Twenty-Six (1831)priesthood, which dictated who would fill those positions. It would be reorganized about
thirteen (13) times during Joseph’s lifetime.
Joseph’s Earliest “First Counselor”
From the moment Joseph met Sidney Rigdon at the end of 1830, the very second he
shook his hand for the first time, Joseph knew that he had found the spokesman he was
waiting for. Even Sidney’s own words later testified that, upon meeting Joseph for the first
time, he was “glad in his heart.”^21 Sidney had already read the Book of Mormon and was
convinced of its divinity. But Sidney Rigdon wasn’t the first one Joseph had considered for
the role of “Aaron.”
Jesse Gause
A few months before Joseph met Sidney, he met Jesse Gause, who had also read the
Book of Mormon and was convinced of its divine origin.^22 He then determined that he had to
meet the man whom God has chosen to deliver it to the inhabitants of the earth. Gause
traveled to Harmony, Pennsylvania to meet Joseph. Joseph wasn’t home at the time, so Jesse
met with Emma instead. The LDS/Mormon history books are scant in what they say about
Jesse Gause, for a good reason.^23 Unbeknownst to Joseph at the time, Jesse had fallen deeply
in love with Joseph’s beautiful wife while visiting with her for the first time at Harmony.
Gause felt an overwhelming and powerful attraction towards Emma, one she didn’t
share, but of which she was flattered, as any woman would be. This “attraction” convinced
Gause that he had found the truth. He was a very handsome man and a powerful orator and
had some character strengths that Joseph felt were missing in his own personality. From the
time that Joseph first met Gause, Rigdon took somewhat of a backseat as a counselor, until
Gause left the Church within a year. The reason for Gause’s departure, that no
LDS/Mormon wants the world to find out, can now be told.
Jesse Gause left Palmyra after meeting Emma for the first time and went back home to
his own wife, Minerva. He proceeded to commit the cardinal sin in speaking with one’s wife
about another woman. He told his wife how wonderful Emma was, how beautiful and
captivating she appeared. “His wife is like an angel sent from God to be an example of what
His angels look like,” Jesse told his wife. From that moment on, Minerva Gause wanted
nothing to do with Mormonism, especially not the flawless wife of its prophet. Jesse traveled
back whenever he could to see Emma, always under the excuse and expectation to finally
meet Joseph. When he finally did meet Joseph, he kept his feelings for Emma in his heart.
Jesse Gause became one of Joseph’s candidates for his personal counselors, being
appointed as the very first “Counselor” in the Church’s First Presidency in March of 1832.^24
Long story short, Joseph (accompanied only by Hyrum) came home one day and found
Jesse and Emma in an embrace. It had not been sought for by Emma, but she wasn’t fighting
too hard to get away from Jesse’s arms either. In an unaccustomed fit of jealous rage, Joseph
attacked Gause and beat him senseless before Hyrum could pull Joseph off of him. Joseph
had never lost his temper in this manner before.
Bloodied and bruised, and initially incredulous that a “prophet of God” could react
with such impetuous jealousy to what Gause saw as only an innocent act of personal
weakness, Gause left and was never heard from again. He never became Joseph’s enemy or
a critic. He blamed himself for his indiscretions towards his prophet’s wife. Joseph, Hyrum,