When that group of 40 or more gathered in the 20 by 30-foot Whitmer cabin that April 6, 1830 to organize the “only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:30), they could not have entirely foreseen what lay ahead for this church that would, as the prophet Daniel said, “roll forth to fill the whole earth” (See Daniel 2: 31-45), but they did know they were about a great work inspired by God Himself. Let’s take you to that scene today.

Maurine

When that group of 40 or more gathered in the 20 by 30-foot Whitmer cabin that April 6, 1830 to organize the “only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:30), they could not have entirely foreseen what lay ahead for this church that would, as the prophet Daniel said, “roll forth to fill the whole earth” (See Daniel 2: 31-45), but they did know they were about a great work inspired by God Himself. Let’s take you to that scene today.

Scot

Hello, we’re Scot and Maurine Proctor and this is Meridian Magazine’s “Come Follow Me” podcast, where today we are studying Doctrine and Covenants Sections 20-22 in a lesson entitled “The Rise of the Church of Christ.” You can find all of our podcasts and the transcripts at latterdaysaintmag.com/podcast and while you are there read Meridian Magazine, created for Latter-day Saints and updated daily. We bring you all the news of the Church and the world. We hope to lift your day with good news and help you wake up to something positive.

Maurine

Oliver Cowdery described Joseph Smith’s translation of the Book of Mormon thus: “These were days never to be forgotten” and now “these days never to be forgotten” continued. On March 26, 1830, the Book of Mormon went on sale to the world and less than two weeks later the Church of Jesus Christ was organized on April 6 in the Whitmer cabin in Fayette, New York. The Church was beginning its roll forward with majesty and grace.

We’ll spend a few minutes talking about the publication of the Book of Mormon. Once the Book of Mormon was translated, next came the great task of publishing the manuscript as a book. For perspective, consider that large print jobs of that day especially in the western frontier of New York were 2,000 copies of a two- to three-page pamphlet or 1,000 copies of a book.

Scot

Joseph and Oliver searched for a printer who would take on the mammoth order they had in mind—5,000 copies of a 590-page book! Where do you even get sufficient paper for this? Two printers in nearby Rochester, New York, were approached, but one said he did not believe in the work because an angel had been involved; the other wanted an exorbitant price.

Finally, Egbert B. Grandin, age twenty-three, printer of Palmyra’s local newspaper the Wayne Sentinel, agreed to take on the job for $3,000. This must have seemed like an impossible sum. Joseph turned for money to the place he had turned before: Martin Harris secured the contract with a mortgage and bond note on his farm with the debt to be paid in eighteen months. The note was signed in August 1829.

Maurine

You have to wonder what this meant to Martin to put his life’s work on the line to lend this money.

Joseph’s brother, Hyrum Smith, who resided near Palmyra, was overseer for the project. For several months he made almost daily trips to the printer’s shop. Because the original manuscript had very little punctuation or capitalization, John H. Gilbert, typesetter, was allowed to punctuate the book. A printer’s manuscript (a copy of the original) was handwritten by Oliver Cowdery and delivered to the printer twenty-four pages at a time for security reasons. The massive project proceeded on schedule but not without threat.

Scot

Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph’s mother, tells an interesting story. She wrote: “Oliver Cowdery commenced the work immediately after Joseph left, and the printing went on very well for a season, but the clouds of persecution again began to gather. The rabble, and a party of restless religionists, began to counsel together as to the most efficient means of putting a stop to our proceedings.

“About the first council of this kind was held in a room adjoining that in which Oliver and young Mr. Robinson, son of our friend, Dr. Robinson, were printing. They suspected that something was agitated among these men that was not right, and Oliver proposed to Mr. Robinson that he should put his ear to a hole in the partition wall, and by this means he overheard the following remarks and resolutions: One said, ‘Now, gentlemen, this golden bible which the Smiths have got is destined to break down everything before it, if a stop is not put to it. This very thing is going to be a serious injury to all religious denominations, and in a little while, many of our excellent minister goodmen, who have no means of obtaining a respectable livelihood except by their ministerial labor, will be deprived of their salaries, which is their living. Shall we endure this, gentlemen?’

“Cries of ‘No! No!’

“’Well, how shall we put a stop to the printing of this thing?’

Maurine

“It was then moved, seconded, and carried without a dissenting voice to appoint three of their company to come to our house on the following Tuesday or Wednesday, when the men were not about the house, and request me to read the manuscript to them; and that after I had done reading it, two of the company should attract my attention toward something else than the manuscript, and while they were doing this, the third should seize the writing from the drawer and throw the same into the fire and burn it up.

“’Again,’ said the speaker, ‘suppose that we fail in this-or any other plan-and the book is published in defiance of all that we can do. What is then to be done? Shall we buy their books and suffer our families to read them?’ They all responded, ‘No!’ They then entered into a solemn covenant, binding themselves by tremendous oaths, that they would never own a single volume, nor would they permit one member of their families to do so, and thus they would nip the dreadful calamity while it was in the bud.”

Scot

To keep it safe from these men who would steal it, Lucy, put the manuscript in a box and hid it under the top of her bedstead, and as she tried to sleep that night, she said this most memorable thing about the Book of Mormon. “This identical work had not only been the object which we as a family had pursued so eagerly, but that prophets of ancient days, angels, and even the great God had had his eye upon it. ‘And,’ said I to myself, ‘shall I fear what man can do?’” 

“Thus I spent the night surrounded by enemies and yet in an ecstasy of happiness.”

Maurine

Lucy continued, “On the fourth day after they had met, the three men delegated by the council came to perform the work assigned them. They began, ‘Mrs. Smith, we hear you have a gold bible, and we came to see if you would be so kind as to show it to us?’

‘No, gentlemen,” said I, “we have no gold bible, but we have a translation of some gold plates, which have been brought forth to bring to the world the plainness of the gospel and to give to the children of men a history of the people that used to inhabit this continent.’ I then proceeded to give them the substance of what is contained in the Book of Mormon, particularly the principles of religion which it contains. I endeavored to show them the similarity between these principles and the simplicity of the gospel taught by Jesus Christ in the New Testament. ‘But,” added I, ‘the different denominations are very much opposed to us. The Universalists come here wonderfully afraid that their religion will suffer loss. The Presbyterians are frightened lest their salary will come down. The Methodists come and they rage, for they worship a God without body or parts, and the doctrine we advocate comes in contact with their views.’

Scot

“’Well,’ said the foremost gentleman with whom I was acquainted, ‘can we see the manuscript?’

“No, sir, you cannot see it. We have done exhibiting the manuscript altogether. I have told you what is in it, and that must suffice.”

Lucy said, “’Deacon Beckwith,’ said I, ‘even if you should stick my body full of faggots and burn me at the stake, I would declare, as long as God should give me breath, that Joseph has that record, and that I know it to be true.’” ((Smith, Lucy Mack, Revised and Enhanced History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, Edited by Scot Facer Proctor and Maurine Jensen Proctor, Bookcraft, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1996).

Maurine

Five months into the printing, Palmyra was alive with talk about the so-called “gold Bible.” The people of the village “held a mass meeting and passed a resolution pledging themselves not to purchase the Book of Mormon when published, and to use their influence to prevent others from purchasing it. This had the effect of causing Mr. Grandin to suspend printing until he could obtain renewed assurance of receiving the amount agreed upon for the printing the edition of five thousand.”  It was only by persuasion from Joseph and Martin assuring him of payment that he finally continued.

Consequently, on March 26, 1830, the book went on sale at the Palmyra Book Store to a cold reception. Sales could not pay the printing costs. One year and two weeks later, Martin Harris sold his farm to pay the printer’s debt.

Scot

This date of the Book of Mormon going on sale to the world so close to the organization of the church, gives context to these verses in Doctrine and Covenants Section 20 about the Book of Mormon and its importance. It was an affirmation of the importance and divinity of the book.

11 Proving to the world that the holy scriptures are true, and that God does inspire men and call them to his holy work in this age and generation, as well as in generations of old;

12 Thereby showing that he is the same God yesterday, today, and forever.  Amen.

13 Therefore, having so great witnesses, by them shall the world be judged, even as many as shall hereafter come to a knowledge of this work.

14 And those who receive it in faith, and work righteousness, shall receive a crown of eternal life.

Maurine

Isn’t it ironic that the very people who refused to buy or read the book thought they were protecting the Bible and religion, while, in fact, the Book of Mormon was a second witness to the truthfulness of the Bible?

Now we notice something important in the headnote of Section 20: The Prophet wrote, “We obtained of Him [Jesus Christ] the following, by the spirit of prophecy and revelation; which not only gave us much information, but also pointed out to us the precise day upon which, according to His will and commandment, we should proceed to organize His Church once more here upon the earth.”

Scot

Dates matter to the Lord as we have mentioned before, and this date, April 6, 1830 was revealed as the date for the forming of the Church, meaning this date is sacred. April 6 was also the date in 1893 when the Salt Lake Temple was dedicated.

The wording of the first verse of Section 20, which says, “The rise of the Church of Christ in these last days, being one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh”

has led many to believe that April 6 is the actual birth date of the Savior.

Maurine

When James Talmage wrote Jesus the Christ, whose every chapter was read and approved by the First Presidency before publication, he said, “We believe that Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem of Judea, April 6, B.C. 1. Two Presidents of the Church, Harold B. Lee and Spencer W. Kimball have affirmed that the 6 of April is the actual birthday of the Savior. (See Lee, in Ensign, July 1973, 2; Kimball, in Ensign, May 1980, 54). These conclusions about April 6 being the Lord’s birthdate have been based on this first scripture in Section 20.

Other Latter-day Saint leaders and scholars have been less certain.  Bruce R. McConkie wrote, “We do not believe it is possible with the present state of our knowledge—including that which is known both in and out of the Church—to state with finality when [i.e., in which year] the natal day of the Lord Jesus actually occurred.” https://www.fairmormon.org/answers/Jesus_Christ/Date_of_birth

Scot

President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., in Our Lord of the Gospels, a scholarly and thoughtful work, says in his preface that many scholars “fix the date of the Savior’s birth at the end of 5 B.C., or the beginning or early part of 4 B.C.”, but adds, “I am not proposing any date as the true date” https://www.fairmormon.org/answers/Jesus_Christ/Date_of_birth

Steven Harper, a volume editor at The Joseph Smith Papers, said that the recent discovery of the Book of Commandments and Revelations manuscript of  the Doctrine and Covenants showed that the verse was actually an introductory head note written by early church historian and scribe John Whitmer—something he did for many of the revelations. (see https://www.deseret.com/2010/12/24/20162745/what-was-the-real-date-of-jesus-birth )

Maurine

It does seem from the description of shepherds out watching their flocks by night, that Christ’s birth was the spring of the year. The only season that ancient shepherds were out by night, would be the season of new lambs.

How much the answer to the Lord’s actual birthdate matters is a fair question. What matters is that we come to know Him and that he gave a witness of the Book of Mormon. As it says in Section 20:16 “For the Lord God has spoken it; and we, the elders of the church, have heard and bear awitness to the words of the glorious Majesty on high, to whom be glory forever and ever.” We also know that April 6 was a date that mattered to the Lord.

Scot

Section 20, known to early Church members as the Articles and Covenants was given in revelatory pieces in preparation for the organization of the Church. It is our first summary of history, doctrines, procedures and policies. We begin to see the administration of the Church here laid out line upon line with the foundation being priesthood authority.

We know that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery had already been given the Melchizedek priesthood, but starting in verses 2 and 3, we see that they had also been called as apostles.

Maurine

Joseph had been given not only the responsibility to direct the Church, but also the priesthood authority to do so. Everything else that we see laid out here, other priesthood callings and responsibilities, the means and mode to baptize and administer the sacrament were all dependent on this divine authority. This is huge.

I have always loved what Parley P. Pratt said about this need for priesthood authority. He was speaking of his beautiful farm in Ohio and his longing for God’s true word. He said, “About this time one Mr. Sidney Rigdon came into the neighborhood as a preacher, and it was rumored that he was a kind of Reformed Baptist, who, with Mr. Alexander Campbell, of Virginia, a Mr. Scott, and some other gifted men, had dissented from the regular Baptists, from whom they differed much in doctrine. At length I went to hear him, and what was my astonishment when I found he preached faith in Jesus Christ, repentance towards God, and baptism for remission of sins, with the promise of the gift of the Holy Ghost to all who would come forward, with all their hearts, and obey this doctrine!”

Scot

Parley found some truth in their teachings, but no authority. He said, “Here was the ancient gospel in due form. Here were the very principles which I had discovered years before; but could find no one to minister in. But still one great link was wanting to complete the chain of the ancient order of things; and that was, the authorityto minister in holy things—the apostleship, the power which should accompany the form. This thought occurred to me as soon as I heard Mr. Rigdon make proclamation of the gospel.

”Peter proclaimed this gospel, and baptized for remission of sins, and promised the gift of the Holy Ghost, because he was commissioned so to do by a crucified and risen Saviour. But who is Mr. Rigdon? Who is Mr. Campbell? Who commissioned them? Who baptized them for remission of sins? Who ordained them to stand up as Peter? Of course they were baptized by the Baptists, and ordained by them, and yet they had now left them because they did not administer the true gospel.

Maurine

“And it was plain,” Parley continued,”that the Baptists could not claim the apostolic office by succession, in a regular, unbroken chain from the Apostles of old, preserving the gospel in its purity, and the ordinances unchanged, from the very fact that they were now living in the perversion of some, and the entire neglect of others of these ordinances; this being the very ground of difference between the old Baptists and these Reformers.

“Again, these Reformers claimed no new commission by revelation, or vision from the Lord, while they had not the least shadow of claim by succession.

“It might be said, then, with propriety: “Peter I know, and Paul I know, but who are ye?” (Parley P. Pratt, Scot Facer Proctor, Maurine Jensen Proctor, editors. Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, Salt Lake City, Deseret Book Company).

Scot

How can any ordinance be efficacious in the heavens if not done with the proper authority as Parley explains so well. This is why, of course, in Section 22, that the Lord said “although a man should be baptized an hundred times it availeth him nothing” (v 2) unless done with the proper priesthood authority.

It is so interesting, too, that with authority comes order. There is a line of authority to save us from confusion. We learn in Section 21 that it is Joseph Smith who is called to be “a seer, translator, a prophet, an apostle of Jesus Christ and an elder of the church” (v.1). We learn that the church “shall give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me; For his word ye shall receive, as if from mine own mouth, in all patience and faith” (v. 4,5).

Maurine

The Lord makes this clear. He will be working through the prophet Joseph Smith whose words are to be followed and trusted. Line of authority is critical. How confusing it would be if others arose and claimed to be the prophet and said they were receiving revelation for the Church. Who could you trust? But the Lord made it clear in this section. The Lord’s words would come through Joseph Smith. We will see in other podcasts as we study the history of the Church, that for some this becomes an issue, and others step forward, claiming revelation and challenging Joseph.  

How remarkable it was to have a prophet again on the earth. Brigham Young said this: “I felt in those days [before joining the Church], that if I could see the face of a prophet, such as had lived on the earth in former times, a man that had revelations, to whom the heavens were opened, who knew God and his character, I would freely circumscribe the earth on my hands and knees; I thought that there was no hardship but what I would undergo, if I could see one person that knew what God is and where he is, what was his character, and what eternity was.” (DNW, 8 Oct. 1856, 3)

Scot

As a young man, a teacher in the Aaronic priesthood, I looked to the duties described in Section 20, to know what my responsibilities were. Verse 53 said, “The teacher’s duty is to watch over the church always, and be with and strengthen them.

I grew up in Missouri and, since my father was the bishop, he assigned himself and his home teaching partner—me—to the hardest home teaching route. Once a month, my dad would pick me up after school about 4:15. We would have a prayer in the car and then we would start on our way. The first family was located in Cuba, Missouri ,23 miles from our starting point. Then we drove from Cuba to Steelville which was 8 miles. After Steelville we went to a rural family that lived about 15 miles from our last stop and then another 19 miles to Bourbon Missouri. After Bourbon we drove back to Rolla which was another 34 miles. The total distance was about 99 miles and we would get home sometime after 10 o’clock at night.

The thing about this home teaching route is I had never seen any one of these families inside of our ward building. None of them were active in the church. As a 14 year-old teenager, I asked my dad the question why were we visiting these families every month when they showed no interest in the church? I couldn’t understand why we were wasting our time on them.

Of course, my dad had already taught me all about section 20 of the Doctrine and Covenants and how verse 53 said that the teachers duty was to be with and strengthen the members of the church. Well, I couldn’t see what our visits were doing to strengthen these people who were so inactive.

We visited this one family every month never fail and their last name was a German name, I believe, Schöern, but they pronounced it like Shane. Every time we would go down the narrow dirt road to get to their house, we would always be surrounded by very aggressive outdoor farm dogs. They would come from every side of the car barking and menacing and leaping at us. I used to think that my dad would look at all these dogs and finally say well we probably shouldn’t go visit them this month. But he never did.

He would just get out of the car and make his way towards the house with the dogs biting at his heels and his pants all the way there, and I would be coming up from behind. We knocked on the door and Sister Shane would let us right in after yelling at the dogs to get away from us.

Mr. Shane, who was not a member of the church, was never friendly to us. He smoked what in those days I called a big stogie which was a very large and long cigar. I was trying to be an athlete in those days and I told my dad that I didn’t think it was healthy for me to be in that room with Mr. Shane because he smoked so much. I thought for sure this would be a compelling reason for my dad to say maybe we shouldn’t visit the Shane‘s because of health reasons. But he didn’t fall for that one either.

Sister Shane would sit down and we would ask her a few questions like how are you doing how was your month, how’s your family doing and Mr. Shane would stay behind a newspaper in the same room with billows of smoke emerging behind the news print. I thought for sure that the newspaper would catch on fire at some point and sometimes I had to hold a cloth or something over my nose because the room was so full of smoke.

In the midst of all of this challenge, and quite embarrassing to me as a teenager, my dad would always, never fail, pull out some notes and teach them a gospel lesson. He would have everything organized, and he taught the best lessons. He was known for his teaching at the university as a professor of geology, but he was also known as a master teacher of the gospel. It was at this point every month when I would start to feel something. Of course, as I look back on it, I know that was the presence of the Holy Ghost touching my heart. At the end of this 99-mile home teaching route, I always said, “Hey Dad, I feel pretty good tonight.”

Still, I could see no good it did, as Mr. Shane showed absolutely no interest in our being there. In fact, in my teenage assessment, I thought he was pretty rude.

This went on month after month, and quite frankly with our faithful home teaching and others after us, it went on year after year.

When I went on my mission to Germany, I remember about one year into my mission I got the most amazing letter from my mom. She said that the ward had gone on a temple trip to the Atlanta Temple, about 658 miles away. That was our temple.

So, in this letter that I received, mom described this wonderful ward temple trip to Atlanta. She said we took some people who have never been through the temple and the spirit was so strong. Then she said “Oh, do you remember the Shane family that you used to home teach years ago? They were there. I think I forgot to tell you that Brother Shane was baptized a year ago. We were so happy to be with them, escorting them through the temple and I have to tell you that when sister Shane went through the veil her mother, who has been deceased for many years, was there to greet her. We all just cried and cried. Mom said, I hope you remember the Shane family because you and dad used to home teach them and it really did make a difference in their lives over time. 

I thought about Doctrine and Covenants 20:53, that the teachers duty is to be with and strengthen the church, and how my father had carefully taught me that. I realized that all those 99-mile treks every month were worth it, and somehow through all the cigar smoke and the barking dogs, the message of love and of the gospel of Jesus Christ finally penetrated Brother Shane‘s heart.

Maurine

So, Section 20, with its many instructions given line upon line was essential to the organization of the Church, and much would be given in the years to come. Now, the day of the organization of the Church had come. On the 150th anniversary of that event, speaking from Fayette New York, President Gordon B. Hinckley said, “As we are assembled at the place of the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ, I picture in imagination that April 6 of 1830. The few who believed in Joseph’s mission gathered on that day, which was designated by divine revelation as “being one thousand eight hundred and thirty years since the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the flesh” (D&C 20:1).

“One wonders whether any of that group, other than Joseph Smith who saw with prophetic vision, had any idea of the greatness of the thing they were beginning. From this rural area, from the simple log farmhouse on these grounds, there was to grow by constant accretion an organization worldwide in its scope and numbering millions in its membership.” (Gordon B. Hinckley, “What Hath God Wrought through His Servant Joseph!” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1980/04/what-hath-god-wrought-through-his-servant-joseph?lang=eng )

Scot

Certainly they didn’t know of the hardships that lay ahead. They didn’t know how persecution would raise “its ugly head” again and again. They didn’t know that they would be driven from Missouri and Illinois and on to a forgotten, arid valley in the West. They didn’t know that some of them would die for the cause they believed in—the gospel of Jesus Christ.

They certainly couldn’t have foreseen all that the Church would become—and, in fact, neither still can we. Remember the night, Maurine, we had been at an exceptional musical presentation at the vast Conference Center in Salt Lake City, performed with such excellence and talent, a program that was being broadcast to hundreds of thousands of others. On our walk back to the car, there was a little, rough log pioneer cabin, nestled between the enormous Family History Center and Church Museum of History and Art, and across from the beautiful temple. We thought what if the people who shivered through the winter in that little cabin could see the Church now.  

Maurine

Elder L. Tom Perry described that chuch organization meeting this way: “The meeting was simple. Joseph Smith, then 24 years of age, called the group to order and designated five associates—Oliver Cowdery, Hyrum Smith, Peter Whitmer Jr., Samuel H. Smith, and David Whitmer—to join him to meet New York’s legal requirements for the incorporation of a religious society. After kneeling in solemn prayer, Joseph asked those present if they were willing to accept him and Oliver as their teachers and spiritual advisers. Everyone raised their hands to the affirmative. Although they had previously received the Melchizedek Priesthood, Joseph and Oliver ordained each other to the office of elder. They did this to signify that they were elders in the newly organized Church. The sacrament of the Lord’s Supper was administered next. The Restoration of the gospel clarified the use and meaning of the sacrament, which, through dark periods of the Apostasy, had suffered many perversions. By revelation, the members of the Church were counseled, “It is expedient that the church meet together often to partake of bread and wine in the remembrance of the Lord Jesus” (D&C 20:75).”

Scot

From that time on, week after week, as church members, we have been able to declare repeatedly and often “our allegiance to the plan of salvation and its obligations and blessings,” our allegiance to Jesus Christ and our willingness to take upon ourselves his name.

Elder Perry described what the sacrament meant to him when he, and his missionary companion, both happened to become Marines in World War II.

“When we completed our boot camp, we were both assigned to the Second Marine Division and were blessed to have our companionship last nearly three more years. After the battle was over on the island to which our division was assigned, we were able to obtain a tent for our Church services. We made benches, a pulpit, and a sacrament table out of any piece of lumber we could find. Under the sacrament table we placed that special green footlocker. The footlocker was carried from island to island as the Second Marine Division completed its orders. The contents included a wooden plate, a wooden sacrament tray, a card containing the sacrament prayers, and several boxes of small paper cups.

“When the battle was over and the island secured, many of the veterans in our division were rotated back home, including our Church leadership. My missionary companion was sustained as our group leader, and I was called to be his first assistant.

Maurine

Elder Perry continued, “The contents of the green footlocker represented all we held dear. As we gathered each week on the Lord’s day, opened our footlocker, and used the contents to prepare, bless, and pass the sacrament, it was a spiritual and uplifting experience that renewed our faith and gave us hope for the days ahead. That special hour together each week removed us from the trials and hardships of everyday life.

“Even though the island had been secured, air raids continued. Soon our tent chapel was filled with many holes caused by shrapnel tearing through it. Because of the frequent tropical rains, it was uncomfortable to sit in a tent with so many holes in it. We determined that our meetings deserved better quarters, and through the efforts of the members of the Church from the marines, the army, the navy, and the air corps we were able to obtain enough material to construct our own chapel on the island. Now the green footlocker was placed beneath the table in a dedicated building where we could meet and worship together.

“When our duties on the island were complete, we boarded a ship and moved on to another assignment. Our green footlocker remained in the chapel for others to use. I don’t know its final destination, but I will always fondly remember that green footlocker,” Elder Perry said. It was the sacrament that buoyed and lifted him through the war. (L. Tom Perry, “The Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper: https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1996/04/sacrament-of-the-lords-supper?lang=eng

Scot

So we think back on this organization of the Church with so much love. The Spirit was poured out that day in great power upon the 40 or so who gathered, and after, many were baptized, including one person that meant to the world to Joseph Smith. His mother Lucy Mack Smith described it. “My husband and Martin Harris were baptized. Joseph stood on the shore when his father came out of the water, and as he took him by the hand he cried out, ‘Praise to my God! I have lived to see my own father baptized into the true Church of Jesus Christ,’ and covered his face in his father’s bosom and wept aloud for joy as did Joseph of old when he beheld his father coming up into the land of Egypt.” Joseph had always dreamed of having his family united in religion, and now they were.

Maurine

Thank you for being with us today. We’re Scot and Maurine Proctor and this has been Meridian Magazine’s “Come Follow Me” podcast. Please tell your friends about the podcast. They won’t know about it if you don’t tell them. Remember to read Meridian Magazine every day at latterdaysaintmag.com and you can find the transcript for this podcast at latterdaysaintmag.com/podcast. Next week we’ll be talking about Doctrine and Covenants 23-26 called “Strengthen the Church.” Thanks to Paul Cardall for the music and to Michaela Proctor Hutchins, our producer. See you next week.