Without Disclosing My True Identity
Joseph’s younger brother, William, leaned significantly with the groups who felt that
Joseph was a fallen prophet. William never accepted Joseph as a real prophet, and was a
thorn in Joseph’s side from youth. Strong-minded and -willed, William never accepted the
fact that the brother he knew from youth was who he claimed to be. William never read the
Book of Mormon all the way through and had little testimony of it.
William was, however, a man who needed the value of others to augment his self-
esteem. He took responsibilities in the Church for the sake of his ego. Yet, of him, the
resurrected Joseph gave the greatest compliment of all. “William did not need scripture to
test his common sense. From his youth, his premonitions of truth led him to his own.”
William Smith would have understood the role that Joseph had to play for the sake of our
mortal learning experience; but Joseph was not allowed to explain the real truth to him.
Joseph was forced to accept the sibling rivalry that existed between him and his brother as
part of the sacrifice of his role.
Joseph never kept filial relationships too close to his heart. He could not; he had a
role to play that made everyone equally his mother, brothers, and sisters.^53 By divine design
he lost most of the children that Emma produced. Joseph’s desire to be around his children,
however, was not lost despite the role he played. In his personal letters, he often expressed
the feeling of joy he experienced around his children.
No other human took up as much room in his mortal heart as his beloved Emma.
She was his escape from the reality of his role. Their time together was greatly limited by the
demands of his role but the short time that they were together allowed Joseph to enter a
realm of eternal reality that at times consumed his soul. Emma knew Joseph’s heart. But he
could never disclose to her his true identity or explain exactly what he was doing in creating
the stumbling blocks that, over time, became obvious to Emma.
A Second Chance to Accept the True Gospel
Joseph had confused his friends, many who were very honest and sincere people
looking to him to teach them the truth and lead them in the paths of righteousness. But as
often as he placed a stumbling block in front of them, and they stumbled, the hurt they felt
became unbearable. For many, their consciences could no longer support what seemed to
them to be blatant hypocrisy. The proof of these men’s true humanity would again be tested
in another mortal incarnation, when many of them would be drawn toward the Marvelous
Work and a Wonder®, where the stumbling blocks were finally removed. Many of the
people associated with Joseph who rejected him, as well as others who rejected the
“everlasting gospel” and followed Brigham Young, became the closest friends and
confidants of Joseph’s reincarnated brother Hyrum, assisting him in bringing forth the
continuation of Joseph’s work.
None of these needs to feel that he or she has let Joseph down or lived contrary to
the will of their Christ. The proof of their humanity has been tested by being exposed to the
“fullness of the everlasting Gospel”^54 and an understanding of the mysteries of God in their
fullness found only in the works of the MWAW.^55 Those whose humanity type would have
accepted the true Gospel if Joseph had delivered it by disclosing his true identity, have
proven their devotion and commitment to truth by the degree in which they have embraced
the real truth, once they were given the opportunity in another incarnation.
But woe to those who will reject it, who rejected Joseph, and who most likely lived
at the time of their Christ and rejected him also! The majority of these are the same Saints