Deaf and Legally Blind: Shirley Robideau Still Wrote Her Personal History
This week on Family History in Focus we bring you a book review of a personal memoir that is a testament of struggle, perseverance, faith and hope—the life story of Shirley Robideau. Shirley is legally blind. Shirley is deaf. Shirley is limited in her mobility to a wheelchair. Shirley is a polio survivor from a polio attack at age two that left her fighting in the hospital for a year, not expected to live or ever walk again. Today, Shirley is 77 years old, a convert to the Latter-day Saint faith, and attends the temple each week. She’s got quite a story.
Let’s talk about why we read good books, personal memoirs as good books to read, and a brief review of this book and a recommendation for Holding to the Iron Rod: The Life Experiences of Shirley Ann Robideau.
The Divine Invitation to Read Good Books
It feels like Latter-day Saints have been given kind of a unique invitation from the Lord himself to read good books. Section 88 of the Doctrine and Covenants tells us in verse 118 to “seek learning,” and to gain learning and wisdom by “seek[ing] . . . out of the best books.” Can personal memoirs be among such best books?
In the Book of Mormon, the prophet Nephi recounts in 1st Nephi his efforts to craft plates of ore and create a written record. He writes of including “the record of my father” (verse 1), the family’s “journeyings in the wilderness” (verse 1), and also “the ministry and the prophecies” (verse 3)—all for “the instruction of my people.” Nephi was commanded to create this record, and of course it became scripture, but my point here is that Nephi’s family record became useful for the instruction and learning of his relatives and others. My contention is that such personal records, those written with faith and insight, can be among the “best books” that we seek learning and gain wisdom from as we select books to read. My hope is to bring more of these books to your awareness and share them as possibilities to read.
Holding to the Iron Rod: The Life Experiences of Shirley Robideau
I actually enjoy learning the story of how particular books come to life. In this case, I know the story because I helped to make it happen. I really got to know Shirley Robideau when she knocked on the door of the bishop’s office, I answered, and she said from her wheelchair: “Bishop Brotherson? The Spirit told me to come and see you.” Quite an introduction!
Thus, I got to know Shirley Robideau, who had lived in nearby wards, but who was now coming to live as a member of the ward where I then served as a bishop. I learned that she was a polio survivor. I learned that she was a mother who had lost her only infant daughter. I learned that she had been miraculously converted to the restored gospel through a vision and answer to prayer in her young adult years. I learned that had been through divorce three times before meeting a kind man, also dealing with a disability, who took the missionary lessons at her invitation and became a Latter-day Saint and her eternal companion. I learned that she had survived polio, encephalitis, car accidents, physical assault, and other traumas. I learned that Shirley was and is one of the most determined, resilient, and faith-filled personalities I have ever known.
How did the book happen? Well, after several years and hearing many of her stories, I suggested (as others had done) to Shirley that she should write her life story. She laughed and said, “Who me?” She didn’t think that she could write a book.
Then, after giving her some more encouragement, one day an email appeared and a little story from her childhood came along with it. Then a second, and a third, and soon Shirley was spending time writing her memories. She needed someone to edit and I volunteered, and about a decade later, her book was ready in spring 2025—Holding to the Iron Rod: The Life Experiences of Shirley Ann Robideau.
Why Holding to the Iron Rod?
Shirley has had some curious readers unfamiliar with Latter-day Saint themes ask what “holding to the iron rod” means or refers to in her title. Shirley wrote in her introduction to the book:
“The Iron Rod is a favorite song of mine, as well as a guide for me to follow in my desire to return to Heavenly Father’s presence. One time when life’s challenges really seemed to be more than I could handle, I saw this vision of a rod going from before me and it extended all the way to Heaven. When I saw it, I grabbed hold of it and hung on with all my strength. The meaning of this vision is, as the song says, “The Iron Rod is the word of God.” The Holy Scriptures are books of instructions given to us to aid us in surviving the challenges that we are to endure while here on Earth. So, when things get difficult in my life, I drop what I am doing and pray, and then I read and ponder the Scriptures to help myself to gain control and feel the comfort of the Holy Spirit assure me that I can keep on going. Holding to the Iron Rod is the only way we will be able to withstand the challenges of these last days prior to the coming of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
In her memoir, Shirley recounts many examples of facing struggles in life and how consistently choosing to hold onto the Lord’s guidance has blessed and protected her.
Life’s Trials and Blessings
So, what kind of trials are we talking about here? A stubbed toe? More?
Much of life is about learning to be resilient—and I learn so much from the stories and example of others. I think we all do. Also, it is about learning to see God’s blessings in the midst of our trials and learning to rely upon God to help us through those challenges. Shirley’s life story provides numerous examples.
Imagine . . . being diagnosed with polio at age 2, expected to never walk again, spending a year in the hospital . . . and going forward.
Imagine . . . being carried up and down 28 steps at the school, 6 times a day, to attend school and gain an education.
Imagine . . . having an emergency C-section to have your first and only child, a beautiful daughter, only to see her die within hours . . . and going forward.
Imagine . . . seeing a spouse fall into addiction and leave you after having found the gospel . . . and going forward.
Imagine . . . being diagnosed with encephalitis, experiencing dramatic effects of memory loss and emotional struggles for months on end . . . and going forward.
Imagine . . . struggling to hear the words spoken in sacrament meeting because of hearing loss and feeling excluded . . . and going forward.
Is this a book only of hardship stories? No. Holding to the Iron Rod: The Life Experiences of Shirley Ann Robideau is a beautiful and powerful memoir of hardship, perseverance, faith, resilience and community. Shirley relates not just her stories of struggle but how she has been able to persevere with faith in God, assistance of loved ones and friends, personal effort, and the power of patience.
Let’s highlight a couple of stories of faith and miracles in Shirley’s life, then conclude this review and recommendation.
Meeting the Prophet of God
Shirley Robideau first met the Latter-day Saint missionaries in Texas, living there as a young adult with her second husband, and subsequently was converted to the restored gospel. Her conversion itself is a beautiful and miraculous story.
But let’s fast forward . . . to many years later, when she and her husband Charles travel over a thousand miles to Salt Lake City. The President of the Church was Ezra Taft Benson. Both Shirley and Charles were confined to wheelchairs, but they were able to attend the temple, and while on this trip they happened to attend the Jordan River Temple on a day they learned that President Benson would also be attending. Here is Shirley’s story of meeting the prophet of God:
“I talked with Chuck and Sid and we made plans to go to the Jordan River Temple ourselves on that coming Friday. I prayed earnestly that we could go at the right time and perhaps meet the Prophet, President Benson. We got to the Temple and I went into the dressing room to change into my temple clothing. Then, I went from there to the prayer room and waited. I didn’t see President Benson and started to think that I would not get to see him. But, then the Holy Spirit whispered to me that everything would be all right. So, I calmed down and felt confident. We next went in for the temple endowment session and still didn’t see him and I started to worry again. Again, the Spirit whispered that everything would be all right. So, again I calmed down. The Spirit of the Lord always speaks to me in my language and I found that he responds to me in the way that I can understand.
Following the temple session, I met with Charles and Sid in the foyer by the elevator and we were going to go down to change clothes back into our street clothes so that we could go down to eat in the dining room. Just as we entered the elevator, I felt the Spirit and President Benson’s presence in a very strong way. The spiritual feeling that I had was so overpowering that I said: “He is here.”
The Elder that was pushing my chair said, “Who is here?” I said President Benson was here. He said it was possible but that we could not be sure of that. I told him, “I know that he is here.” As the elevator moved, I could feel his presence stronger and stronger.
As the elevator door opened, I said again, “He is here!” We got to the floor where we were supposed to get off and the door opened and it was just like someone turned the lights on. The room just glowed and his presence was so strong. We turned the corner and there he was standing near the dressing rooms, dressed in white, the Prophet of the Lord. As we went to shake hands with him, tears streamed down my face at the goodness of my Father in Heaven’s kindness to allow me to shake the hand of one of his chosen Prophets. I could not talk, as I was so emotional, but I did shake his hand. President Ezra Taft Benson shook our hands and then said: “What are you two doing here in your chariots on wheels!”
I loved that man instantly! I knew without a doubt that this truly was a Prophet of God. That was an experience I will never forget. To touch the hand of a Prophet and receive a sure witness for myself that he was indeed a Prophet of God. It was such a special feeling to meet him. This episode became one of the most memorable and touching spiritual experiences of my life and of our lives together as a married couple.”
A Recommendation for Holding to the Iron Rod: The Life Story of Shirley Ann Robideau
There is so much in this book that is to be recommended—its humor, its uplifting voice, its witness of miracles, its testament to resilience despite life’s challenges, its conviction that love and friendship and ministering make all the difference. I recommend it as a book that will uplift, encourage, and instruct, but also just make you smile and cry.
Shirley Robideau never planned a book for a wide reading audience, but then asked if it might be possible to share it beyond family and friends. I asked her why. Her answer was simple: “I never had the chance to serve a mission. This is my opportunity to share my testimony and love of the Savior—of all He has done for me and each one of us.”
Her story illustrates how one’s life can be blessed as you put your hand into the hand of God. Now 77 years old, Shirley Robideau has a unique and warm and compelling story. I hope you choose to read it and enjoy it.
Availability
Holding to the Iron Rod: The Life Story of Shirley Ann Robideau is available in e-book format, paperback and hardcover print format through Amazon. Links below:
‘Stay in the boat,’ President Holland pleads in new video
The following is excerpted from the Church News. To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
As President Jeffrey R. Holland, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, ministered in the Dominican Republic in November 2024, he observed a common thread among some questions asked by members, leaders and missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Those questions revolved around how to endure through hard times.
He answered the questions in a variety of ways over the course of that four-day ministry. As he concluded his time there, President Holland sat down for a final interview and gave counsel on persevering to the end.
“We were talking about people who have difficult lives or troubles that come. But we all do. Everybody does,” he said.
Stay on board the ship
Comparing life’s challenges to the sometimes roaring seas, President Holland encouraged those experiencing the confusion that comes with hard times to ride out the storm.
“Do not abandon the ship when the waves are a little high,” he said. “That is when you tie yourself in and get the life jacket on, and you hold on to an oar, and you do not move.”
President Holland said that getting out of the boat — which symbolizes the gospel of Jesus Christ in this example — is leaving its protection behind.
Heavenly Father loves His children
To read the full article, CLICK HERE.
Come Follow Me Podcast #49: “To Keep Them in the Right Way”, Moroni 1-6
Scot
Moroni did not know when he would die, attacked by Lamanites or some other deadly surprise, in his 36-year wandering. He tells his latter-day readers goodbye more than once on the plates. Yet even living with that insecurity, not knowing his own mortal future, Moroni trudges on with absolute faith.
Maurine
Hello, we are Scot and Maurine Proctor and this is Meridian Magazine’s “Come Follow Me” podcast where today we will study Moroni 1-6, “To Keep Them in the Right Way”.
With Christmas coming, you worry about what you are going to get people the people you love. Here’s an idea. Give them something stunning for their wall that reminds them of their heritage. With Scot’s beautiful photography of the Joseph Smith family farm just outside of Palmyra, the Come Follow Me Church History calendar is a great addition to your home. You can have not only weekly reminders of the Come Follow Me lessons, but a visual tour of the place Joseph knew when he had his First Vision, was visited by Moroni, and first studied the plates. At only $15, the calendar is a must for your gift-giving list. Buy many. We have many who multiples. Go to latterdaysaintmag.com/2025 to see the calendar. That’s latterdaysaintmag.com/2025
Maurine
Moroni writes such lonely words:
“Now I, Moroni, after having made an end of abridging the account of the people of Jared, I had supposed anot to have written more, but I have not as yet perished; and I make not myself known to the Lamanites lest they should destroy me.
“For behold, their awars are exceedingly fierce among themselves; and because of their bhatred they cput to death every Nephite that will not deny the Christ” (Moroni 1:1,2).
Every day of life for him beyond that last great battle and the ultimate death of his father demanded such great courage.
Scot
A life dedicated to God will always demand courage. In no age of time has following God’s word been popular. Devoted disciples of Christ have been murdered in the Roman coliseum, burned at the stake like Abinadi, burned en masse like the people of Ammonihah, cast into the lion’s den like Daniel. They have had to stand up against great opposition for their beliefs against those who hate them for those very beliefs.
In our own immediate history, we have seen converts driven out of Kirtland, Independence, Far West and Nauvoo. We have seen a 3,000 strong Missouri militia attack defenseless Saints at Far West, shootings and murder on what had been a peaceful afternoon at Haun’s Mill.
In these more recent days, the costs of discipleship may be no less.
Maurine
Elder Holland said, “A sister missionary recently wrote to me: ‘My companion and I saw a man sitting on a bench in the town square eating his lunch. As we drew near, he looked up and saw our missionary name tags. With a terrible look in his eye, he jumped up and raised his hand to hit me. I ducked just in time, only to have him spit his food all over me and start swearing the most horrible things at us. We walked away saying nothing. I tried to wipe the food off of my face, only to feel a clump of mashed potato hit me in the back of the head. Sometimes it is hard being a missionary because right then I wanted to go back, grab that little man, and say, ‘EXCUSE ME!’ But I didn’t.”
Scot
Elder Holland said, “To this devoted missionary I say, dear child, you have in your own humble way stepped into a circle of very distinguished women and men who have, as the Book of Mormon prophet Jacob said, ‘view[ed Christ’s] death, and suffer[ed] his cross and [borne] the shame of the world.’
“Indeed, of Jesus Himself, Jacob’s brother Nephi wrote: ‘And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they spit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving kindness and his long-suffering towards the children of men.’
“In keeping with the Savior’s own experience, there has been a long history of rejection and a painfully high price paid by prophets and apostles, missionaries and members in every generation—all those who have tried to honor God’s call to lift the human family to “a more excellent way.”
Maurine
“’And what shall I more say [of them]?’ the writer of the book of Hebrews asks.
“’[They] who … stopped the mouths of lions,
“’Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, … waxed valiant in fight, turned [armies] to flight …
“’[Saw] their dead raised to life [while] others were tortured, …
“’And … had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, … of bonds and imprisonment:
“’They were stoned, … were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: … wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, [and] tormented’”
Scot
“’([They] of whom the world was not worthy:) … wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.’
Elder Holland continued, “Surely the angels of heaven wept as they recorded this cost of discipleship in a world that is often hostile to the commandments of God. The Savior Himself shed His own tears over those who for hundreds of years had been rejected and slain in His service. And now He was being rejected and about to be slain.
“’O Jerusalem, Jerusalem,’ Jesus cried, ‘thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!’” (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland “The Cost—and Blessings of Discipleship” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2014/04/the-cost-and-blessings-of-discipleship?lang=eng
Maurine
It might be tempting to think that this treatment of prophets and believers was then, and this is now, but we have every indication that it will take as much unswerving courage to live the gospel today as it ever was. Times are radically changing and not always in happy ways for religious freedom. In 1993, in the United States, when there seemed some incursion on religious freedom, the Religious Freedom and Restoration Act was passed to “ensure that interests in religious freedom are protected.” It passed the House unanimously and with 97 affirmative votes in the Senate.
Yet in 2015 when Indiana passed a similar law that applied to the state, thousands protested, the state was boycotted, and Indiana finally had to repeal the law.
Scot
We are not in a time when some people, at least in our country, hold freedom of religion and freedom of conscience with the same regard as before. For your deepest beliefs, held with the authority of conscience, you may lose your job, you may be canceled, you may lose the opportunity for accreditation in your profession. If you are a child, you may be bullied at school, you may be bullied by a teacher. You may be called names. You may be called hateful. You may be called bigoted. You may be unfriended on social media. The stakes are high how you respond to this.
Religious freedom may be in the Bill of Rights, but it can be hollowed out if it is not practiced in real life and the religious are disdained and disrespected.
Maurine
This reminds me of Lehi’s vision of the Tree of Life. Remember many are pressing forward, holding on to the rod, but they get lost in the mists of darkness. This is particularly because those in the great and spacious building are pointing fingers at them and mocking them. It is so extremely hard to be called foolish. Disdain really burns, especially when there is this basic human need to be liked and regarded.
What’s more and almost unbelievable, some of those who actually made it to the tree and tasted of the fruit that was sweeter than any other, became “ashamed, because of those that were scoffing at them; and they fell away into forbidden paths and were lost” (1 Nephi 8:28).
Scot
So, moving forward, courage will be essential to discipleship. In order to be steady, we will have to teach ourselves to be courageous. We will have to consciously teach our children to be courageous. We will have to give them lessons in it. If popularity becomes their highest value, they will not be able to stand in days ahead. We will have to teach our children to be centered in Christ rather than be knocked over in the first storm.
This courage that is called for may not just be in the public square, but also in our own families as children, grandchildren or siblings turn away from the church and mock you and your life for staying. How hard it is to have someone you love turn from you because you love the Lord. This is not the time for compromise of your beliefs, but a doubling down in devotion, so your prayers can be effective in their behalf and you can have faith to sustain yourself in the barrage.
Maurine
President Monson said, “We live in a world where moral values have, in great measure, been tossed aside, where sin is flagrantly on display, and where temptations to stray from the strait and narrow path surround us. We are faced with persistent pressures and insidious influences tearing down what is decent and attempting to substitute the shallow philosophies and practices of a secular society.
“Because of these and other challenges, decisions are constantly before us which can determine our destiny. In order for us to make the correct decisions, courage is needed—the courage to say no when we should, the courage to say yes when that is appropriate, the courage to do the right thing because it is right.
Inasmuch as the trend in society today is rapidly moving away from the values and principles the Lord has given us, we will almost certainly be called upon to defend that which we believe. Will we have the courage to do so?
Scot
“Said President J. Reuben Clark Jr., who for many years was a member of the First Presidency: ‘Not unknown are cases where [those] of presumed faith … have felt that, since by affirming their full faith they might call down upon themselves the ridicule of their unbelieving colleagues, they must either modify or explain away their faith, or destructively dilute it, or even pretend to cast it away. Such are hypocrites.’ None of us would wish to wear such a label, and yet are we reluctant to declare our faith in some circumstances?
President Monson continued, “The call for courage comes constantly to each of us. Every day of our lives courage is needed—not just for the momentous events but more often as we make decisions or respond to circumstances around us. Said Scottish poet and novelist Robert Louis Stevenson: ‘Everyday courage has few witnesses. But yours is no less noble because no drum beats for you and no crowds shout your name.’
Maurine
He said, “Courage comes in many forms. Wrote the Christian author Charles Swindoll: ‘Courage is not limited to the battlefield … or bravely catching a thief in your house. The real tests of courage are much quieter. They are inner tests, like remaining faithful when no one’s looking, … like standing alone when you’re misunderstood.’ I would add that this inner courage also includes doing the right thing even though we may be afraid, defending our beliefs at the risk of being ridiculed, and maintaining those beliefs even when threatened with a loss of friends or of social status. He who stands steadfastly for that which is right must risk becoming at times disapproved and unpopular.
“While serving in the United States Navy in World War II, I learned of brave deeds, instances of valor, and examples of courage. One which I shall never forget was the quiet courage of an 18-year-old seaman—not of our faith—who was not too proud to pray. Of 250 men in the company, he was the only one who each night knelt down by the side of his bunk, at times amidst the jeers of bullies and the jests of unbelievers. With bowed head, he prayed to God. He never wavered. He never faltered. He had courage.”
Scot
President Monson said, “It is impossible to stand upright when one plants his roots in the shifting sands of popular opinion and approval. Needed is the courage of a Daniel, an Abinadi, a Moroni, or a Joseph Smith in order for us to hold strong and fast to that which we know is right. They had the courage to do not that which was easy but that which was right.
“We will all face fear, experience ridicule, and meet opposition. Let us—all of us—have the courage to defy the consensus, the courage to stand for principle. Courage, not compromise, brings the smile of God’s approval. Courage becomes a living and an attractive virtue when it is regarded not only as a willingness to die manfully but also as the determination to live decently. As we move forward, striving to live as we should, we will surely receive help from the Lord and can find comfort in His words. I love His promise recorded in the book of Joshua:
Maurine
“I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. …
“’… Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.” (President Thomas S. Monson, “Be Strong and of a Good Courage” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2014/04/be-strong-and-of-a-good-courage?lang=eng)
It makes me want to act with courage knowing the Lord is watching.
Now, turning back to Moroni, he has courage because he has faith in the Lord Jesus Christ that will not be shaken. In the record he had assembled, in Ether 3:11, 12, the Lord asks the brother of Jared a powerful question.
Jehovah said, “Believest thou the words which I shall speak?
“And the Brother of Jared answered: Yea, Lord, I know that thou speakest the truth, for thou art a God of truth, and acanst not lie.”
Scot
That is the kind of faith that Moroni and all those who have suffered courageously for the cause of Christ have had. They have come to know God so well that they really understand, cell deep, that He can’st not lie, and everything he asks is for our good. It is to bring us back into His presence. They know that it is not in His nature to condemn us or neglect us or make us promises that He won’t fulfill. It is not in his nature to change or play games with us. He weeps for us. He hopes for us. He works for us.
If the Lord asks us to believe the words that He has spoken, we can absolutely say yes. But if the Lord asks if we believe the words he shall speak, our answer can be just as assured. Yes, I believe everything that thou shalt speak because I know thee.
Maurine
When we grow to that place where we begin to know Him, we can stop taking our spiritual temperature every day to see if we believe. We can stop looking for our prayers to be answered immediately. We can work when we don’t see the immediate reward. When the Lord says, “Believest the words that I shall speak”, He is also saying, “Can you trust the experiences I will allow you to have in your life, including those that make you weep? Can you hold on to your faith when it appears your promises have not been fulfilled?
Those who answer yes are the sure and steady ones. This is Moroni all alone and wondering when he will perish or Daniel walking into a lion’s den or Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego walking into a blazing furnace, so hot it consumed the guards. I trust all that you shall speak and all that you shall do or not do in my behalf.
Scot
It may seem that the Book of Mormon has an unhappy ending, with one lone survivor who eventually dies without family around him. That’s hard because we like happy endings. It all works out. Yet, in fact, it does all work out for Moroni, because he comes back as a glorious angel to Joseph Smith. He has important work to do in the dispensation of the fulness of times. For those who love the Lord, it will always all work out.
Now, with Moroni’s time left, he gives us special jewels of wisdom—teaching how to give the gift of the Holy Ghost, how to administer the sacrament, how to do priesthood ordinations, how to run meetings. How would we know how to do these ordinances without this specific instruction and, of course, authority? You could search the whole world over and never find this precious gift of how to repent and access God, if the prophets didn’t teach us. What strikes us immediately is that the sacrament prayers look like ours, revealed in the Doctrine and Covenants.
Maurine
The scholars at Book of Mormon Central make an interesting point. They say, “One may wonder why Moroni would [write 10 more chapters] when his life was so bleak and uncertain. After all, his people had been killed, and he already completed his father’s work of abridging the Nephite and Jaredite records. Among many other reasons, he may have written these chapters to explain more fully something his father had only hinted at.
“In his account of Christ’s visit to the Americas, Mormon mentioned that Jesus laid His hands on His disciples and “gave them power to give the Holy Ghost” (3 Nephi 18:36–37). Mormon promised to later demonstrate how this was fulfilled and how the disciples were able to give the gift of the Holy Ghost (v. 37). While Mormon alluded to the giving of the Holy Ghost several times, he did not provide some of the details about this event that the reader might like to have.
Scot
They continue, “Thankfully for all readers of the Book of Mormon, Moroni seems to have noticed this gap, and decided to deliver on his father’s promise. To do this, he reported Christ’s exact words to His disciples, showing “that the record is true” (3 Nephi 18:37).4 This may be the reason for Moroni 2. Moroni finally told his readers about “the words of Christ, which he spake unto his disciples … saying: Ye shall call on the Father in my name … and after ye have done this ye shall have power that to him upon whom ye shall lay your hands, ye shall give the Holy Ghost” (Moroni 2:1–2).
“Although it is impossible to be sure of this, it is likely that Moroni assisted Mormon in his work. If this is the case, he may have recalled that his father never fulfilled this particular promise to his readers. After living long enough to abridge the book of Ether, another loose end his father had left behind, Moroni may have decided to tie up this loose end as well. This would explain why this note on the gift of the Holy Ghost was one of the first things he wrote. He may have wanted to make sure that, no matter what else happened, his father’s promise was fulfilled.”
Maurine
This is what the Savior said in Moroni chapter 2, about how to confer the gift of the Holy Ghost. “Ye shall call on the Father in my name, in mighty prayer.” What is mighty prayer? That is a lifetime exploration because what could matter more than knowing how to connect to heaven? Of course, the biggest clue here is that you call on the Father in Christ’s name. It is His name and His atoning sacrifice that delivers those prayers, so of course, prayer is an act of great reverence and love for the Savior.
One woman, Kersten Campbell, wrote about her trying to learn about mighty prayer and to find that real two-way communication with God.
Scot
She said, “I started by making a list of the things I thought would work. My main problem was falling asleep during my prayers.”
She said, “I thought I might try longer prayers, like Enos. Surely that would let Heavenly Father know that I really wanted to communicate with Him. Nothing changed. And although I was sure Heavenly Father was blessing me and listening to my prayers, I wanted to feel closer to Him than I was feeling.
“Over a period of time I tried many other techniques, such as concentrating harder, writing down everything I needed to pray for so I wouldn’t forget anything, and praying out loud. Nothing seemed to make my prayers feel mighty.”
Maurine
Then it changed for her. She said, “I was participating in a pioneer trek, and it was the last day. We hadn’t eaten much for breakfast, and the day before we had hiked for many miles. That morning we had pulled our handcarts to the banks of a very large pond, and we were going to ferry them across in order to experience in a small way what it must have been like to cross a river with handcarts. It had rained that morning, and we all stood in the sun, trying to dry ourselves as we waited for our turn to cross. While we waited, our stake president told us the story of the Sweetwater rescue—how several young men had put their own lives in peril in order to carry the desperate Saints of the Martin Handcart Company across an icy river in the middle of winter. As I stood listening to the story, I felt the love and sacrifice of those boys, and the Spirit swelled in my heart. I felt a desire to be like those great young men and help rescue all those needing spiritual help in our day, including my own family.
“In my mind, I uttered one of the shortest prayers I’ve ever said, but it was one of the most powerful: ‘Heavenly Father, help me to be a rescuer.’
Scot
“At that moment,” she said, “I again felt that soft, warm, peaceful feeling of heaven close around me, and I knew through the Spirit that my will and my Heavenly Father’s will were one.
“It was then that I understood the difference between…“mighty” prayers and all the others. It was the Spirit. In those… prayers, the Holy Ghost was present and taught my heart and mind what to say so that my will was in line with the will of my Heavenly Father. The Spirit had helped to make my prayers mighty.” (https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/new-era/2011/12/what-is-mighty-prayer?lang=eng)
Maurine
Elder Bruce R. McConkie talked about mighty prayer, “It is pleasing to that God whose we are when we fast and pray and seek his blessings; when we plead with all the energy of our souls for those things we so much desire; when, as Paul says, we “come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” (Heb. 4:16.)
Prayer is the way and means, given us by our Creator, whereby we can counsel and communicate with him. It is one of the chief cornerstones of pure and perfect worship…
“We do not give memorized, ritualistic, or repetitious prayers. We seek the guidance of the Spirit and suit every prayer to the needs of the moment, with no thought of using the same words on successive occasions. But it would be appropriate for us to use words that convey such thoughts as these in our prayers:
Scot
“Father, we ask thee, in the name of Jesus Christ, to hear the words of our mouth, to discern with thy all-seeing eye the thoughts and intents of our heart, and to grant us our righteous desires.
“We feel it is a great privilege to come into thy presence, to bow before thy throne, to address thee as Father; and we know thou wilt hear our cries. May we speak by the power of thy Holy Ghost.
Maurine
Then, in thanking the Lord for the blessings of mortal life, and the hope of immortality and eternal life, we might properly say such things as:
“Father, we thank thee for life itself, for this mortal probation in which we as pilgrims, far from our heavenly home, are gaining experiences that could be gained in no other way.
“We thank thee that thou didst ordain and establish the great and eternal plan of salvation whereby we, as thy spirit children, are given power, if faithful and true in all things, to advance and progress and become like thee.
“We thank thee for sending thy Holy Son Jesus to be the Savior and Redeemer; to put into full operation all of the terms and conditions of thy great and eternal plan of salvation; to save us from death, hell, the devil, and endless torment.”
Scot
He continues, “Of our reconciliation with the Father, through the atonement of his Son, it would be proper to say such things as:
“Father, thou hast given us the word of reconciliation and hast poured out revelations and visions upon us. We are thy people, and we desire to be worthy of the calling and election that is ours.
“Thou hast wrought miracles in our midst; given us the holy scriptures, particularly thy word manifest in our day; conferred upon us the gift of the Holy Ghost by which we are guided into all truth, and by which our souls are sanctified.
“For all these things we are grateful beyond any measure of expression, and because of them we shall praise thy holy name forever.
“We confess our sins before thee and seek remission thereof, lest anything stand between us and thee in receiving a free flow of thy Spirit.”
Maurine
Elder McConkie said, “As to our own temporal needs, I would feel no hesitancy in saying such things as:
“We cry unto thee over our flocks and our herds, over the fruits of our fields and the increase of our vines and trees. Wilt thou temper the elements and preserve us from disasters, that our basket and store may be full.
“We need food, clothing, and shelter; we need schooling and proper employment; we need wisdom in our business and professional enterprises.
“Grant us according to our needs, giving us neither poverty nor riches, but feeding us with food convenient for us”. Elder Bruce R. McConkie, “Patterns of Prayer,” https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1984/04/patterns-of-prayer?lang=eng
Scot
In this General Conference address, called “Patterns of Prayer”, Elder McConkie goes on and on in many categories. It is worth reading because he opens our minds up about how to pray.
At the same time, we don’t have to think that the only mighty prayers are eloquent prayers. One of the most effective prayers in our lives was a one-word prayer.
Maurine
When our daughter, Julie, was in college, she and a girlfriend went to Puerto Vallarda, Mexico for spring break. One day they were out on the beach, and Julie was thirsty, so she went back to the hotel pool area to get some water. No one exactly knows what happened then—whether she was pushed or faint from dehydration, but she fell straight back like a tree onto the cement, hitting her head hard and causing 20 bleeds in her brain. She was rushed to a Mexican hospital in an ambulance, and we got a call from the hospital asking for our credit card number so they could treat her.
Scot
We flew down quickly to be in that hospital with our daughter whose brain had been so badly injured. She also had a subdural hematoma and the midline of her brain had moved. This was not a minor brain injury. We envisioned terrible scenarios about what might lie ahead for our sweet, vivacious, bright-eyed, dark-haired daughter. Would she have lifelong mental disadvantages? Would she know us again? Would she be in a coma? Had her life been forever altered by this hideous accident? How would she be when she awoke? We took photos of her brothers and sisters and placed them around her room to help her remember their names.
Maurine
Julie was not in a coma, but she slept nearly round the clock for days. When she roused just a little, we asked her if she knew who we were. We asked her if she knew who she was. I was beyond distraught, worried that she would suffer the profound effects of brain injury for her life and be just a shell of who she had once been. With only one lone cot in Julie’s hospital room, I slept there, while Scot got hotel room. During those many long nights while she was in the hospital I was more anxious and desperate than I had ever remembered being. I worried that the bleeds were putting pressure in her head. I worried about the quality of care in this little hospital where the doctors only spoke Spanish and we didn’t. I worried about a huge bill that was mounting and would not be covered by American insurance. But mostly I worried that we had lost the girl we knew forever. I just couldn’t have been more miserable.
I wanted to give a mighty prayer. I was desperate to connect with heaven. I wanted to be eloquent and faithful and ask for blessings to cover every nuance of our situation, but the words were chocked in my throat. I could hardly pray at all except this one word, “Help,” cried over and over again and directed to our Father in Heaven in the name of His Son.
That was a mighty prayer and we were given mighty answers. Our daughter emerged from this accident without any longtime impairment except a loss of smell. Very soon she was on a road to recovery. Three different doctors looked at her brain scans and said, “These are injuries of a very grave nature, and the patient I see here does not match these scans.” She was a walking miracle.
Scot
Mighty prayers may be, on occasion, one word, but they issue from people who are fully immersed in their quest to find God. If we are casual in our study or our prayer, if other things are the constant focus of our lives, we will be left in the shallows and far away from mighty prayers. I see so many whose lives are wracked with problems and they focus more and more on their misery, instead of refocusing on the Lord and let Him carry the burden. We must immerse ourselves in our discipleship. Jump in wholeheartedly to find God. Open our hearts instead of keeping them shuttered in meaningless distraction.
Maurine
That’s all for today. We’re Scot and Maurine Proctor and this has been Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me podcast. Next week we will study Moroni 7-9 called “May Christ Lift Thee Up.” Thanks to Paul Cardall for the music and to Michaela Proctor Hutchins who produces this show. See you next week.
What the Prophet Joseph Teaches Us About How to Deal with the Devil, Part 2
In part 1 of this series, we talked about some of the lessons we can learn from the young Prophet Joseph as he dealt with the adversary. In this article, we explore some of the more complex interactions Joseph or others had with the dark side and how he handled this as a more seasoned prophet. There are many more stories from Church history that could be called upon as examples. I have only chosen a few.
Heber C. Kimball[1] once spoke over the pulpit in the Tabernacle: “What contests [Joseph Smith] had had with the devil; [Joseph] told me that he had contests with the devil, face to face. He also told me how he was handled and afflicted by the devil.”[2] This statement about the Prophet Joseph has motivated me to learn more from him, how he dealt with Satan and to see if there are lessons for each of us in this part of the dispensation. There are. Let’s study them together.
Let’s look now at the spiritually mature, adult Joseph Smith and see if we can learn more about how he (and we) can deal with the temptations and battering of Satan.
Joseph Smith and the devil in Far West
From Heber C. Kimball we learn a great lesson that Joseph taught to him.
“Joseph … said the nearer a person approached to the Lord, the greater power would be manifest by the devil to prevent the accomplishment of the purposes of God.”
Pay attention to that in your own spiritual lives and notice the truthfulness of that statement. There is no need to fear the pursuit of deep spirituality, just know that Satan is tenacious and persistent and has plenty of helpers. But we have more.[3]
Heber continued: “He also gave me a relation of many contests that he [Joseph] had had with Satan, and his power that had been manifested from time to time since the commencement of bringing forth the Book of Mormon.
“I will relate one circumstance that took place in Far West, in a house which Joseph had purchased, which had been formerly occupied as a public house by some wicked people. A short time after he had moved into it, one of the children was taken very sick. He laid his hands upon the child, when it got better. As soon as he went outside, the child was taken sick again. He again laid his hands upon it, so that it again recovered. This transpired several times, and Joseph inquired of the Lord what it all meant, when he had an open vision, and saw it, the devil in person, who contended with Joseph face to face for some time. He said it was his house, it belonged to him, and Joseph had no right there. Then Joseph rebuked Satan in the name of the Lord, and he departed and troubled the child no more.”[4]
Lessons we can learn from Joseph’s admonition above and this horrible experience in Far West?
One. Satan will spurn us, thwart us, tempt us and keep us away from great spiritual experiences as much as he possibly can. “Pray always, that you may come off conqueror; yea, that you may conquer Satan, and that you may escape the hands of the servants of Satan that do uphold his work.”[5]
Two. Inquire of the Lord when you cannot figure out why something is not going the way it should go. Keep inquiring. Pray until you receive an answer.
Three. Be in a position, with righteous priesthood power and, as women, with pure faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and the use of His Holy Name, to rebuke Satan, and cast him out of your home, individual family members and whomever needs to have him cast out. That is so critically important when there are so many lying spirits in the world today who attach themselves to individuals, even to those we love.
Joseph Teaches Heber C. Kimball about the devils in Preston, England
A seven-elder contingency went to England in July 1837 to open the gospel to that nation, led by Apostles Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde, and Elder Willard Richards (who would later become an apostle) and four Canadians, Joseph Fielding, Isaac Russell, John Goodson and John Snyder. On the morning of the very first baptisms that were to be performed in that great nation, Sunday, July 30, 1837, the brethren were attacked by legions of devils who tried to destroy them. Heber C. Kimball talked about this experience.
The white building on the right, upper floors, is where the missionaries first stayed in Preston and had the experience with the legions of devils.
““While thus engaged, I was struck with great force by some invisible power, and fell senseless on the floor. The first thing I recollected was being supported by Elders Hyde and Richards who were praying for me, Elder Richards having followed Russell up to my room. Elders Hyde and Richards then assisted me to get on the bed, but my agony was so great I could not endure it, and I arose, bowed my knees and prayed.
““I then arose and sat up on the bed, when a vision was opened to our minds, and we could distinctly see the evil spirits, who foamed and gnashed their teeth at us. We gazed upon them about an hour and a half (by Willard’s watch). We were not looking towards the window, but towards the wall. Space appeared before us, and we saw the devils coming in legions, with their leaders, who came within a few feet of us. They came towards us like armies rushing to battle. They appeared to be men of full stature, possessing every form and feature of men in the flesh, who were angry and desperate; and I shall never forget the vindictive malignity depicted on their countenances as they looked me in the eye; and any attempt to paint the scene which then presented itself or portray their malice and enmity, would be vain.
“I perspired exceedingly, my clothes becoming as wet as if I had been taken out of the river. I felt excessive pain, and was in the greatest distress for some time. I cannot even look back on the scene without feelings of horror; yet by it I learned the power of the adversary, his enmity against the servants of God, and got some understanding of the invisible world. We distinctly heard these spirits talk and express their wrath and hellish designs against us. However, the Lord delivered us from them, and blessed us exceedingly that day.”
Elder Orson Hyde described that terrible morning in a letter to Heber:
“”Every circumstance that occurred at that scene of devils is just as fresh in my recollection at this moment as it was at the moment of its occurrence, and will ever remain so. After you were overcome by them and had fallen, their awful rush upon me with knives, threats, imprecations and hellish grins, amply convinced me that they were no friends of mine. While you were apparently senseless and lifeless on the floor and upon the bed (after we had laid you there), I stood between you and the devils and fought them and contended with them face to face, until they began to diminish in number and to retreat from the room. The last imp that left turned round to me as he was going out and said, as if to apologize, and appease my determined opposition to them, ‘I never said anything against you!’ I replied to him thus: ‘It matters not to me whether you have or have not; you are a liar from the beginning! In the name of Jesus Christ, depart!’ He immediately left, and the room was clear. That closed the scene of devils for that time.”
Now, here’s the lesson from Joseph which is so powerful (and this puts his teaching in context):
“When he returned home, Heber C. Kimball asked the Prophet Joseph Smith, ‘What was the matter of us? What had we done that we had to be submitted to such an experience?’
“Joseph responded, ‘Brother Heber, at that time you were nigh unto the Lord; there was only a veil between you and him, but you could not see him. When I [Joseph] heard, it gave me great joy, for I then knew that the work of God had taken root in that land. It was this that caused the devil to make a struggle to kill you. The nearer a person approaches the Lord, a greater power will be manifested by the adversary to prevent the accomplishment of his purposes.”[6]
Some takeaways from this almost overwhelming brush with the evil ones:
One. In the midst of such darkness, as in the Sacred Grove, as in the small digs in Preston, England, the Lord is always near. This is a lesson we need to remember when all we seem to feel is darkness. Hold on. Exercise great faith. Keep in your mind that Jesus is just beyond us through a veil.
Two. Again, on that morning when the very first baptisms in this dispensation in England were to be performed, Satan attacked those who would, by priesthood authority, do those ordinances. Whenever great light is about to be poured out (like, for example, the First Vision or the Vision of the Three Degrees of Glory), darkness or an onslaught of temptation or challenge will likely be just around the corner. You can take this as a sign that the great spiritual experiences that you are richly given from the Lord are true and verified by the presence of opposition.
Three. Those on the other side of the veil who uphold the work of Satan are committed to our destruction. They are not to be trusted. They will use every means possible to lead us away from the light and teachings and ordinances of Christ.
Joseph Smith and the first Miracle of the Church with the Knight Family
Joseph was very close to the Joseph and Polly Knight family of Colesville, New York. He and Newel Knight, one of the Knight’s 13 children, were especially close and often had “serious conversations on the important subject of man’s eternal salvation.” Joseph and the Knights would employ much prayer in the course of their meetings together and Newel had been called upon to pray vocally in the group. Joseph reported:
Interior of the Joseph and Polly Knight hone in Colesville, New York where this first miracle took place.
“[Newel] deferred praying until next morning, when he retired into the woods; where, according to his own account afterwards, he made several attempts to pray, but could scarcely do so, feeling that he had not done his duty, in refusing to pray in the presence of others. He began to feel uneasy, and continued to feel worse both in mind and body, until, upon reaching his own house, his appearance was such as to alarm his wife very much. He requested her to go and bring me to him. I went and found him suffering very much in his mind, and his body acted upon in a very strange manner; his visage and limbs distorted and twisted in every shape and appearance possible to imagine; and finally, he was caught up off the floor of the apartment, and tossed about most fearfully.
“His situation was soon made known to his neighbors and relatives and in a short time as many as eight or nine grown persons had got together to witness the scene. After he had thus suffered for a time, I succeeded in getting hold of him by the hand, when almost immediately he spoke to me, and with great earnestness requested me to cast the devil out of him, saying that he knew he was in him, and that he also knew that I could cast him out.
“I replied, “If you know that I can, it shall be done,” and then almost unconsciously I rebuked the devil, and commanded him in the name of Jesus Christ to depart from him; when immediately Newel spoke out and said that he saw the devil leave him and vanish from his sight. This was the first miracle which was done in the Church, or by any member of it; and it was done, not by man, nor by the power of man, but it was done by God, and by the power of godliness; therefore, let the honor and the praise, the dominion and the glory, be ascribed to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for ever and ever. Amen.
“This scene was now entirely changed, for as soon as the devil had departed from our friend, his countenance became natural, his distortions of body ceased, and almost immediately the Spirit of the Lord descended upon him, and the visions of eternity were opened to his view. So soon as consciousness returned, his bodily weakness was such that we were obliged to lay him upon his bed, and wait upon him for some time. He afterwards related his experience as follows:
“I now began to feel a most pleasing sensation resting on me, and immediately the visions of heaven were opened to my view. I felt myself attracted upward, and remained for some time enwrapt in contemplation, insomuch that I knew not what was going on in the room. By and by, I felt some weight pressing upon my shoulder and the side of my head, which served to recall me to a sense of my situation, and I found that the Spirit of the Lord had actually caught me up off the floor, and that my shoulder and head were pressing against the beams.
“All this was witnessed by many, to their great astonishment and satisfaction, when they saw the devil thus cast out, and the power of God, and His Holy Spirit thus made manifest. As may be expected, such a scene as this contributed much to make believers of those who witnessed it, and finally the greater part of them became members of the Church.”[7]
This account was taken directly out of the History of the Church and there is much to be learned from it.
One. Just as we witnessed in the Sacred Grove with the young Prophet Joseph, Satan does not want us to pray vocally or to pray at all for that matter. Satan will employ the tactics of making us feel worse and worse in both body and mind to keep us from praying. When we around those that we know and love, we can even detect the presence of an evil spirit because the very countenance of the person can change.
Two. Satan can actually intervene in someone’s spirit and toss them about physically (and mentally). In this situation, as with the Prophet Joseph, it’s important to take the afflicted person by the hand to bring them to consciousness of the presence of an evil spirit.
Three. Faith in Jesus Christ is a key component in casting out Satan and his followers.
Four. Often after evil is cast out, the person is filled with light, joy, happiness and other fruits of the Spirit.[8]
Joseph Smith and the Devils in Kirtland
We learn from Lucy Diantha Morley Allen, daughter of Isaac and Lucy Morley in Kirtland, of an experience many witnessed on her parents’ farm.
“When the Prophet returned [from the Johnson’s in Hiram, Ohio] and learned the condition he called a meeting in a little schoolhouse on Isaac Morley’s farm, and those who desired attended.
“When a crowd was gathered, Joseph arose and said in a powerful voice:
‘Let the spirits be made manifest.’
“Immediately, some began to sing, some to shout, some to cry, etc. When Joseph rebuked them, all became quiet except two, whom he rebuked separately.”[9]
Joseph and Emma’s home in Kirtland with the Kirtland Temple visible on the left in the background.
From Parley P. Pratt we learn of the effect evil spirits can have, even upon the most faithful (including Parley himself):
“About this time, after I had returned from Canada, there were jarrings and discords in the Church at Kirtland, and many fell away and became enemies and apostates. There were also envyings, lyings, strifes and divisions, which caused much trouble and sorrow. By such spirits I was also accused, misrepresented and abused. And at one time, I also was overcome by the same spirit in a great measure, and it seemed as if the very powers of darkness which war against the Saints were let loose upon me.”
John Taylor, who was one of Parley’s converts during his mission to Toronto, Canada just a year earlier, came to Parley at this time, and said:
“I am surprised to hear you speak so, Brother Parley. Before you left Canada you bore a strong testimony to Joseph Smith being a Prophet of God, and to the truth of the work he has inaugurated; and you said you knew these things by revelation, and the gift of the Holy Ghost. You gave to me a strict charge to the effect that though you or an angel from heaven was to declare anything else I was not to believe it. Now Brother Parley, it is not man that I am following, but the Lord. The principles you taught me led me to Him, and I now have the same testimony that you then rejoiced in. If the work was true six months ago, it is true today; if Joseph Smith was then a prophet, he is now a prophet.”[10]
“I went to brother Joseph Smith in tears, and, with a broken heart and contrite spirit, confessed wherein I had erred in spirit, murmured, or done or said amiss. He frankly forgave me, prayed for me and blessed me. Thus, by experience, I learned more fully to discern and to contrast the two spirits, and to resist the one and cleave to the other. And, being tempted in all points, even as others, I learned how to bear with, and excuse, and succor those who are tempted.”[11]
What can we learn from these two situations in Kirtland?
One. Evil spirits can be tenacious and can manifest themselves in different ways through multiple people. We should pray for the spirit of discernment so that can prevent ourselves from being deceived.
Two. The fruits of the spirit of Satan (in great contrast to the fruits of the Spirit) are: jarrings, discords, envyings, lyings, strifes, divisions, trouble, sorrow, darkness. It is good to pay strict attention when we notice any of these “fruits” in our relationships with others or with the Lord.
Three. If you begin to doubt the things you have known in the past, remember, that “if the work was true six months ago, it is true today.” As with John Taylor’s admonition to Parley, so with the Lord’s admonition to Oliver Cowdery:
22 Verily, verily, I say unto you, if you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon the night that you cried unto me in your heart, that you might know concerning the truth of these things.
23 Did I not speak peace to your mind concerning the matter? What greater witness can you have than from God?
The witnesses that have built our testimonies of the truth are from God. They are sure: the reality of a living, loving Heavenly Father and the Divinity of His Only Begotten Son. The truthfulness of the calling and mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith. The fact that the Book of Mormon is holy scripture and is the word of God for our day. And the witness of the Spirit that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint is indeed the Kingdom of God on the earth today—these are all witnessed to us by the Holy Spirit and are warred upon by the spirit of Satan.
Let us learn the tactics and deceits of the evil one and be firm, steadfast and immovable in our witness of the truths that God has given us.
Notes:
[1] Heber C. Kimball was one of Joseph Smith’s most loyal followers. Born in Sheldon, Vermont, June 14, 1801, Heber was called as one of the original members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. His loyalty to Joseph, along with that of Brigham Young’s, was legendary and unwavering.
[2] From a Discourse of Heber C. Kimball delivered in the Tabernacle, Great Salt Lake City, March 2, 1856, Journal of Discourses, 3:230.
[3] See 2 Kings 6:15-17.
[4] Journal of Heber C. Kimball, p.80. Emphasis added.
[5] Doctrine and Covenants 10:5.
[6] Whitney, Orson F., The Life of Heber C. Kimball, Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, 1888, pp. 131-32.
[7] Smith, Joseph Jr. and B.H. Roberts, History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, 1902, pp. 82-84.
[8] Galatians 5: 22-23.
[9] Lucy Diantha Morley Allen, “Joseph Smith, the Prophet,” Young Woman’s Journal 17, no. 12 (December 1906): 537.
[10] Roberts, B.H., Life of John Taylor, Bookcraft, Salt Lake City, 1953, pp 39-40.
[11] Pratt, Parley P. The Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, 1874, p. 144.
Life and Death on the Mormon Frontier
Cover image: Members of the Notorious Wild Bunch Gang. Sitting (L-R) Harry Longabaugh, alias Sundance Kid; Ben Kilpatrick; and Robert Parker, alias Butch Cassidy. Standing: Will Carver; and Harvey Logan, alias Kid Curry.
Outlaws murdered my great uncle, Frank LeSueur. Frank was serving in a posse of more than a dozen men, but due to a series of missed trails, bad decisions, and even worse luck, by the end of the day only Frank and his friend, Gus Gibbons, remained on the outlaws’ trail. All of the other posse members, including the sheriff, had returned to their homes. A search party sent out early the next morning found the young men’s bodies riddled with bullets, their faces mutilated by gunshots fired at close range while they lay dead or dying.
“The sight was horrifying to the senses,” said Gus’s uncle Dick Gibbons, a member of the search party. “For them to be ambushed and shot down like dogs, without even a chance to fight for their lives, made me sick. It was murder in its worst form.”
The murders took place on March 27, 1900, about twenty miles outside of St. Johns, Arizona, a dusty frontier community with a population of about 800 people consisting of Latter-day Saints and Mexican-Americans in about equal numbers. Frank’s murder was well known to my family, but my grandfather, Karl LeSueur, was just five years old when his older brother was killed, so he recalled few details. The outlaws, five in number, had triggered the posse’s pursuit by rustling a cow, but as far as we knew, the outlaws were never identified nor was there much subsequent effort to capture them.
We were wrong. In recent years, historians of outlaws and the West began pointing to members of Butch Cassidy’s Wild Bunch gang as the likely culprits, and so I began my own investigation into the episode, building on the research of others. Although there remains room for disagreement regarding which gang members participated, the likely killers were Harvey Logan (alias Kid Curry); Thomas C. Hilliard (alias Tod Carver); Ben Kilpatrick; Will Carver; and Tom Capehart. We know that Butch Cassidy was not with them because, on the day that Frank and Gus were killed, Cassidy was sitting in the St. Johns jail. The sheriff did not record his reasons for detaining Cassidy, but it appears he correctly suspected a connection between Cassidy and the murderers. Cassidy, whose real name was Robert LeRoy Parker, was a Latter-day Saint whose parents emigrated to Utah in the 1850s. How a Latter-day Saint boy came to lead a murderous outlaw gang has fascinated and perplexed historians.
Gus Gibbons (far right), about age twenty-four, while a missionary in the United Kingdom. With Gus are Elder Jepson and Elder Brown After being summoned to join the posse, Gus stopped by his parents’ house, where his mother and sisters watched him retrieve his father’s rifle, kneel on the kitchen floor, and load the bullets. Gus stood and kissed each of them. “I’ll soon be back,” he said with perhaps more cheerfulness than he actually felt. His sister, Eva, said, “We watched him ride away waving goodbye.” Photo Credit: Andrew A. Gibbons photographs, Church History Library, Salt Lake City. PH 281
In writing about the Wild Bunch, Western historians play up the drama of their daring heists and violent confrontations. Their victims serve primarily as extras in the outlaws’ stories, bit players and forgotten names whose lives merit little attention. In contrast, I examine the murders and related events from the perspective of the victims and their families. Newspaper accounts of the murders, along with diaries, reminiscences, and accounts left by the families of Frank, Gus, and other residents of the tight-knit St. Johns community offer illuminating details. They tell of the outlaws’ menacing entrance into St. Johns, and of their stopping at the ACMI store where Frank’s father sold them bullets for their guns. They tell of the minor incident that triggered the call to arrest the outlaws, the subsequent organizing of the posse, the anxious waiting for the men to return, and the missteps that left Frank and Gus alone on the trail. Their accounts also describe an aftermath filled with heartache, bitter second-guessing of the sheriff, and an aching desire to find meaning in the young men’s deaths.
Americans are generally familiar with the Saints’ central role in colonizing in Utah but relatively less so with their pioneering efforts in Arizona. My research into these events brought an eye-opening recognition of the extreme hardships and challenges faced by the colonizing missionaries called to settle along Arizona’s Little Colorado River corridor. Consequently, my book provides a window into understanding the Latter-day Saint-Arizona colonizing experience.
When the Mormons began exploring the Little Colorado River territory for future settlements, one man described the region as “the most desert looking place I ever saw,” while another explorer called it “an inhospitable and forbidding waste.” The Little Colorado River was filled with so much silt and sand that it was unfit for human consumption. One colonizer described the river as a “running stream of mud.” However, these and similar reports did not discourage church leaders. In response to such reports, George Q. Cannon, one of Brigham Young’s counselors, said, “Good countries are not for us. The worst places in the land we can probably get, and we must develop them. If we were to find a good country how long would it be before the wicked would want it and seek to strip us of our possessions?”
Starting in 1876, hundreds of Latter-day Saint families accepted calls to settle in St. Johns and other locations along the Little Colorado River. They sold their homes and land and pulled up stakes to move to one of the country’s most unforgiving regions. I tell this part of the story through the lives of the LeSueurs, Gibbonses, and other colonizing missionaries.
In addition to their struggle to scratch out a living in this harsh environment, Latter-day Saint colonizers faced the challenge of maintaining law and order in a violent frontier plagued by cattle rustling, horse stealing, stagecoach robbing, and vigilante justice. Numerous criminal gangs operated in Apache County, where St. Johns was located. An associate of one of these gangs said of Apache County that “of all the places I have ever been [and] in all my association with bad men, I had never seen as bad a collection as was in Apache County.” James LeSueur, Frank’s older brother, said the cowboys overseeing the vast herds of cattle in the region also proved troublesome, particularly those who worked for the Aztec Land and Cattle Company. “Their cowboys would ride through the town shooting and yelling,” LeSueur said. “They set up gambling dens and bawdy houses in St. Johns and Holbrook. Drunkenness together with its attendant crime flourished in the very doors of the Saints.”
Confrontations with suspected lawbreakers were not infrequent, nor was it unusual for the county sheriff to form posses to pursue suspected criminals, though this was apparently the first time that either Frank or Gus had been summoned to join one.
Frank LeSueur (right), about age nineteen, with his friend Will Sherwood. When the tiring horses of other posse members forced them to abandon pursuit of the outlaws, Frank was determined to press forward. “The sheriff is ahead and will need our help,” he told the others, not knowing the sheriff had already left the chase and returned to St. Johns. “He knew nothing of fear,” his parents said of their brave, impulsive son. “And we never could impress upon him the necessity of caution.” Photo Credit: Family History Center, St. Johns, Arizona.
Frank, who was nineteen years old, had been called to a foreign mission just a month earlier and was awaiting a specific assignment when the sheriff requested his help. Frank was “inclined to be wild” as a youth “and at times [neither] his mother nor no one except myself can control him,” said his father, John T. LeSueur, who sent Frank to a military academy in Missouri to “learn discipline.” However, during his two years of study at Brigham Young Academy in Provo, Frank matured and became a valuable contributor to his family’s various enterprises. In fact, his father intended to turn over management of his vast sheep herd to Frank when he returned from his mission. In a letter to President Lorenzo Snow accepting his mission call, Frank said, “I feel grateful to my Heavenly Father for the privilege of being called to perform a mission for our Grand and Noble Church and I hope and pray that I may go and be able to fulfill an honorable one.”
Gus, then twenty-six years old, had returned from a two-year mission to the United Kingdom just four months earlier. He had married Priscilla (“Pearl”) Smith, a daughter of Snowflake Stake President Jesse N. Smith, in November 1897, and then promptly left for the mission field. Upon his return, he worked as a day laborer as he settled back into frontier life. Married for just one month and then separated for two years, Gus and Pearl were still like newlyweds, exploring life together and carving out a niche for themselves in the St. Johns community.
The outlaws themselves are tangled in myths that attached themselves to bandit gangs and gunfighters, many of whom were romanticized even in their own time. Many popular writers portrayed the outlaws as social bandits and “good badmen,” champions of the little guy and symbols of an unsullied frontier making its last stand against encroaching industrialization. Modern popular culture perpetuates many of these themes. For example, the 1969 movie, “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” portrays the two outlaws as affable rogues. In this telling, Butch is as quick with his wit as Sundance is with a gun. Butch eschews violence and aims his larceny primarily at those whose wealth makes them deserving targets.
Common motifs also portray western outlaws as misunderstood and basically honorable men whose station or circumstances have led them to a life of crime. In the case of the Wild Bunch, regardless of what may have initially motivated their turn to crime, we can add one more character description. The men who murdered Frank LeSueur and Gus Gibbons were stone-cold killers. They were not looking for a fair fight. They preferred ambush over direct confrontation, and they were not opposed to shooting unarmed men in the back.
Apache County Sheriff Edward Beeler led posses that chased the murderers across five Western states and territories. Blamed for the deaths of Frank and Gus, he engaged in dogged, Ahab-like pursuit aimed at retribution and restoring his reputation. “The boys that these cowardly villians [sic] shot to pieces in the south were my friends and sacrificed their lives to assist me, and I will even up the score,” Beeler told a newspaper reporter. Photo credit: Marlin and Nonie Harmon
The murders also rippled through the community in other ways. Prior to the murders, Apache County Sheriff Edward Beeler was a popular lawman who was known to be aggressive and yet fair in dealing with suspected criminals. But Beeler was roundly criticized for decisions that left the inexperienced LeSueur and Gibbons alone on the trail of the outlaws, and so the embattled sheriff did not run for reelection. Following the murder of his nephew, Dick Gibbons ran for the Arizona Territorial Legislature on a platform calling for the establishment of a company of Arizona Rangers that could track down and eliminate criminal gangs. Once elected, Gibbons played a key role in the formation of the Rangers in 1901.
Also of note, just a few months after Frank’s death, his older brother James reported having a vision in which he saw Frank preaching to deceased family members in the spirit world, where Frank’s proselytizing voice was needed. James’s account of his vision, which was published in church magazines and books, sparked a lifelong passion for genealogical research and made him a leading proponent of genealogy work among the Arizona Saints. His son, James K. LeSueur, said regarding his father’s enthusiasm for tracking down ancestors: “How well I remember his coming home after a long day of genealogical research and joyously saying, ‘I found a new ancestor today’ with more happiness than if he had found a million dollars.”
My book focuses on Frank and Gus and their murders, but I titled it Life and Death on the Mormon Frontier because it entails more than just the murders. Ultimately, it’s a story of faith, hardship, and perseverance; of greed, violence, and death; and of finding joy in community, comfort in faith, and meaning in death as well as in life.
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