Thirty-Five (1840)(^32) In a recent report, the “LDS Church...issued a strong statement condemning ‘all past
racism by individuals both inside and outside the Church.’...The church's statement [however]...did
not directly condemn statements from past church presidents or other high-ranking leaders in the
19th century and first half of the 20th century that placed blacks in an inferior position in the human
race. The church doesn't know how the notion took root. ...It's not clear whether Joseph Smith, the
religion's founder, who ordained at least one black man to the priesthood, supported the ban [of the
priesthood from blacks]. But his successor, Brigham Young, enforced it enthusiastically as the word
of God, supporting slavery in Utah and decreeing that the ‘mark’ God placed on Cain for killing his
brother was ‘the flat nose and black skin.’” (Jean Horowitz of the Washington Post and local reporters
for the Daily Herald, “LDS Church condemns racism after BYU prof’s statements,” heraldextra.com, 1
Mar. 2012, [Provo, UT] Daily Herald, 15 Mar. 2012 < http://www.heraldextra.com/news/local/lds-
church-condemns-racism-after-byu-prof-s-statements/article_87bbb4c8-1f93-56ae-91b3-
ea0d4b897625.html>.)
See also ch. 8, n. 29; ch. 28, n. 7.
(^33) TSP, 13:4.
(^34) 666 America, 295, 357, 360–1, 380–1.
(^35) D&C, 112:24–6.
(^36) BOM, 1 Nephi 13:7.
(^37) SNS, 87.
(^38) BOM, 1 Nephi 14:10; D&C, 18:20.
(^39) See Letter Announcing His Intention to Join the Saints, 25 July 1840 (DHC, 4:168–9); see also
Letter dated 27 July 1840 (DHC, 4:169–170).
(^40) “Bennett characteristically assumed the position of initiative and leadership in formulating
a petition by the Nauvoo Masons for a lodge in their community.” (Mervin B. Hogan, M.P.S.,
“Secretary John Cook Bennett of Nauvoo Lodge,” [Cedar Rapids: The Philalethes Society, 1970].)
(^41) DHC, 4:249.
(^42) Matthew 13:12–15.
(^43) See Introduction, n. 56.
(^44) Isaiah 6:9–10, correct translation.
(^45) BOM, Alma 12:10–11.
(^46) BOM, Words of Mormon 1:5; 3 Nephi 26:6.
(^47) See BOM, 3 Nephi 26:6–10.
(^48) BOM, Jacob 4:14.
(^49) Thomas L. Kane, “The Mormons, A Discourse Delivered Before the Historical Society of
Pennsylvania, March 26th, 1850,” Millennial Star 13 (Jun. 15, 1851): 177–82.
“27 May [1848], ‘Today to our astonishment, the crickets came by millions, sweeping everything
before them.’ Seagulls...arrive in dense flocks to devour crickets but not in time to save whole fields from
destruction. Although published letter by First Presidency and LDS sermons refer to this event in non-
miraculous terms for several years, anti-Mormon Warsaw Signal of 17 Nov. 1849 shows that Mormons
describe this experience as divine intervention: ‘This year, as the story goes—the Lord sent immense
numbers of gulls from the Lake, to devour the crickets.’” (Quinn, Extensions of Power, 746.)
See also Edje Jeter, “Twin Barbarians 1: Mormon Crickets (Happy Pioneer Day!),” The Juvenile
Instructor [Blog], 24 Jul. 2009, 10 Jul. 2011 http://www.juvenileinstructor.org/twin-barbarians-1-
mormon-crickets/#n6 and “Miracle of the gulls,” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, 25 Apr. 2011,
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 10 Jul. 2011 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miracle_of_the_gulls for
other references.
(^50) DHC, 1:203; see also D&C, section 61 heading.
(^51) One such example follows: JD, 19:229. “[B]efore I left St. George, the spirits of the dead gathered
around me, wanting to know why we did not redeem them. Said they, ‘You have had the use of the
Endowment House [temple] for a number of years, and yet nothing has ever been done for us. We laid the