Thirty-Five (1840)Bennett was convinced of the truthfulness of Joseph, not of the “fullness of the
everlasting Gospel delivered by the Savior” as described in the Book of Mormon, as he had
never even attained a testimony of the book. Rather, he was convinced of the divinity of
Joseph as a prophet of God. Why? Because Joseph recognized in Bennett (as the latter
supposed) the very leadership potential that Bennett recognized in himself, which Bennett
felt could not have been known by anyone except a true prophet of God. Bennett wanted to
join something that would bring out his potential and allow him to become what he
“knew” God knew he was capable of becoming.
Joseph did indeed recognize Bennett’s potential to do God’s will: “And because they
desired it God hath done it that they may stumble.” Bennett would cause many to stumble
and would become the main instigator that would one day end Joseph’s life. Joseph saw
Bennett’s potential as exactly what the Saints and their Zion (Nauvoo) needed. God himself
could not have chosen a better man for the role. Bennett’s ego shines in his own words
etched in LDS/Mormon history:
The City Charter of Nauvoo is of my own plan and device. I concocted it for
the salvation of the Church, and on principles so broad, that every honest
man might dwell secure under its protective influence without distinction of
sect or party.^41Joseph Speaks in Parables to Dull Ears
A series of public sermons Joseph gave in the early summer of 1840 after returning
from his futile trip to Washington D.C. provided the LDS/Mormon people with more
fodder for their pride and egos. Most of Joseph’s organized or impromptu sermons were
heard and understood by the people who had formed their own set of cognitive filters that
caused them to only hear what they wanted to hear. What the people did not know at the
time was that Joseph spoke to them in parabolic prose for the same reason that Jesus spoke
to people in parables:
For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall have more
abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that
he hath. Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not;
and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And in them is
fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and
shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this
people’s heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their
eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and
hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be
converted, and I should heal them.^42The LDS/Mormon people never understood why Joseph told them that they would
rise up and kill him if he revealed all he knew about the kingdom of God.^43 They would
have killed him had they known that in every letter, in every speech, in everything that he
said or wrote, he gave the people, not the real truth, but the desires of their hearts. Joseph
was under the same mandate that was given to Isaiah (correct translation in bold italic):