Joseph Smith Biography

Thirty-Five (1840)

It is obvious to which “church” the Latter-day Saints/Mormons belong. The poor
of Joseph’s time were not given a choice of which of the “save two churches only” they
wished to join. The LDS missionaries only introduced them to one—the one given to
them by the “god of this world,”^28 who proclaimed, “You can buy anything in this world
for money.”^29

Critical historians again report the truth of when Brigham Young returned to Nauvoo:

Much of the credit for the success of the emigration system was due [to]

Brigham Young, whose business head was one of the soundest in the church.

He had been one of the first apostles to return to Nauvoo, and it was from

there that he directed the missionary enterprise. And within a month after his

return he had persuaded the prophet to shift all the business affairs of the

church from the High Council over to the [Twelve] apostles. Joseph,

however, still retained the ultimate authority in financial matters.^30

The Perfect Individual to Help Evolve the LDS/Mormon Experiment

Brigham Young was the perfect candidate needed to further demonstrate the
inability of free-willed human beings to exercise power over others righteously. Joseph
resisted Young’s desire to take away the ability of the High Council and the members to
direct their own affairs by vote; and Young’s autocracy did not come to fruition until after
Joseph was killed. After Joseph died, Young prejudiced the minds of the LDS people in
many areas that were not only contrary to the “fullness of the everlasting Gospel,” but in
complete opposition to the policies endorsed by Joseph Smith.

The First African-American Male to Hold the Priesthood by the Hand of Joseph

On March 3, 1836, Joseph gave the full priesthood to an African-American named
Elijah Abel. Abel had been made a member of the Quorum of the Seventy on December 20,

1836. Young and others created some contention in Nauvoo by spreading the idea of not
      allowing anyone of the dark-skinned races to share in their same “special” priesthood
      authority. Instead of fighting with them, Joseph held a special ordination on April 4, 1841 in
      Nauvoo, and renewed Elijah’s ordination as a Seventy to thumb his nose at Young’s
      misguided doctrines.
      Although Young detested the fact that Joseph had given the priesthood to Abel,
      he did not say anything about it, and even left Elijah’s priesthood intact until Elijah’s
      death in Utah in 1884.^31 However, when Elijah had earlier asked to receive the temple
      endowment in the anticipated Endowment House and temple in Salt Lake City in 1853,
      Young denied him the opportunity.^32 Ironically, Elijah Abel had been one of the hardest
      working laborers in helping to build the Salt Lake City LDS temple and was just as
      “worthy” as any other member to enter.
      Brigham Young changed so many things about the LDS/Mormon faith that it was
      hardly recognizable when compared to what Joseph had suffered to be established before
      he was murdered. Again, Young did this by shifting the power away from the people to
      the Quorum of the Twelve, and eventually to himself as President of the LDS Church.^33