just one of the most horrible parts of the Book of Mormon.

John Bytheway:               00:53:25             It is. I read it and the director said, “Do it again and double the emotion.” Oh. And I didn’t take the acting classes. Just for a couple hours, as I was reading it, I was–I don’t usually read this that way. I’ve read this before, but I put a different emphasis on this and I just thought, am I getting some help? So now let’s talk about doing Joseph 2000 times.

Donny Osmond:              00:53:50             Yeah, I needed a lot of help. Sometimes you drag yourself to the theater. I know exactly what you went through, John, because when you really throw yourself into a part, something takes over. I don’t know the words. I don’t have the vocabulary to explain it. I just know what it feels like. Sometimes when I sing and people have pointed this out, says, “Donny, you close your eyes too much when you sing.” Well, I go to a different place. I actually live the experience. So, you say, you know, 2000 times over six years, I still live it every night. Every night here in Vegas, I sing “Close Every Door.” Five nights a week, I go through that trajectory. The second verse really gets to me. ‘Cause close every door, it sets it up. But the second verse, “Just give me a number instead of my name.

                                           00:54:39             Forget all about me and let me decay. I do not matter. I’m only one person. Destroy me completely, then throw me away.” Those are harsh words. When I sing it, I’m singing it as Joseph, not as Donny Osmond. “If my life were important, I would ask will I live or die? But I know the answers lie far from this world.” That’s where the crescendo happens and the key chains, “Close every door to me. Keep those I love from me. Children of Israel are never alone.” And then, “For we know, we shall find.” –We shall find–“our own peace of mind, for we have been promised a land of our own”, but I’m really up high at the very end. I live it every night. So, when you talk about the feelings of what you did, I get it. Man, I completely understand it. That feeling engulfs you and it gives you even more energy to project and become that character.

John Bytheway:               00:55:47             And you know, in that song at first, I love how it’s like Joseph gets the strength from somewhere and then children of Israel are never alone and this testimony suddenly comes out. I’m okay. I’m gonna get through this because of God, because of the God of my Father.

Donny Osmond:              00:56:05             Yeah. And then he says, for we know we shall find our own peace of mind because we have been promised from God a land of our own. We belong, we matter. Gives me chills now just saying the words. But can you imagine on stage with the orchestra and the energy of the audience and the spotlight and the, the sound, it’s a great feeling. I love show business in that, in that regard. It’s a tough business to be in. But when it works, it works. It’s great.

John Bytheway:               00:56:32             I don’t think I could even sing in the Tabernacle choir because, well, first of all, I can’t sing, but second of all, my emotions would overtake me. If I’m singing it is well with my soul, I couldn’t get through it. How do you do that? How do you sing that and not let the emotions overtake you so that you have to say to the audience, I need a minute? How do you do that?

Hank Smith:                      00:56:55             Like Joseph did. I’m gonna go over here and weep for a little while and then come back out. Yeah.

Donny Osmond:              00:57:01             I guess it’s called focus. You focus on the, the task at hand. Yes, I get caught up in the emotion, but I don’t let it get the best of me because there’s a lot of things going through my mind to distract what I’m doing, but you have to learn how to focus and say, okay, I have a mission. I always go back to that audition just before I started singing, I’m with you, you’re prepared, now execute it.

Hank Smith:                      00:57:27             John, last year we had Carol Costley on the show with us. She talked about the family proclamation. I didn’t know this before we brought her on the show. We asked her about how she became interested in the church and she just said, the Osmonds. It wasn’t, I had a roommate and I had this and that. Oh, and yeah, and I had the Osmonds. It was 100% she said, the Osmonds. What’s that been like, Donny? I mean, Joseph was the same way. People kept saying, Pharaoh, can we find such a one as this? They noticed something about him. John, I know you wanted to talk about this with President Kimball.

John Bytheway:               00:58:09             Yeah. The story that I heard was that he had called your family as missionaries. I would love to hear more about that.

Donny Osmond:              00:58:16             I remember the moment. Put yourself in my family’s shoes. First presidency calls us up and said, we’d like you to give the First Presidency and the 12 a fireside. Okay.

John Bytheway:               00:58:27              I have never got that call, have you Hank?

Donny Osmond:              00:58:29             Yeah.

                                           00:58:31             Give us your testimonies in a little fireside. I’ll never forget it. I don’t know how many feet away from President Kimball, and he’s sitting there, members of the 12, not all of them, but a lot of them in the First Presidency. It was my turn to bear my testimony. Now, can you imagine bearing your testimony to the First Presidency and the 12? What are you gonna say?

Hank Smith:                      00:58:51             Yeah. How old are you?

Donny Osmond:              00:58:53             15.

Hank Smith:                      00:58:53             15? Oh.

Donny Osmond:              00:58:57             Something like that? 16, maybe.

John Bytheway:               00:58:59             You can’t drive yet, but yeah.

Donny Osmond:              00:59:01             No. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I do remember one moment and I’ll never forget it. I was looking at President Kimball in the eyes. You know how we always say, I know that President Kimball’s a true prophet of God.

                                           00:59:12             Yeah. I looked at him and said, “I know you are a true prophet of God.” Whew. What a moment that was. And I started crying because the spirit just took over and I looked at the prophet in his eyes and said, “I know you’re a prophet.” Oh, I gotta tell you a story about President Hinckley. He asked me to perform at the conference center, so I sang this song and he got up and spoke afterwards and, and it was really a wonderful, wonderful evening. I always go stage left to go to the tunnel to go to the church office building. There’s that tunnel to get on a golf cart. So, he leaves in a distance. I’m following behind and there’s a corner. I turn the corner and he’s right in front of me, sitting in his golf cart. So, I slapped him on the knee and I said, “Hello, buddy.” I called the prophet a buddy.

                                           01:00:04             And you know what he did? He slapped me on my knee, said, “Hello, buddy.”

John Bytheway:               01:00:09             We’re buddies.

Hank Smith:                      01:00:10             Oh, man. I love that.

Donny Osmond:              01:00:11             Just the coolest guy.

Hank Smith:                      01:00:14             Oh, that is, that is wonderful. I’m a Hinckley-ite through and through. So, I love those stories. Was that an interesting thing to represent the church, to the world? What was that like?

Donny Osmond:              01:00:26             Well, don’t put that much pressure and responsibility on us, but every member a missionary. Let’s look at it that way. Whether you know it or not, people are watching you. They know you’re a member of the church. Maybe not as high profile as we’ve been, but we went to Germany. The year was like 1970 or something like that. Just trying to get our career going. Things were really starting to pick up in England. Nobody knew us in Germany. Our tour guide took us to this restaurant that was famous for 101 different kinds of beer. We sit down at the table and he said, “You gotta try, you gotta sample.” They have samples. And my dad, bless his heart, he was a Joseph. He said, “No, apple juice is fine. Thank you.” Our tour guy said, “Hey, this is what this restaurant is known for.

                                           01:01:14             You’re not even known in this country. Nobody will know. You just gotta try … This is what we’re famous for. ” My father looked at him again firmly and said, “Apple juice will be fine.” He gave us all apple juice. The next day, front page in the newspaper, with a picture, the Osmonds prefer apple juice to Munich Beer. What would the story have said had we not done that?

John Bytheway:               01:01:38             Exactly.

Donny Osmond:              01:01:40             Maybe we’re high profile, but every member. You represent the church. Somebody’s watching you. Don’t compromise. Be like Joseph. Run away. Be in the world, but not of it. I’m asked this question a lot. How do you stick to your principles and be in show business? It’s such a simple answer. Either believe it or you don’t. Make a choice. There’s no gray area. Do you believe the gospel is true? Or you don’t. If you believe it’s true, then live it. It’s so simple. Live the gospel.

Hank Smith:                      01:02:17             The decisions are made beforehand. I’m sure your family did not make that decision there. Hey, guys, should we do this? No.

John Bytheway:               01:02:22             Should we do this? Yeah.

Hank Smith:                      01:02:24             Yeah.

Donny Osmond:              01:02:26              My dad said, there’s the red line. Don’t cross it.

Hank Smith:                      01:02:30             Donny, music speaks to people in a way that speaking can’t. I remember hearing Elder Holland once saying, we should sing and pray a lot more and talk a lot less. Here you have this story put to music. It can become like scripture. It can speak scripture. You have this incredible gift that you have worked on and honed and it changes lives, it speaks to people, including John and I. How does that work in your mind, exactly? Taking the story of Joseph, the text, the black and white, the words, and putting it to music, why does that change the story for us?

Donny Osmond:              01:03:14             I know exactly what you’re saying because I live it every night that I do a show. I could say, “Close every door to me. Hide all the world from me. Bar all the windows and shut out the light. Do what you want with me. Hate me and laugh at me. Darken my daytime. Torture my nights.” As an actor, that’s great. “Close every door to me. Hide all the world from…” A whole different meaning. So, music with lyrics, it brings back memories. If I sing, “Isn’t she lovely? Isn’t she wonderful?” It’s so different than, “Isn’t she lovely? Isn’t she wonderful?”

Hank Smith:                      01:03:59             Right. Yeah.

Donny Osmond:              01:04:01             The words are important, but the notes enhance the words. Get your words. You convey the feeling–Close every door to me, hide all the world. Just give me a number instead of my name. When I sing that on stage, I look at certain people in the audience. They don’t know that I’m looking right at them, but I’m singing right to that person. Just give me a number, instead of my name. And then I back down, forget all about me and let me decay. I do not matter. I’m only one person. Destroy me completely, and I really, then I get intense. Destroy me completely. Then throw me away. Then I’m in, “if my life were”, then I really get into it. But it’s the notes and the intensity of the note that really conveys the message.

Hank Smith:                      01:04:48             To me, people like … What’d you call him? Lord Weber?

Donny Osmond:              01:04:52             Lord Lloyd Weber. Yeah, that’s his title now.

Hank Smith:                      01:04:55             Lord Weber.

Donny Osmond:              01:04:56             It used to be Sir Lloyd Weber, but it’s Lord Lloyd Weber.

Hank Smith:                      01:05:00             This is inspired. This is one of God’s prophets. We’re singing about him. Is that inspiration to you? Doesn’t he write that by inspiration?

Donny Osmond:              01:05:10             I’m convinced he was. I’m convinced because it has withstood the test of time.

Hank Smith:                      01:05:16             Yeah.

Donny Osmond:              01:05:16             It comes from holy writ. He can’t lose. The story was inspired. The person he’s writing about is amazing. The life he lived, the trials he went through.

Hank Smith:                      01:05:28             The truth that’s taught, that he wanted to teach it.

Donny Osmond:              01:05:30             Exactly. But let’s give a lot of credit to Tim Rice. He is the lyricist. But Andrew put the magic to it, and the combination of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Weber, when they put all that together, it was gold. Absolute gold. And they expanded on it, created more and more and more to where it’s a two-hour musical now.

Hank Smith:                      01:05:53             Yeah. It’s still going.

Donny Osmond:              01:05:56             Still going. We’ll go forever. There’s certain things I’ve done in my life, in my career. “Puppy Love”, that’s generational. It belongs to a certain generation. Little kids have no idea. Puppy love, what’s that? Donny and Marie is generational. Yes, it’ll be on YouTube for however long. But Joseph will always be there. The other thing is–“let’s get down to business”– Mulan. “To defeat the hunt.” I’ll always be Captain Shane. Those two things, but mainly Joseph, because it speaks to so many generations with such a positive message.

Hank Smith:                      01:06:33             It does.

Donny Osmond:              01:06:35             I gotta tell you this story. The story of Joseph, it deals with some pretty bad stuff that was going on. He was wonderful. But the decadence and the impurities of the society that was, it was awful. Some of the costumes, if you watch the video, let alone the live show, you know, it kind of raises an eyebrow. Especially like I’m in a loin cloth. So, I’m almost naked on stage. And like I said earlier, motivation to keep me in the gym and work out. But some of the costumes, they were like a nude color and looked a little bit, hmm, you know, uncomfortable. But it was the biblical story. Here’s the funny part. This gentleman and his wife came to the show and, uh, I hope I don’t get into trouble, but very faithful in the gospel. This is a story of judging. Never judge.

                                           01:07:37             Got him great seats. Best seats in the house. They left in the middle of the show. I got a message back from him. How dare you perform in a show that the costumes are that … not revealing, because they weren’t revealing, but everybody was covered up. Just that it was suggestive, I guess, or whatever. The reason I say this because don’t judge anybody. Be careful. Don’t, don’t be self-righteous. We have the truth. We have the fullness of the gospel. And a lot of people on this earth are wonderful people. They’re great Christians.

Hank Smith:                      01:08:20             Inspired. Yeah.

John Bytheway:               01:08:22             All over.

Donny Osmond:              01:08:23             Be Christ-like in all your dealings. Don’t elevate yourself more than anybody. My parents taught me that. Yes, I’ve been able to be very fortunate in this business and be on a platform. When I go on stage, it’s a platform. People come to see a star. I learned this from Elvis. When he walked off stage, he was just a nice guy you know? When that curtain comes down, I leave the star on stage. I’m a grandpa. I’m a father. I’m a husband. Don’t elevate yourself. Even though we know we have the truth, the fullness of the gospel, and the gospel still being restored. We’re still in the process of restoration. There’s still great people out there who are celestial. Be careful about putting yourself in that kingdom before the Lord judges you.

Hank Smith:                      01:09:14             That’s a great line.

Donny Osmond:              01:09:17             This conversation I had with President Christofferson the other day, within that conversation, he said, pride, which is pretty much what the Book of Mormon is all about, is the fall of these nations was all about pride. Be careful of pride. And it’s so easy to get it in show business because you surround yourself with all these, “Oh, you’re great. I love you. Your show was fantastic. I’ve never seen it. It’s fantastic.” And you go home and say, “I must be really great.” People are just saying how great I … Don’t do that. Let the Lord someday say, “Well done thou good and faithful servant.” Then I’ll accept it.

Hank Smith:                      01:10:01             I really like that. And that was Joseph’s life.

Donny Osmond:              01:10:04             Yes.

Hank Smith:                      01:10:05             How do you tell the story without showing the world he was thrown into?

Donny Osmond:              01:10:10             Yeah.

Hank Smith:                      01:10:11             Which is much worse than the actual comp.

Donny Osmond:              01:10:13             Think of it. He, he was such a humble man. He was in such a powerful position, yet he was humble enough to say, father, brothers—was it Goshen that he had to move to?

Hank Smith:                      01:10:26             Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Donny Osmond:              01:10:27             He said, move out of Goshen, my family’s coming in. There’s the best part of the land and you’re gonna have it. Well, he could’ve said, I’m much better. I’m gonna stay in the palace. No, he’s part of the family. He was a great father. Raised two wonderful children. He was a wonderful father, wonderful husband, dedicated to his wife. I could go on and on about Joseph because he’s like my role model. I’m so glad I had the great opportunity to do that audition in New York City and go for it and take the chance and go for the high note and hear my producers say, “You’re my Joseph.” Because Joseph is my role model.

Hank Smith:                      01:11:10             I love it, Donny. After I got off the phone with you, I went upstairs and, and my wife said, “You just talked to Donny Osmond.” I said, “I know, and he’s the nicest guy.” He’s the nicest guy. I felt like we were old friends. We were chatting.

Donny Osmond:              01:11:27             Did you tell John what I texted you just before?

Hank Smith:                      01:11:30             I said, “Hey, we’re excited to talk to you tomorrow.”

Donny Osmond:              01:11:32             Tell you this, but I have to cancel.

Hank Smith:                      01:11:34             I have to cancel. Long, like, space, space, space, space…Just kidding. Just kidding. Oh, so my stomach drops.

John Bytheway:               01:11:46             Let me tell you a personal Donny story. My wife and I, when we were first married, Kim and I lived at some condominiums. I think I first ran into you at a Deseret Book at University Mall and you were super nice. Well, I came over one day, knocked on your door, “Would you sing Happy Birthday to my sister, Sally? And Hank, Donny’s so nice, tours the house with us, sits down at the grand piano, and sings happy birthday to Sally. The scream heard around the world is when I played that video for Sally. But so kind, so down to earth. Kim and I were just, okay, we love this guy.

Donny Osmond:              01:12:27             Did you ever receive my invoice for that?

John Bytheway:               01:12:30              Uh, it must have been lost in the mail somewhere.

Hank Smith:                      01:12:36             And Donny, has the gospel been part of that? I mean, because you’re Donny Osmond, but then you’re still Brother Osmond at church and your grandpa.

Donny Osmond:              01:12:46             Here’s what helps me the most, the temple. I love the fact that nobody’s different. We’re all the same. Everybody’s dressed the same. Everybody’s in white. We’re all trying hard. Yeah, people kind of recognize me and all that stuff, but when you get right down to it, we’re all trying hard. We’re all doing our best. That’s what I love about the temple is that-what transition. That’s why I loved when they called me and asked me to be on the mask singer. Did you ever see me on the mass as the peacock?

Hank Smith:                      01:13:18             I did, yep.

Donny Osmond:              01:13:19             I was the very first one that they called. Deena Katz, she was the one that actually booked me on Dancing with the Stars. She called me and said, “We got this new show. It’s called The Masked Singer.” I said, “Tell me more about it.” Said, “All these singers are gonna put masks on.” And she started explaining. I said, “Stop right there. I’m in.” Because everybody is on an equal ground. I get the joke. I get it. I was the very first one. T-Pain beat me, barely, but I almost got it as a peacock, but it was so much fun. I got kids coming to my show saying … I had these two little nine-year-old boys. They had a t-shirt on. I got them up on stage the other day, and they just had peacock on their t-shirt. They just wanted to meet the peacock.

Hank Smith:                      01:14:04             Yeah.

Donny Osmond:              01:14:04             They didn’t know anything about my career, but they just want to meet the peacock.

John Bytheway:               01:14:07             So cool.

Hank Smith:                      01:14:08             That speaks to who you are, speaks to your family, speaks to your wife. I’m just like you.

John Bytheway:               01:14:15             Yeah. Right.

Hank Smith:                      01:14:15             I have a platform, yes, but-

Donny Osmond:              01:14:17             But I dress like a, up like a peacock.

Hank Smith:                      01:14:19             Yeah, I dress up like a peacock.

Donny Osmond:              01:14:22             The show starts airing, and I’ve signed a non-disclosure. I can’t tell anybody. I eventually told my wife, obviously, but I didn’t tell my kids, nor my grandkids, no way, because it would get out. The show airs, and I get a call from my son, Donn. He said, “Dad.” I said, “What?” “Dad, come on.” I said, “What are you talking about? ” He said, “It’s you, isn’t it?” I said, “Don, you can’t say a word.” “Please don’t tell your grandkids.” He says, “I won’t say a word, dad, but I gotta tell you something. My children are in love with the peacock.” It’s especially my oldest one, Truman. Comes the day I’ve gotta take the peacock mask off and the audience is screaming, “Take it off, take it.” And Don was videoing his kids, and Truman and all the kids are in front of the television screaming, “Take it off. Take…” And I took it off and they went, “Grandpa!”

Hank Smith:                      01:15:24             Oh, that’s, that is awesome.

Donny Osmond:              01:15:27             Every once in a while, they refer to me as the peacock instead of grandpa.

John Bytheway:               01:15:31             Awesome.

Hank Smith:                      01:15:31             What a treat, right? What a treat for those kids. That’s my grandpa.

Donny Osmond:              01:15:36             That’s grandpa.

Hank Smith:                      01:15:36             Right. Yeah. And I’ve noticed that about the entire family. It reminds me a little bit, I know this is an odd comparison, but John, we’ve talked about John the Baptist when he appears to, these two YSAs and says, “Hello, my fellow servants.” You’re John the Baptist.

Donny Osmond:              01:15:55             Yeah.

Hank Smith:                      01:15:56             How are we fellow servants?

John Bytheway:               01:15:58             Yeah.

Hank Smith:                      01:15:59             He seems like this person who says, “No, no, we’re all …

Donny Osmond:              01:16:02             Well, look at the Savior, look at the Savior. He would come up and wash somebody’s feet. It’s like, really? You’re the Savior. You created everything and you’re washing my feet? Yeah, I even died for you. I wrote a song called “Start Again”. You know, life’s not always simple. You stumble and fall and things don’t always work out and you feel small. Then it goes to, on to say, these scars are who I am, and when you’re walking through the valley, just hold my hand. So, if you read the lyrics of that song that I wrote called “Start Again”, it’s the atonement. The scars are who I am. And when you’re walking through the valley of shadow death, hold my hand because I’ve been there before. It’s all right. You can start again. It’s really a cool song. That’s another song in the show that I don’t relate to Joseph, but it’s just my own experiences of talking about what the Lord did for us.

Hank Smith:                      01:17:05             How do you come to a place of forgiveness? We talked a, a little bit about this earlier. It can consume you, this anger, but to not just forgive but to reconcile. I find it interesting that after Jacob dies, after Israel dies, the brothers are scared again. Now that our father is dead, he’s gonna come after us. And Joseph says to them again, no, no. Be not angry with yourselves.

John Bytheway:               01:17:34             Yeah.

Hank Smith:                      01:17:34             Not just, I’m not angry at you. I don’t want you to be angry at you. To me, that is so inspiring and just another inspiring part of this story. As you’re playing that part and he reveals who he is–doing that 2,000 times, I’m sure there were moments where you thought, how does someone do this? How does someone say, I’m your brother? And he doesn’t–he doesn’t beat around the bush. He’s like, “Whom ye sold?”

Donny Osmond:              01:18:04             I will never forget that.

Hank Smith:                      01:18:05             Yeah. Oh, let’s not. Let’s talk about it. Come to me. Doesn’t he say that, John? Come near to me.

John Bytheway:               01:18:12             Yeah. Genesis 45, verse four, “Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.” What a moment.

Hank Smith:                      01:18:24             Yeah. What a moment.

Donny Osmond:              01:18:26             So in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, the moment was, “Can’t you recognize my face? Is it hard to see that Joseph who you thought was dead? Your brother is me.”

John Bytheway:               01:18:41             Hmm.

Donny Osmond:              01:18:42             Woo, get the chills just reliving that experience because they were all kneeling down, face down on the ground as I’m singing, “Can’t you recognize my face? Joseph is me”, and they all start looking up, but Benjamin stayed down. Now, this isn’t biblical, but it was the way it was choreographed or staged, but they all started looking up in unbelief and the chills that I got, I started hugging my brothers and that forgiveness started going throughout all the brothers, but then I saw my blood brother that Rachel bore, blood brothers. And when he looked up, ugh, he was the last one for me to hug and we just embraced. The audience went crazy. The brothers go crazy. The orchestra starts playing this party music and everybody’s jumping up and down. I can’t imagine what that was like in real life with the real brothers and the real Joseph.

                                           01:19:40             There must have been so much weeping of, please forgive us. And then Joseph, more or less, said, forgive yourselves.

Hank Smith:                      01:19:50             Do not be angry with yourselves.

Donny Osmond:              01:19:52             Yeah. Let it go.

Hank Smith:                      01:19:54             I joke around with my students and say, come on, guys, who hasn’t sold a brother? Let’s go. Right? Like-

John Bytheway:               01:20:00             Who hasn’t done that?

Hank Smith:                      01:20:02             Come on.

Donny Osmond:              01:20:03             I’ve thrown many people into pits.

Hank Smith:                      01:20:05             Right. That’s pretty incredible. Don’t be angry with yourselves. I can forgive someone and say, “I forgive you, but you probably oughta be angry with yourself for quite a while.”

Donny Osmond:              01:20:15             Well, he allowed that to happen. He allowed them to go through the pain. There’s gotta be reconciling of paying a penance, as it were, for the wrongdoings that you’ve made, and then turn it over to the Lord because the atonement takes care of the rest of it.

Hank Smith:                      01:20:30             How do we figure out how to reconcile?

Donny Osmond:              01:20:32             You know, we have people leaving the church thinking that I’m so far off the covenant path. There’s no way back. I just listened to this talk the other day. Was it President Oaks? You cannot go off the path further than what the– What, what is it, John?

John Bytheway:               01:20:52             Further than the reach of the atonement or further than-

Donny Osmond:              01:20:55             That’s it. Yeah. So, forgive yourself. We all make mistakes. I’ve made enormous amounts of mistakes, and I still need to apply the principle of forgiving myself and … Pick yourself up. Move on. Try harder.

Hank Smith:                      01:21:12             You can hear the Lord saying that. Be not angry with yourself. Come near to me.

Donny Osmond:              01:21:18             Boy, was he a type and shadow of Christ or what?

Hank Smith:                      01:21:22             Yeah.

Donny Osmond:              01:21:23             I have two blessings. My patriarchal blessing. I could spend an hour talking about that one, and then I have a father’s blessing. I’m gonna give you something I don’t really share my father’s blessing or my patriarchal blessing very much, but I’m gonna give you an excerpt from my father’s blessing. I was 21 years old. My career was gone. I really had to rebuild myself and I’m trying to figure out what am I gonna do the rest of my life. I’ve got children now. I’ve got a wife. I gotta provide. I’ve lost all my money. I’ve gotta rebuild. My parents were serving a mission over in Hawaii at the visitor center, and I flew over there with my wife. We had one child at the time. I called him about three weeks prior to the trip and I said, father, I need a father’s blessing. I need some guidance.

                                           01:22:07             I need what Jacob did to his sons. He said, I will prepare for the next three weeks, and I want you to prepare too. I want the spirit to be very strong because I want this to come from the Lord, not me. I will not obviously read it to you because it’s very personal, but the one excerpt from there that has been a guiding light for me, and I can hear Joseph saying it. He said, “Never do a performance that you wouldn’t do in front of a general authority.” That little statement right there has been a guide for me when all of these opportunities come in on my desk that might have a little bit of a compromising. Would I do that if President Christofferson was in the audience, would I be embarrassed? I’m not embarrassed of one thing on this show when he saw the show.

Hank Smith:                      01:22:59             That is a Joseph moment.

Donny Osmond:              01:23:01             That is a Joseph moment, absolutely.

Hank Smith:                      01:23:02             Do not compromise.

Donny Osmond:              01:23:04             Take that one step further when my father said, “Never do a performance that you wouldn’t do in front of General Authority.” Never do a performance that you wouldn’t do in front of the Savior because he’s watching. He’s watching.

Hank Smith:                      01:23:19             Yeah. How many times, John, does it say, “And the Lord was with Joseph.”

Donny Osmond:              01:23:26             He wanted to be righteous, and because he had that desire, the Lord was with him.

Hank Smith:                      01:23:33             My hope is this week that all of our listeners will sit down with their family. Let’s talk about one of the greatest stories ever told, and all we can learn.

Donny Osmond:              01:23:44             Watch the video. It’s on YouTube. Watch it. And then try to pick out a principle. After finishing it, turn to your children and says, “What did you learn? Just give me one thing. What principle did you learn?” Yeah, there was singing, there was dancing and all this colorful stuff, but what is … Give, give me one principle. It’s a great little activity for a family to do.

Hank Smith:                      01:24:05             Donny, we were interviewing Dr. Mike Harris a couple weeks ago, and we looked at the moment where Jacob reconciles with Esau. It hit all three of us. We got to that moment and it said, and Rachel came near with her children. And you think- Oh. He saw this.

John Bytheway:               01:24:27             Yeah.

Hank Smith:                      01:24:28             He saw brothers reconcile. He saw his father reconcile with his brother. As a young boy, he watched his father and his brother reconcile after years of estrangement.

John Bytheway:               01:24:42             If you look at verse–Genesis 33:4, it sounds like the prodigal son. It sounds like kind of a reunion. “And Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him and they wept. …he lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children and said, Who are those with thee? And he said, The children which God hath graciously given thy servant. Then the handmaidens came near, they and their children, and they bowed themselves. And Leah also with her children came near, and bowed themselves: and after came Joseph near and Rachel, and they bowed themselves.”

Hank Smith:                      01:25:18             And it’s a little bit of a prequel.

Donny Osmond:              01:25:20             Again, a type and shadow of the Savior.

Hank Smith:                      01:25:23             Speaking of that, Donny, there is this moment where Judah offers himself in place of Benjamin. Here is the Savior’s great, great, whatever grandfather saying, “I cannot go back to the Father and the lad not be with me. Take me instead.” Just another beautiful part of the story. Yeah. Yeah. Take me instead.

John Bytheway:               01:25:47             I can’t go back to the father without all of these.

Hank Smith:                      01:25:50             It’ll kill him. We did it to him once. We will not do it to him again. And here Joseph knows, oh, you’re not the same brothers I knew.

Donny Osmond:              01:25:58             He was putting them to the test. He proved them.

Hank Smith:                      01:26:01             Yeah. And it goes to what you said earlier, which is he’s gonna have a boundary here. This, he’s not gonna reenter this relationship. If it’s gonna be abusive, right? Am I gonna put myself back into that? I wanna know if this is different now.

Donny Osmond:              01:26:16             Yeah. Hence, the times he went and wept like crazy. Both sides with love and with concern. Talk about being torn. Oh, my goodness.

Hank Smith:                      01:26:31             I joke around. I hope there’s a really good Egyptian therapist that can walk him through this trauma. I’m having a lot of feelings here.

John Bytheway:               01:26:45             I just wanna say thank you. I think that so many people will love hearing from someone who studied Joseph so completely and lived that part probably like nobody else on the planet. Seriously. I’ve loved it. Thank you so much.

Hank Smith:                      01:27:02             And for anybody out there listening who wonders if Donny Osmond is the person you hope he is, he is. I got to experience it. I feel so lucky. I’m so blessed that I texted Donny and said, “Hey, my name’s Hank Smith this is what I’m hoping for.” And the phone rings, comes up Donny Osmond, so I, okay, I’m gonna call him and, oh, I hope I don’t get, “Hey, kid, right? Don’t call me again,” right? I get this friend, this friendly voice, “Hey, I’m, I’m interested. What do you wanna do? This is great.” It’s been wonderful. Donny, just a last message for our listeners all over the world, some in Joseph’s prime years, things are great, and others in Joseph’s darkest times. I think they’d love to just hear from you and …

Donny Osmond:              01:27:49             Well, thank you for that opportunity. We live in a very dangerous world right now. I had a wonderful conversation with Elder Rasband the other day, and he said, “The church has never been stronger.” You watch the news; the world is falling apart. You talk to the general authorities, the First Presidency, the Twelve. The world’s a great place. They’re the ones I’m gonna believe. You can get sucked into all the bad things that are going on, or you can look at the glass as half full, because we know the ending of the story. The Savior wins in the end. Yes, we’re gonna have some turbulent times, as we have right now, but have faith in the Lord. He’s in control. He will prevail at the end. What a wonderful time to be living, when all of these prophecies are being fulfilled. When I kneel down and say my prayers every night and every morning, I thank my Heavenly Father for being able to see these things happen, see all these things transpire, that prophets have been writing about for thousands of years, and we’re watching it and we’re living it.

                                           01:29:01             We don’t know when the Second Coming is gonna happen, but be of good cheer. The Lord’s in control.

Hank Smith:                      01:29:09             I love it. I love it. What a day. We’ve been so richly blessed and laughed and I feel so uplifted. John, I’ve said this before. I know when I’m aligned with the Spirit because I don’t want it to end, and I wanna be better.

Donny Osmond:              01:29:25             The Lord sees that, too, and we’re gonna make mistakes. Forgive yourself, that’s the other thing–my takeaway. Forgive yourself. Try harder, pick yourself up, start again. Allow the atonement to be applied in your lives, because the Lord died for you. He paid for your sins. His mercy will pick you up and allow Him to do that.

Hank Smith:                      01:29:47             He is mighty to save. With that, we want to thank Brother Donny Osmond for being with us today. What a treat for all of us. And I can’t forget to thank Dr. Brad Wilcox, our wonderful friend, Brad, for helping me put this episode together. We wanna thank our executive producer, Shannon Sorensen, our sponsors, David and Verla Sorensen, and every episode we remember our founder. Oh, he would’ve loved this. Steve Sorensen. We hope you’ll join us next week. We’re gonna continue to talk about Joseph of Egypt on followHIM. As a thank you to our wonderful listeners, we’d love to gift you the digital version of our book, Finding Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. It offers short, meaningful insights drawn from our past Old Testament episodes. Visit followhim.co, that’s followhim.co to download your free copy today, and you’ll also find the link to purchase the print edition.

                                           01:30:41             Thank you for being part of our followHIM family. Of course, none of this could happen without our incredible production crew. David Perry, Lisa Spice, Will Stoughton, Krystal Roberts, Ariel Cuadra, Heather Barlow, Amelia Kabwika, Sydney Smith, and Annabelle Sorensen.