Joseph Smith Biography

(Grace) #1

Without Disclosing My True Identity


(^20) BOM, 2 Nephi 25:26.
(^21) See JSH 1:34, referring to Matthew 5, 6 and 7 and BOM, 3 Nephi 12, 13 and 14.
(^22) BOM, 2 Nephi 26:33.
(^23) BOM, Moroni 7:9; 10:4.
(^24) PGP, Articles of Faith 1:8.
(^25) Compare BOM, Jacob 4:14.
(^26) DHC, 6:48–9.
(^27) DHC, 6:162–70. On 18 April 1844, the Council cut off William and Jane Law, together with
Wilson Law, Robert D. Foster, and Howard Smith for “unchristianlike conduct.” DHC, 6:341.
(^28) TSP, 17:80, explained in Appendix 2, “Mormon Polygamy—The Truth Revealed!”
(^29) DHC, volume 6, Introduction at XXXIV.
(^30) DHC, 7:213, 379, 381–2.
(^31) For Brigham Young’s purposes, it was more than 3 years after the martyrdom. “From the
spring of 1844 to at least 1870 the political organ the Prophet organized [The Council of Fifty] played
a dominant role in the history of the Mormon movement. It was this body, not the Church, that
planned and carried out the Exodus. After locating the Saints in the Great Basin, this political body
then organized and incorporated itself into the State of Deseret. All this has escaped the student of
Mormonism.” (Hyrum L. Andrus, Joseph Smith and World Government [Salt Lake City: Deseret Book,
1958] inside front flap. Also quoted in Ogden Kraut, The White Horse Prophecy [Salt Lake City: Pioneer
Press, 1993] 148.)
And yet, Andrus also says the following, conforming with current LDS dogma: “The General
Council [of Fifty] played an important role in the affairs of the Latter-day Saints under the leadership
of Brigham Young, who became “the head” of the council after the death of Joseph Smith. It then
became the great colonizer's responsibility to build up the Kingdom of God according to the pattern
that Joseph had set. ...As Brigham Young presented himself before the Saints as their leader and
lawgiver in the stead of their martyred Prophet, it is reported by several reliable witnesses that the
mantle of Joseph fell upon him with such power that it seemed as though Joseph and not Brigham
addressed the Saints that day. This incident was but the great consummation in the merging of
Joseph into Brigham. That fusion process had been going on for some ten years past. And with its
completion Brigham Young was prepared to build upon the foundation that Joseph had laid with a
minimum of deviation. Thus, in many ways it was Joseph, not Brigham, who launched the exodus
and successfully carried it out; it was Joseph, not Brigham, who founded the Saints in the West, in
their political as well as in their religious capacity. In this great project, the General Council played a
dominant role. As previously noted, it was that body of men who laid the plans for the exodus and
thereafter made all major decisions in carrying out the project. This fact has not been known to
historians. It appreciably alters the existing concept of the move to the West, in that it indicates that
the initiative in these matters was not taken by the Church as a religious body, but by men acting in a
political capacity under the direction of the priesthood.” (Andrus, 67–9.)
(^32) D&C, 121:39.
(^33) “Appendix 1, How I received the Gold Plates of Mormon” (TSP, 582–8). See also PGP,
Moses 1:2, 31; 7:4; Abraham 3:11; D&C, 17:1; 50:11; 84:22.
(^34) BOM, 2 Nephi 26:16; JST, Isaiah 29:4.
(^35) One such reader of The Sealed Portion shared just this testimony. See “Kurt Smith,”
Marvelous Work and a Wonder®, 2011, A Marvelous Work and a Wonder Purpose Trust, 22 Jul. 2011
http://marvelousworkandawonder.com/3DPersonalStories/KurtSmith/KurtSmith3DStory/, pg 4.
(^36) “As an adult, Joseph III was instrumental in keeping alive his father’s true identity and
religious beliefs. (This is why the Reorganized LDS Church’s doctrine and beliefs are so different
than the mainstream Brigham Young religion).” (“Helping on the other side,” Marvelous Work and a
Wonder® 2011, A Marvelous Work and a Wonder Purpose Trust, 1 Aug. 2011
http://www.marvelousworkandawonder.com/q_a/contents/1gen/q01/1gen005.htm.)

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