Twenty-Eight (1833)Joseph had temporarily forgotten how his scribes and Editor-in-chief Sidney
related the “revelation” that they wrote after the conference of January 2, 1831; but his
followers did not. Many of them kept pestering him about what the “law” was that they
were going to receive in Ohio. So, a month later, after they had traveled to Kirtland,
Joseph gave them the “law”; and it had nothing to do with any mysteries or
“endowment from on high.”^33 Joseph gave them what they wanted: he gave them their
missionary calling to go spread the news of their brand new church.^34 The people got
their law, but many complained, appropriately, that they did not receive any
“endowment from on high.” Joseph had hoped they had forgotten about that part.
A School of the Prophets
For months the men kept pestering Joseph about the great “endowment” they were
supposed to receive. Finally, to appease their badgering and inquiries into the matter,
Joseph set up a School of the Prophets in February of 1833.^35 The men thought they would
finally receive their endowment; they did not! The school was set up like a discussion group
where the men would discuss the things “of the Spirit” and counsel each other.
The school, however, was not set up so that the people could listen to a true
messenger and learn what he had to say about the “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven.”^36
It was set up to further give the people—and the men in particular who believed that they
were the only ones who could receive a true endowment because of the priesthood—
whatever concept, perception, doctrine, covenant, or principle they could come up with on
their own.^37 There were a lot who professed to “speaking in tongues”^38 and other
demonstrations that the men were being given the “Holy Spirit.”^39 Joseph could hardly
believe what he was witnessing, but played along as he was instructed—even speaking in
tongues himself, on occasion.^40 This was simply the delusional realities of the people that
Joseph played upon.
One of the things that upset some of the more prominent leaders was Joseph’s loud
laughter at times. They never knew why he was often caught laughing and smiling.
However, because it was their school, Joseph allowed Sidney to write up a revelation that
didn’t permit loud laughing.^41 The men never knew the times that Joseph attended the
school a bit tipsy from the bottle.^42 Being skilled as he was at diverting the attention of the
brethren to the “seriousness” of their delusional business, knowing that they could not
“see” nor “hear” nor “smell” anything, Joseph was able to conceal his intoxication behind
their pride and conceit. Besides, a little whiskey here and there made it a little bit easier for
him to observe their follies with a smile and to fulfill his role towards them even more
convincingly in telling them what they wanted to hear.
Leadership and Headquarters in the Early LDS Church
The members of the Church had the same desires for “gold, silver, and fine-twined
linen”^43 as those whom the members assumed were the members of the “great and
abominable church”^44 mentioned in the Book of Mormon. Dishearteningly, few were as
anxious as Joseph’s own mother in obtaining these things. Lucy Smith never gave up on her
desire to receive the “praise of the world.”
Although he loved his mother dearly, Joseph was tired of her incessant ridicule of
his father’s inability to provide what she desired of “the church of the devil.” In an attempt