THIRTY-FIVE
(1840)
Joseph was spared from being arrested for a season. LDS priesthood leaders continued to abuse their authority.
Early LDS missionary success came from enticing the poor with promises of prosperity. Brigham Young
revealed his propensity to promote himself and his Mormon religion at the expense of the gospel of Christ.
Rumors abounded and myths were created, including the so-called “White Horse Prophecy.”A Fugitive From Justice
Governor Thomas Reynolds,^1 who won the Missouri governorship in 1840, did
not understand why Lilburn Boggs had not instituted extradition proceedings to retrieve
Joseph and the other men who had escaped “justice.” Reynolds began the process and
convinced Illinois Governor Thomas Carlin to sign the writ and issue the arrest
warrant.^2 The authorities could not easily find the men. In sending a few of the Twelve
to England this year,^3 Joseph spread the rumor outside of the Mormon community that
he and the other fugitives had gone with them. This rumor threw the authorities off
track and convinced them to quit searching for a time. However, the charges carried no
statute of limitations. Joseph was a fugitive from justice for four years. Missouri “justice”
was finally served when the warrant for his extradition, among warrants for other
things, finally caught up with him later in 1844, when he surrendered to earthly
authorities for the last time at Carthage.
LDS “Priesthood Authority” and Unrighteous Dominion Over Others
Had the advanced human monitors allowed Joseph to be killed in consequence of
the course of the Missouri wars, the LDS Church would not have grown into what it has
today. It would have never reached its full potential to provide the lessons that were
necessary for our mortal stage of human development. Brigham Young had not yet been
established with the power and popularity that he would need to take over the Church
and change its authority structure, a necessary part of the intended lesson plan.
In 1840, Joseph further set the stage for what the people desired of their religion
“and the expectations of their assumed “priesthood authority.”^4 The way the LDS
priesthood evolved allowed Brigham Young and the other members of the Quorum of
the Twelve Apostles the opportunity to demonstrate their propensity (according to their
true humanity type) to misuse their free will and prove that most people cannot be
trusted with or allowed to have the rights and powers of creators after mortality.^5
Nothing ultimately becomes more diametrically opposed to the eternal laws that govern
advanced humans or that restricts free will more than power and authority concentrated
in the hands of a few men.^6 The whole purpose for having a creator is centered around
the idea of protecting the free will of one from affecting the free will of another—an idea
that the LDS/Mormons never learned from their experiences, from the words of Christ,
or from Joseph, either then or now.^7