Joseph Smith Biography

(Grace) #1
Twenty-Five (1830)

[Independence, 1928], p. 103–104 (‘But as soon as he spoke I jumped upon my feet, for in every
possible degree it was Joseph’s voice, and his person, in look, attitude, dress and appearance; [it] was
Joseph himself, personified and I knew in a moment the spirit and mantle of Joseph was upon him’);
Life Story of Mosiah Hancock, p. 23, BYU Library (‘Although only a boy, I saw the mantle of the
Prophet Joseph rest upon Brigham Young; and he arose lion-like to the occasion and led the people
forth’); Wilford Woodruff, Deseret News, March 15, 1892 (‘If I had not seen him with my own eyes,
there is no one that could have convinced me that it was not Joseph Smith’); George Q. Cannon,
Juvenile Instructor, 22 [29 October 1870]: 174-175 (‘When Brigham Young spoke it was with the voice
of Joseph himself; and not only was it the voice of Joseph which was heard, but it seemed in the eyes
of the people as though it was the every person of Joseph which stood before them’). However,
historians have come to different conclusions on whether the occurrence of such events is supported
by contemporary records. Van Wagoner observed of contemporary accounts that ‘none of these
references an explicit transfiguration, a physical metamorphosis of Brigham Young into the form and
voice of Joseph Smith,’ and ‘[w]hen 8 August 1844 is stripped of emotional overlay, there is not a
shred of irrefutable contemporary evidence to support the occurrence of a mystical event either in the
morning or afternoon gatherings of that day.’: Van Wagoner, Richard S. (Winter 1995). ‘The Making
of a Mormon Myth: The 1844 Transfiguration of Brigham Young’. Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon
Thought 28 (4): 1–24.” (See paragraph above for Wiki reference to this.)


(^52) PGP, Articles of Faith 1:2.
(^53) See Sacred, not Secret (Christopher).
(^54) DHC, 1:85.
(^55) DHC, 1:84. See also D&C, 20:61–4, 67, 81–2; 28:10.
(^56) DHC, 1:85.
(^57) Compare John 3:27; Acts 3:12; 4:10; D&C, 3:4.
(^58) DHC, 1:83.
(^59) DHC, 1:92. Compare D&C, 127:1.
(^60) DHC, 1:93.
(^61) DHC, 1:93. Compare 1 Corinthians 2:14.
(^62) DHC, 1:105.
(^63) Matthew 5:44.
(^64) SNS, 107. See also TSP, 3:13; 66:35; Compare BOM, Mormon 8:16; Alma 9:23.
(^65) BOM, 1 Nephi 11:11.
(^66) D&C, section 129.
(^67) BOM, 1 Nephi 11:1, emphasis and brackets added.
(^68) BOM, Alma 12:9–11.
(^69) BOM, Alma 12:11; Compare BOM, 2 Nephi 2:27.
(^70) BOM, 1 Nephi 14:3.
(^71) BOM, 2 Nephi 28:21.
(^72) “Eli-Lilly dispenses 62% more Prozac in Utah than any other state. More Utahns take
Prozac-style drugs than in any other state, according to a study conducted in June of 2001 by Express
Scripts, a pharmacy benefit management firm. The study indicated that Utah residents average 1.1
prescriptions per person per year of medications such as Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil. The national
average is 0.7.” (“Utah’s Dark Reality,” Life After Ministries; Leading Mormons to the REAL Jesus, 2007,
Life After Ministries, 25 May 2011 http://www.lifeafter.org/mormonsuicide.asp. See footnote 7
from “Troy Goodman, Salt Lake Tribune/Scripps Howard News Service.”)
See also David Hancock, “Unhappy In Utah,” CBS Evening News, 3 June 2002, CBS Interactive Inc.,
25 May 2011 http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/06/03/eveningnews/main510918.shtml;
Tad Walch, “Why high antidepressant use in Utah?” Deseret News, 22 July 2006, Deseret
Media Companies, 25 May 2011 http://www.deseretnews.com/article/640196840/Why-high-
antidepressant-use-in-Utah.html
.

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