Without Disclosing My True Identity
The First Stake Presidents of the LDS Church
In Kirtland, Ohio, Joseph became the first Stake President by the voice of the people.
The people nominated Oliver Cowdery to be the President of the Missouri Stake, but Joseph
interceded the best way he could and manipulated a vote for David Whitmer. Joseph had to
get Whitmer out of Kirtland and away from the main body of church administration so that
he (Joseph) could give the people what they expected. It was problematic that the leaders of
the Church were using priesthood authority and ordinations for every little assignment.^13
Every man wanted his own special blessing and ordination from God. This was especially
apparent to Whitmer, who was beginning to complain about the course Joseph was
allowing both the priesthood and church administration to take with the seemingly random
and ever-expanding evolution of duties and responsibilities.
For one example, Ezra Thayre and Joseph Coe, who were assigned to “superintend
the purchase [of some farmland],”^14 were two such men who demanded to receive a
priesthood blessing from the Lord pertaining to this assignment. On this particular occasion,
Joseph remembered looking at Hyrum and rolling his eyes. He then counseled Sidney
Rigdon to give the men what they wanted. Whitmer argued vehemently during many
meetings and voiced his opinion on these matters. But when the people, cajoled by Joseph,
finally gave Whitmer a prominent position in the same “high priesthood” that he
abhorred,^15 his ego settled down. With Whitmer off to Missouri, Joseph felt more at ease
seeing to the administration of the people’s will and desires.
Zion’s Camp Seeks Revenge—Forgetting About the Gospel of Christ
The LDS/Mormon people never failed to disappoint Joseph and consistently caused
him to “groan within.”^16 Once word reached Kirtland that the Missouri Saints had been
mobbed, the members of the Church were up in arms, literally. Joseph felt their anger and
knew that the desires of their hearts were to form a militia and take revenge upon the people
of Missouri. Joseph knew, however, that this would be a disastrous move; so, instead of
giving in to the people’s will at this time, he counseled with the “Brothers”—the Three
Nephites—on what he should do. Up until this time, Joseph had not been confronted with the
prospect of persecutions toward the Saints in general, only those against himself and Sidney.
He didn’t know what to tell the people who wanted revenge against those who hurt them.
Because of the misunderstanding created by the Saints in their press and the volatile
words of Sidney Rigdon’s “revelations,” by July of 1833 the Missourians had signed a
“secret constitution” declaring their intent to remove Latter-day Saints from the state
“peaceably if we can, forcibly if we must.”^17 After this, persecutions intensified, finally
leading up to the expulsion of the saints from Jackson County by November of 1833. The
official account of the LDS/Mormon Church reports the following of Joseph’s response to
these persecutions on August 6, 1833:
Although some news of the problems in Missouri had no doubt reached the
Prophet in Kirtland (nine hundred miles away), the seriousness of the
situation could have been known to him at this date only by revelation.^18Addressing this dilemma was of such importance to the establishment of Christ’s
true gospel, that the Brothers were joined by Moroni, who knew what the sealed part of the