TWENTY-SEVEN
(1832)
Joseph Smith III was born. Persecutions increased. The early LDS missionaries looked beyond
the intended mark concerning “the gathering” and related concepts. An entire chapter of the Book of Mormon
(3 Nephi, chapter 21) is expounded upon, as well as the important purpose and message of the book, which was
continually overlooked by the people. The Book of Mormon exists to help equalize the races of the earth.In 1832, Joseph and Emma finally had their first surviving son, Joseph Smith III,^1
born November 6th, in Kirtland, Ohio.^2 That year Joseph and Sidney Rigdon were tarred and
feathered for attempting to tell the white-skinned race that they weren’t the “Christians”
that they thought they were because of how they treated the Native Americans.
Persecutions against the Church increased, not because of the Book of Mormon, but because
of the Saints. The beginning of all their problems began because the Saints misunderstood
and did not pay attention to the words and teachings of the Book of Mormon.
The Truth Concerning the Gathering, the New Jerusalem, and Zion
Joseph continued to “receive revelations” for the people, which he gave to them to
“cause them to stumble” in consequence of the things that they desired outside of adhering
to the simplicity of the words that Christ delivered to the people in the Book of Mormon. The
elders of the Church increased in power and arrogance. In September of 1832, a few
missionaries returned to Kirtland, Ohio, and met in conference to exchange stories of their
missionary activities. During their meetings, two main themes generated a lot of discussion
and inquiry among them:
- The new converts wanted to know if they were supposed to gather
somewhere together as a church to strengthen each other, find fellowship,
and establish Zion as they supposed the scriptures had prophesied;^3 and - Every missionary, as well as most of the leaders of the newly established
church, had no clue how to explain the authority of the priesthood, where
it came from, why it was important, and what role it played in the
church.^4 They needed to establish a general church doctrine concerning
the power and authority of the priesthood.
First, it is important to understand where the idea of a gathering place comes from.
When the concept was first suggested, it had nothing to do with the people of the LDS
Church at the time; it had everything to do with the Native Americans. Missouri^5 was to be
“the land which I will consecrate unto my people, which are a remnant of Jacob, and those
who are heirs according to the covenant.”^6 In this instance, “my people” had nothing to do
with white people, or those who had joined the LDS Church at the time, or those who
would join the Church in the future. In the attitude of superiority, as the white men always
took in relation to the Indian people, it was not enough to forcibly take the Indian’s