Eighteen (1823)characters were useful in teaching the people real truth. These chosen messengers knew that
“faith” was the substance that supported free will; and whatever the people had faith in was
incorporated into the teaching principles used by the messenger.
Allowing People to Govern Themselves
Everything Joseph would do concerning the mandate he received from Christ, and
later from other advanced humans (including the Three Nephites and John the Beloved), was
based on the free will of the people. Even after his death, those who personally knew Joseph
reported what they remembered of his teachings, recalling that Joseph’s counsel always
centered around the idea that “I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves.”^4
Ironically, it was John Taylor who attributed the above quote to Joseph in response
to a published account which states, “Some years ago, in Nauvoo, a gentleman in my hearing, a
member of the Legislature, asked Joseph Smith how it was that he was enabled to govern so many
people, and to preserve such perfect order.”^5 Continuing in the article with his response, Taylor
falsely reported that Joseph answered, “I teach them correct principles, and they govern
themselves.” Although in spirit this contained the elements of truth, Joseph never actually
used these words.
After Joseph’s death, the LDS Church became increasingly adept at spinning its
tales of hardship and woes and promulgating the idea that the LDS/Mormons were God’s
chosen people. LDS/Mormon propaganda developed and grew, effectively keeping its
followers blind. For example, in modern times, the church’s ability to use propaganda has
proved to be one of its most powerful tools, making the LDS Church one of the most
influential and controlling religious media organizations in the world. Its ability to
propagate it’s supposed worth onto its membership is so extraordinary that few long-time
members are able to let go of what it pretends to be (God’s true church with real apostles
and a real prophet), even long after they quit attending.
However, the real truth of conditions in Nauvoo was that there was no “order” among
the Saints. Taylor conveniently left out the fact that most of Joseph’s friends and the main
leaders of the early church fought with Joseph and left him, branding him a “fallen
prophet.” The fact is, the people were ungovernable because they would not accept the
“correct principles” that he had introduced; they were a people completely “out of order”
because they had chosen, instead, to be governed under the false pretenses that they came
up with by their own free will. If, however, the people had accepted the “correct principles”
that Joseph tried to teach them, then there would have been the order that Taylor attempted
to project onto the church through Joseph’s purported words.
John Taylor, who succeeded Brigham Young, also followed in Brigham’s footsteps as a
dictatorial prophet, president, and leader of the LDS Church. Taylor was one of the staunchest
proponents of plural marriage, an “incorrect principle” that Joseph never taught the people—
and an idea that nearly became the undoing of the church, making LDS men ungovernable
under the federal government of the United States. (See Appendix 2 on Plural Marriage.)
Taylor got his quote wrong in 1851, having been blinded by his own arrogance and
dishonesty, which clouded his personal perception of what he claimed “in my hearing.”^6
This is what actually occurred:
The lawmaker, John Rockwell from Connecticut, was visiting Nauvoo on a trip to
find out what had caused the Missouri Governor, Lilburn Boggs, to issue an extermination
order against the Mormons.^7 Rockwell asked Joseph about the persecutions they had