Come, Follow Me for Sunday School: “O God, Where Art Thou?”, Doctrine and Covenants 121-123- From the Depths of Liberty Jail

Cover image: Liberty Jail Spring, by Al Rounds.

Joseph Smith and a few of his brethren spent most of their imprisonment during the winter of 1838–39 in the bottom level of the county jail in Liberty, Missouri, known as the dungeon. Spending more than four months in the cramped jail proved a daunting experience. Four-foot-thick stone walls, a six-foot ceiling, and constant harassment by guards caused Joseph and his companions to describe the structure as “hell surrounded with demons.” In the dungeon, “temperatures dropped, light dimmed, odors reeked, and time seemed to slow.” Only “dirty straw couches” prevented the prisoners from sleeping on the stone floor, but even those wore out after a while.

The meager food they were given sickened the prisoners. Joseph and his companions described their daily meals as “very coarse and so filthy that we could not eat it until we were driven to it by hunger.” When the prisoners finally ate their servings, the food caused them to vomit “almost to death.” Some of the detainees suspected the guards of poisoning their food and water or even feeding them human flesh. As he and his companions awaited trial for charges of treason against the state of Missouri, Joseph was constantly receiving news about the suffering of the Saints. The peace and high hopes of Far West had lasted only a few months, and now the Saints were homeless once again, searching yet again for a place to start over—this time with their Prophet in prison. (See Revelations in Context)

Sections 121-123 are extracts taken from a letter written by the Prophet from Liberty Jail over a five-day period, from  March 20-25, 1839.  In order to understand the context of these extracts, we need to study Joseph Smith’s letter as a whole. Some of the things he wrote in the letter are reactions to the letter he received from Emma. (Her letter can be accessed on the Come Follow Me lesson for this week.) If we can understand his feelings, we can better understand the power of Section 121. This was a time of great trial.  We tend to read these first few verses with more softness than I think he uttered them.

The paragraphs before Doctrine and Covenants 121 give the context for Joseph’s anguished cry.

We have no need to say to you that we are held in bonds without cause, neither is it needful for you say to us, we are driven from our homes and smitten without cause. We mutually understand that if the inhabitants of the state of Missouri had let the Saints alone, and had has been as desirable of peace as they were, there would have been nothing but peace and quietude in the state unto this day; we would not have been in this hell . . . where we are compared to hear nothing but blasphemous oaths, and witnessed the scene of blasphemy, and drunkenness and hypocrisy, and debaucheries of every description. And again, the cries of orphans and widows would not have ascended up to God against them. Nor would innocent blood have stained the soil of Missouri. But oh! the unrelenting hand! The inhumanity and murderous disposition of this people! It shocks all nature; it beggars and defies all description; it is a tale of woe; a lamentable tale; yea a sorrowful tale; too much to tell; too much for contemplation; too much for human beings; it cannot be found among the heathen; in it cannot be found among the nations where the kings and tyrant are enthroned; it cannot be found among the savages of the wilderness; yea, and I think it cannot be found among the wild and ferocious beast of the forest, that a man would be mangled for sport! Women be robbed of all that they have—their last morsel for subsistence, and then be violated to gratify the hellish desires of the mob, and finally left to perish with their helpless offspring clinging around their necks. But this is not all. After a man is dead, he must be dug up from his grave and mangled to pieces, for no other purpose than to gratify their spleen against the religion of God. . . These things are awful to be late, but they are verily true. It must need to be that offenses calm, but while onto them by whom they come.

This is the context for Joseph’s “O God, where art thou?” This is not, “Where are you?”  This is somebody crying in the depths of his heart who has had it.  He is suffering and has been patient in suffering.  He sees the righteous suffer, and the wicked getting away with it.  And, of course, that’s the big question, the same question asked by Job—“Why do righteous people suffer?”  That’s why the Lord quotes Job to Joseph, because it’s the same thing that Joseph is questioning. “Where are you? How long do we have to go through this?” In the third verse, Joseph asks the Lord how long it will be “before thy heart be softened.” There is a touch of accusation in it.  And if you’ve ever suffered deeply and innocently, perhaps you understand the rage that comes sometimes. The rage that comes after patience.  To me, this reference by the Lord about Job is clear evidence that Job was a real person. It would be cruel for God to compare Joseph’s real suffering with that of a fictional character, as many believe about Job.

In verse 4, Joseph acknowledges God’s almighty power and wonders why he does not use it. He acknowledges God’s control of the devil, and asks, “Lord, so why don’t you control the devil now?” It’s almost an accusation, but a very understandable accusation. The Saints think the Lord has forgotten them.  Why won’t he show mercy on them?  Not only that, but they don’t understand why he won’t avenge their enemies.  In the next two verses, 5 and 6, Joseph implores God to “remember thy suffering saints.” This is the prayer of a person who has passed beyond anger and rage and has reached the end of his rope.

Something happens between verses 6 and 7. I put lines in my scriptures between those two verses—between the prayer and the answer.  The thing that happens between these two verses in section 121 teaches us a great lesson—both on how to deal with suffering ourselves and how to help others when they are going through it.

Joseph writes, “We received some letters… one from Emma, one from Don C. Smith, and one from Bishop Partridge.” I like that order—wife, brother, bishop.  He said, they all had a “kind and consoling spirit.” Joseph writes “how sweet the voice of a friend is,” and that “one token of friendship from any source whatever awakens and calls into action every sympathetic feeling; it brings up in an instant everything that is past; it seizes the present with the avidity of lightning; it grasps after the future with the fierceness of a tiger; it moves the mind backward and forward from one thing to another, until finally all enmity, malice and hatred, and past differences, misunderstandings and mismanagements are slain at the feet of hope; and when the heart is sufficiently contrite, then the voice of inspiration steals along and whispers, My son, peace be unto thy soul…”

What has happened between the prayer and the answer?  Joseph has cooled down.  What has caused him to cool down? The tokens of friendship and love from his wife, his brother, and the bishop. We can learn a great lesson from that.  I wish we had this part of the letter in this section.  It makes it so much more powerful. The letter is addressed to Edward Partridge specifically, but it was for every member. So, what can we learn from this?  If we see somebody suffering or in despair, what’s the best thing we can do for them?  We don’t have to solve their problems.  Sometimes the best thing we can do is give them those tokens of friendship that can calm them down, so that the Lord can counsel them.  Because it’s the Lord that counsels, but it’s Emma and his brother who calm him down so that he can receive the counsel. Malice is replaced with hope. From this point on, everything is positive.

Another lesson we can learn from this is that when we are raging inside, and we all probably have times when we rage inside, we cry out, we beat on heaven’s door, and wonder why it won’t answer. We need to realize that we have to calm down, and have a contrite spirit, and have some hope, and let the hatred and the malice, and the differences, and the mismanagements of the past go away, and then the Lord can speak to us.

What techniques does the Lord use to give counsel and comfort to Joseph? The first thing he does is calls him, “My son.” He tells him this isn’t going to last forever—it is going to be for a “small moment.”

I think one of the greatest statements of hope that was ever uttered to man was made by the Savior on the cross when he said, “It is finished.”  That can mean two things. First, there is never any commandment that the Father can ever give to you and to me that we ever have an excuse not to finish. It means, “I have finished the commandment you’ve given me.” But it also means something else—it means all the suffering is finished.  After he says, “It is finished,” he says, “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”  And if the Savior’s suffering had an end, then all of our sufferings will have an end.  It doesn’t matter what it is—guilt, marriage, parent-child— the deep pains, the cutting ones, someday you and I are going to be able to say, “It is finished.”  There is great hope in that, because when you hurt, you don’t think it will ever end.

In verse 8, God gives Joseph some tough counsel. He says, “if thou endure it well, God will exalt thee on high.”  We have seen God give this counsel in the past whenever people hurt, but it is difficult to hear. God is essentially telling them to face their trials, endure them. He lets them know that the only way out is through. If you get to the end of your rope, hang on. However you want to say it, you just have to live through it.  We always want the Lord to take it away, and the Lord isn’t going to take it away. We cannot understand why, but the Lord is wise. His ways are not our ways.

In Alma 31:30, Alma is weighed down with the sins he sees on his mission to the Zoramites.  He utters the same words as Joseph does, “O, Lord, how long . . .”  Notice what he prays for. “Give me strength to bear it.” That is indeed a mature prayer. Most people pray for their burdens to be taken away. Notice what he adds in verse 31—“Give me strength so I can suffer with patience.”  He realizes that he will have to suffer, but he accepts it, and prays for patience to endure the suffering. In verse 33, he prays for strength for his fellow laborers to be able to bear their afflictions. Ultimately, in verse 38, the Lord compensates for all their suffering, and gives them strength to “suffer no manner of afflictions, save their afflictions would be swallowed up in the joy of Christ.”

Sometimes the Lord uses tools to propel us forward that we interpret as afflictions. The barges of the Jaredites were driven forward toward the land of promise by the winds and the waves that were sent by God. But God did prepare them against the storm by providing light in a miraculous manner. We humans say, “Lord, why don’t you just blow gently. Then we won’t need light, because we can just sit out on the deck and play shuffleboard.”

This brings to mind another time when the wind and the waves were threatening to destroy a boat as the apostles and the Savior were on the Sea of Galilee. What did the Savior do?  He calmed the storm and said, “Peace be still.”  Why doesn’t he always do that?

In your own life, when you are enduring crashing waves all around you, What kind of prayer do you utter?  Do I give the Alma prayer?  No, I give the Diana Webb prayer.  I say, “Calm the storm for me.”  If you read carefully, you see that not only does he calm the storm, but he takes them to their destination.  That’s what I want him to do for me.  But usually he says, “I have a better idea.”  I’ll prepare you against the storms, instead of calming them.”  And that’s what he is saying to Joseph Smith here.  We are supposed to learn a lesson from these scripture stories. The Lord hopes that we internalize this idea—if the Lord does not still the storm for us, what do we know that he has already done for us? He has prepared us. There is within us the strength to withstand the storm. So, don’t pray that God will calm the storm.  Pray like Alma, that we can . . . suffer with . . .patience.

This is the same message he has given to Joseph Smith in verse 8 of section 121. It’s not enough to endure it, you must endure it well.  What word is synonymous with “well”?  Patiently.  Verse 32 of section 121 speaks of the end purpose of man as “entering the eternal presence” of God. This is because we are born with a divine heritage.

The first kind of knowledge we get by going through tribulation is the opportunity of being taught by the Holy Ghost. Why? Because we are now in the right frame of mind to be able to receive revelation. There is also a BREAK between verses 32 and 33.  Before the “How long shall rolling waters remain impure,” the letter reads,

But I beg leave to say unto you, brethren, that ignorance, superstition, and bigotry placing itself where it ought not, is oftentimes in the way of the prosperity of the Church; like the torrent of rain from the mountains, that floods the most pure and crystal stream with mire, and dirt, and filthiness, and obscures everything that was clear before, and all rushes along in one general deluge; but time weathers tide; and notwithstanding we are mired in the flood for the time being , the next surge peradventure, as time rolls on, may bring us to the fountain as clear as crystal, and as pure as snow; while the filthiness, floodwood and rubbish is left and purged out of the way.

Do you see that same idea of revelation coming down on the head of the saints?  Because this is what follows tribulation. Trials can bring cloudiness for a while, but if we’ll hold on, the next roll of the stream will cause the murky water it clear up, and all the debris will disappear.  It follows that we get revelation due to humility.

The second kind of knowledge is revelation due to an understanding of the principles of righteousness.  This is what comes between 33 and 34.

What is Boggs for his murderous party, but wimbling willows upon the shore to catch the flood-wood? As well might we argue that water is not water, because the mountain torrents send down mire and roil the crystal stream, although afterwards render it more pure than before; or that fire is not fire, because of its questionable nature, by pouring on the flood; as to say that our cause is down because renegades, liars, priests, thieves and murderers, who are all alike tenacious of their crafts and creeds, have poured down, from their spiritual wickedness in high places, and from their strongholds of the devil, a flood of dirt and mire and filthiness and vomit upon our heads. No! God forbid. Hell may pour forth its red like the burning lava of mount Vesuvius, or of Etna, or of the most terrible of the burning mountains; and yet shall “Mormonism” stand. Water, fire, truth and God are all realities. Truth is “Mormonism.” God is the author of it. He is our shield. It is for Him we received our call to a dispensation of His Gospel in the beginning of the fullness of times. It was by him we received the Book of Mormon; and it is by him that we remain unto this day; and by Him we shall remain, if it shall be for our glory; and in His Almighty name we are determined to endure tribulation as good soldiers unto the end.

What lesson do we draw from all this talk of enduring floods and burning lava?Trial will purify you and strengthen you. The next paragraph from the original letter describes just how strong you will become after passing through such trials.

But brethren, we continue to offer further reflections. . . You will learn. . . that walls and irons, doors and creaking hinges, and half-scared-to-death guards and jailers, grinning like some damned spirits, lest an innocent man should make his escape to bring to light the damnable deeds of a murderous mob, are calculated in their very nature to make the soul of an honest man feel stronger than the powers of hell.

What’s the second thing you learn in tribulation and trial?  You learn you are stronger than all the powers of hell.  Joseph Smith later said, “If I were sunk in the lowest pit in Nova Scotia, I would hang on (endure) and come out on top.” (History of the Church 6:485) He had learned that trials teach you what you are made of. They reveal how much inner strength you really have.

What’s the third thing you learn from trial?  Doctrine and Covenants 122:5-7 teaches us that although we may be torn from our children, cast into the pit, or even have “the billowing surge” conspire against us, we learn that nothing can happen to us that God can’t make good.  And if that doesn’t increase your faith in God, I don’t know what does.  Even if the “very jaws of hell”  gape open to receive us, all these things shall give us experience and shall be for our good. Everything—every trial, every experience, by Satan’s machinations, or by the forces of nature, God will make good for us.

This lesson has been taught in many other places in the scriptures. Paul taught that, “All things work together for good to them who love God.” (Romans 8:28) Jacob taught that God will “consecrate” all our afflictions for our gain. (2 Nephi 2:2)

The fourth thing we can learn is that these trials will give us is a greater compassion and understanding of other people.  From Orson F. Whitney we read the following:

When we want counsel and comfort, we do not go to children, nor to those who know nothing but pleasure and self-gratification. We go to men and women of thought and sympathy, men and women who have suffered themselves and can give us the comfort that we need. Is not this God’s purpose in causing his children to suffer? He wants them to become more like himself. God has suffered far more than man ever did or ever will, and is therefore the great source of sympathy and consolation. . . .There is always a blessing in sorrow and humiliation. They who escape these things are not the fortunate ones. ‘Whom God loveth he chasteneth.’… Flowers shed most of their perfume when they are crushed. Men and women have to suffer just so much in order to bring out the best that is in them (Elder Orson F. Whitney, “A Lesson from the Book of Job,” Improvement Era, Nov. 1918, 7).

To sum up the lessons learned in Liberty Jail, I would like to share some thoughts from Elder Neal A Maxwell:

Spiritual refinement is not only to make the gross more pure but to further refine the already fine. . . One’s life, therefore, cannot be both faith-filled and stress-free. Hence, said Peter, we should not think a “fiery trial” to be “some strange thing.” (1 Pet. 4:12.) Therefore, how can you and I really expect to glide naively through life, as if to say, “Lord, give me experience, but not grief, not sorrow, not pain, not opposition, not betrayal, and certainly not to be forsaken. Keep from me, Lord, all those experiences which made Thee what Thou art! Then let me come and dwell with Thee and fully share Thy joy!”

(“Lest Ye Be Wearied and Faint in Your Minds,” Ensign, May 1991)

My hope is that we may we learn these lessons from Liberty, both on how to deal with suffering ourselves, and how to help others when they are going through trials. May we realize that when we are raging inside and feel forgotten by heaven, we need to stop and take a breath. We have to calm down, and let go of our malice, and have some hope, and then the Lord can speak to us. We cannot receive his counsel until we have a contrite spirit. Trials make us humble, and only then can we be taught by the Holy Ghost. We can be a calming influence on those who are struggling just by offering tokens of friendship and a kind word. We can do for them what Emma’s letter did for Joseph. We need to realize that these trials won’t last forever, that they are only for “a small moment.” The Lord knows that if we endure trials with patience, we will gain a great strength that can be gained in no other way. We can learn that if the Lord doesn’t take our trials away, he has prepared us with the strength to be able to endure them. All these things will work together for our good. They will give us experience, and greater compassion for others who are going through suffering.

President Nelson’s Last Talk Still Lives in Me

President Nelson’s last conference talk, “Confidence in the Presence of God,” prompted some self-reflection I didn’t expect. At first, I was unsure of his meaning. Was President Nelson encouraging me to prepare to come into God’s presence with confidence when I die? No. He clarified: “When I speak of having confidence before God, I am referring to having confidence in approaching God right now! I am referring to praying with confidence that Heavenly Father hears us, that He understands our needs better than we do.”

How do we obtain this level of confidence to come into the presence of God, right now? Joseph Smith made the foundational statement: “The first principle of the Gospel [is] to know for a certainty the character of God…. I want you all to know Him, and to be familiar with Him, [to have} a correct idea of his … perfections, and attributes’ and an admiration for ‘the excellency of [His] character”.

When we know more about who God is, we learn to approach Him with greater love, respect, fidelity, honor, and humility. The prophet Alma said: “All things denote there is a God… and do witness that there is a Supreme Creator” (Alma 30:44). We know He is omniscient, all-knowing; He is omnipresent, always aware, and omnipotent, all-powerful. He is more intelligent, more merciful, more talented than all of us put together (Abraham 3:19). In the temple, we watch Him as the Presiding Officer, the Planner, the Organizer, the Sovereign. This is the God President Nelson wants us to have confidence in and to connect with.

Approaching God in prayer begins with His name. “Dear Father in Heaven,” or simply: “Heavenly Father.” We can feel the holiness of His name weekly in the first words of the sacrament prayers, “O God, the Eternal Father.”

After sacredly addressing the heavenly throne, Satan can disrupt and confuse. You know he did this to Joseph Smith. After kneeling and calling upon God, Satan interrupted and put dark, fearful, doubting, evil thoughts into Joseph’s mind, so he could not speak. As thick darkness gathered around him, he felt “doomed to sudden destruction.” Then, at the very moment he was ready to sink into despair and abandon himself to destruction, he exerted all his powers to call upon God (Joseph Smith-History 1:16). That is how fourteen-year-old Joseph Smith overcame evil. He increased the intensity of his prayer—fervently, earnestly, and desperately. Joseph did exactly what the Apostle Paul admonished: “Cast not away therefore your confidence,” (Hebrews 10:35).

If that were the extent of President Nelson’s final message, I could work on knowing God and improving my connection with Him for the rest of my live. But there is more. President Nelson said that when we pray with that understanding and that confidence, God will send angels to be with us and those we love. Are you wondering who these angels could be? He could be referring to pre-mortal or post-mortal spirits or resurrected beings. But I think it is more probable that these angels are living among us who are prompted to help us.

And there is still more. President Nelson gives the reason God sends angels. Angels are sent to help us reach our potential. This is astounding.

I, like most of you, have received a patriarchal blessing, personal revelation to help me reach my potential. Like you, I hold my patriarchal blessing close to my heart. But to understand what I am about to share, you need to know that my blessing emphasizes two concepts: words and teaching.

Because of President Nelson’s talk, I thought about how I have been blessed by earthly angels to reach the potential spoken of in my patriarchal blessing.

Richard and I were living in San Jose, California, in 1969. We had three children under three. I was in the kitchen, cleaning up dinner dishes. Suddenly, in my mind I saw a children’s book. I saw a couple of pages turn. It was an illustrated alphabet book with definitions of gospel words. I walked into Richard’s office where he was preparing his lesson for the next day. I told him what I had seen in my mind. He immediately pushed his lesson aside, got out a notebook, and said: “You are going to write that book. Let’s start making a list of the words.” He could have said, “Well, you just had a baby. You have three little children. Write about that experience in your journal, and in a few years, when things calm down, you can think about writing that book.” But he didn’t. A little over a year later, that book was in print.

One day in 1999, a good friend who was serving as a docent, a museum teacher, in the Church History Museum, said to me, “Why don’t you apply to be a docent in the museum. They are taking applications. So, I did and stayed for twenty years. One of my frequent assignments in the museum was to tell about the translation of the Book of Mormon. Specifically, I liked explaining how Oliver Cowdery handwrote the Book of Mormon two times. The first time as Joseph dictated the words, and a second time so Joseph would have a backup copy to take to E. B. Grandin, the printer.

One day in 2013, I said to Richard, “I want to have an Oliver Cowdery experience and handwrite the Book of Mormon. He could have said, “Why would you want to do that? It seems like a waste of time.” But he encouraged me. And two more books came out of that experience.

In 2022, because of severe osteoporosis, I began breaking vertebrae. I had three surgeries. I was still on painkillers and oxygen when my Relief Society president came to visit. I knew, because my recovery time would be at least a year, that I would be released as a Relief Society teacher. The Relief Society president said, “I talked to the bishop about an impression I had while I was mowing my lawn. The thought was, ‘Ask Marilynne to teach a Book of Mormon class on Zoom.’ The bishop thinks it’s a good idea. I looked at her dazed. How could I ever do it? For over two years, I taught a weekly Book of Mormon class on Zoom.

In 2024, our new Relief Society president said, “I’m sending you an application to be an Institute teacher with BYU-Pathway. You will be teaching on Zoom. Long story short, I am now teaching my fourth term on Zoom. I have taught the gospel to students in Brazil, Venezuela, Nigeria, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Barbados, and Jamaica.

You can see the connections. But this is what I haven’t told you. In every one of these situations in which earthly angels were helping me reach my potential, I had to pray not to cast away my confidence.

When I had three little children under three, writing a book took time I didn’t have. I had never written a book. The learning curve was steep. I wanted to give up. The only thing that kept my confidence was that I had seen the finished book in my mind.

When I was in the three-month training to become a docent in the museum, I found out that I could not use notes to help me tell visitors about the art and history of the Church. I didn’t have the talent to talk without notes. I wanted to give up. It took study, practice, and prayer to continue.

When I started to handwrite the Book of Mormon, I found out that I had carpal tunnel and could not write it, but I could type it. When I started typing, I was slow and made many errors. I corrected them. I wanted it to be accurate, even though no one would ever see it but me. It took me exactly 565 days, which is 500 days longer than it took Joseph Smith to dictate it to Oliver Cowdery. I persevered with confidence because earthly angels were encouraging me.

When my Relief Society president asked me to teach on Zoom, I knew almost nothing about Zoom, let alone how to host a meeting. I didn’t know how to make a PowerPoint presentation. Because of the pain, I prepared my lessons lying down with my laptop on my bent knees. Many, many times I wanted to quit. But prayer sustained me. It also helped immensely that my kind friends and family joined the class each week.

When my new Relief Society president made me aware of the BYU-Pathway opportunity, I had to attend seven weeks of training. I had to learn another computer program, Canvas. It was difficult. And a weekly preparation is demanding and draining. I wanted to quit. But again, confidence in my Father in Heaven is making it possible. It also helps that I was set apart by my stake president with priesthood authority.

President Nelson, in his so-to-speak last lecture, promised that Heavenly Father loves you more than you can comprehend, that He yearns to help you reach your potential, and that he will send angels to help you. With that promise, you and I can approach God’s presence right now and cast not away therefore our confidence.

Come Follow Me Podcast #42: “O God, Where Art Thou?”, Doctrine and Covenants 121-123

Scot

So, here’s a question: In the midst of all the challenges, trials, privations and difficulties the Saints experienced in Missouri, how is it that when the Church really needed the leadership of the Prophet Joseph, God allowed him to be put in an obscure and remote Jail, ironically called Liberty? Why would God do that? This is the Kingdom of God on the earth. Isn’t the God of the Universe watching out for His chosen Prophet? Let’s explore that question today.

Maurine

Hello dear listeners and welcome to Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me Podcast. This is Scot and Maurine Proctor and we’re delighted to be with you again. We are going to be talking about Liberty Jail today, and it is a place we go every year, so we know the things that happened here really well. Before we get started, I want to remind you that our Come Follow Me Old Testament calendar is now available, and it is gorgeous. It is the perfect Christmas gift for everybody on your list because it not only helps people keep track of the Come Follow Me lesson assignments, but it is like hanging an Old Testament photograph on your wall that changes with the season. Through this calendar and Scot’s stunning photography, you are invited into the ancient world of the Old Testament. Give them to your friends, your neighbors, your family members. This is an easy and meaningful way to quickly purchase some of the difficult Christmas gifts that you have to give. See the calendar at latterdaysaintmag.com/2026. That’s latterdaysaintmag.com/2026 You’ll be glad you took a look.

Scot
Let’s go back now to the horrific scenes as Joseph and his brethren were being taken from Far West. Intimidated by Alexander Doniphan’s stand, General Samuel Lucas made plans to take the Church leaders 35 miles to the south to Richmond for trial.

Maurine
Joseph and the other leaders were taken to that horrible jail at Richmond for an agonizing preliminary hearing on charges growing out of the armed hostilities. The prisoners submitted a list of defense witnesses, but these were systematically jailed or driven from the county.

Parley Pratt described conditions in the jail as they awaited their trial: “Our ears and hearts had been pained, while we had listened for hours to the obscene jests, the horrid oaths . . . and filthy language of our guards . . . as they recounted to each other their deeds of rapine, murder, robbery, etc., which they had committed among the ‘Mormons’ . . . They even boasted . . . of shooting or dashing out the brains of men, women and children.

Scot

“I had listened till I became so disgusted, shocked, horrified, and so filled with the spirit of indignant justice, that I could scarcely refrain from rising,” when “on a sudden he arose to his feet, and spoke in a voice of thunder, or as the roaring lion, uttering…the following words:

“SILENCE, ye fiends of the infernal pit. In the name of Jesus Christ I rebuke you, and command you to be still; I will not live another minute and bear such language. Cease such talk, or you or I die THIS INSTANT!”

He ceased to speak. He stood erect in terrible majesty. Chained, and without a weapon; calm, unruffled and dignified as an angel, he looked upon the quailing guards, whose weapons were lowered or dropped to the ground; whose knees smote together, and who, shrinking into a corner, or crouching at his feet, begged his pardon, and remained quiet till a change of guards.

Maurine
Parley described Joseph in that moment:

“I have seen the ministers of justice, clothed in magisterial robes, and criminals arraigned before them, while life was suspended on a breath, in the Courts of England; I have witnessed a Congress in solemn session to give laws to nations; I have tried to conceive of kings, of royal courts, of thrones and crowns; and of emperors assembled to decide the fate of kingdoms; but dignity and majesty have I seen but once, as it stood in chains, at midnight, in a dungeon in an obscure village of Missouri.” (Pratt, Parley P. Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, Revised and Enhanced Edition, Edited by Scot Facer Proctor and Maurine Jensen Proctor, Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, 2000, p. 263)

Six leaders of the Church were taken on to Independence, while some, including Parley P. Pratt, Porter Rockwell and others were left in Richmond.

Scot
Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Alexander McCrae, Caleb Baldwin and Lyman Wight, all falsely accused, were cast into a two-story, twenty-two-foot-square stone dungeon with the ironic name of Liberty. For the next four long winter months, the Prophet and his friends suffered from bitter cold, unfit food, filthy conditions, and smoke inhalation. On the lower level of the jail, they could not stand fully upright. But worst of all for the Prophet was his inability to comfort the Saints and his family, who were barely surviving in Far West and whose faith was being sorely tried. Reports of the Saints from the outside were grim.

The conditions in the Liberty jail were extremely poor. At least once the brethren were given food that was said to be human flesh, or “Mormon beef.” They refused to eat it. While Hyrum was in the jail, his wife, Mary Fielding Smith, gave birth to a son and with the help of Phoebe Ann Morton Angell, who washed and dressed the baby and had attended to Mary in the birth, was allowed to bring him there to be blessed. With tenderness, Hyrum named his son after his prisoner-brother: Joseph Fielding Smith. This little baby, born in affliction and conflict, would become the sixth president of the Church and preside over it for seventeen years.

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It seemed there was no movement on the outside to get the brethren released from prison.

Elders Neal A. Maxwell, B.H. Roberts and Jeffrey R. Holland as well as Dr. Truman G. Madsen taught that this time in Liberty Jail for the Prophet Joseph was “a prison temple.”

“The “prison temple” involved a time of obscurity, adversity, irony, and testimony,” said Elder Maxwell.

“The ironies in Liberty Jail are many. Though deprived of his constitutional rights, Joseph Smith therein praised the glorious U.S. Constitution. Then, after the misery of Missouri, Joseph declared with inspired anticipation:

“I am willing to be sacrificed . . . maintaining the laws & Constitution of the United States if need be, for the general good of mankind. [Andrew F. Ehat and Lyndon W. Cook, comps. and eds., The Words of Joseph Smith (Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1980), p. 320]

“While being grossly abused by some biased political, judicial, and military leaders who wrongly used their powers Joseph received a glorious revelation. A sizable portion of that revelation, D&C 121, contrastingly sets forth the style and substance the Lord wants from his leaders that diverges so sharply from the ways of the world (see D&C 121:34–46).

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“Though Joseph was jailed nearly five months, more than four of these in Liberty Jail, he was told by the tutoring Lord that these things shall be “but for a small moment” (D&C 122:4; see also D&C 121:7). Though Joseph was suffering, the Lord reminded him that he was not suffering as much as Job had (see D&C 121:7–11). Only the Lord can compare crosses, and on that particular occasion he did (D&C 122:8).”

“The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?” (D&C 122:8)”

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“It was also a particularly cold winter. The constant darkness bothered the prisoners’ eyes. Joseph wrote about how his hand actually trembled as he penned his next-to-last letter to Emma (see Writings, p. 409).

“In the midst of this stark obscurity and incessant difficulty, and with twelve-thousand of Joseph’s followers driven from the state of Missouri, the enemies of the Church probably felt that they had destroyed Joseph’s work. Yet in the midst of all this deprivation, affliction, and obscurity, Joseph received the Lord’s stunning assurance that “the ends of the earth shall inquire after thy name” (D&C 122:1).

“How inspired and audacious a prophecy for any religious leader, let alone one on the obscure nineteenth-century American frontier. Meanwhile, Joseph’s contemporary frontier and religious leaders have since become mere footnotes to history. But not Joseph!” (Maxwell, Neal A. Joseph Smith, A Choice Seer, BYU Speeches, March 30, 1986)

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I’ve spent an adult lifetime pondering about Joseph’s time in the Liberty Jail. What did he think about? What did he and Hyrum talk about? What plans were they making? There was no one on earth who knew the Book of Mormon as well as Joseph and I have no question that the story of Alma and Amulek’s imprisonment at Ammonihah at least passed through their minds. Do you not suppose that it was at least possible that Joseph and Hyrum, in like manner, talked about the use of priesthood power to bring down this frontier jail. The outer walls were two-feet thick of stone, then the inner walls were one-foot of solid oak timbers. There was a one-foot space between those two walls that was then filled with loose rocks. The ceiling was also filled with loose rocks making this jail practically impossible to escape from. But this was no match for priesthood power. And yet, the Lord had great lessons to teach these, His humble sons.

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Nevertheless, knowing that they were innocent men of all charges, they were constantly trying to figure out ways to escape this jail.  We learn from Alexander McRae’s writings of one such attempt to escape:

“On the 7th day of February, 1839, after counseling together on the subject, we concluded to try to go that evening when the jailor came with our supper. But before deciding fully, and to make it more sure, Brother Hyrum asked Brother Joseph to inquire of the Lord as to the propriety of the move.

“He did so, and received answer to this effect—that if we were all agreed, we could go clear that evening; and if we would ask, we should have a testimony for ourselves.

[Now, listen closely to what Alexander recorded] “I immediately asked, and had no more than asked until I received as clear a testimony as ever I did of anything in my life that it was true. Brother Hyrum Smith and Caleb Baldwin bore testimony to the same. But Lyman Wight said we might go if we chose, but he would not. [Remember, Sidney Rigdon had been released from the jail earlier, due to extreme illness]

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“After talking with [Lyman] for some time, he said if we would wait until the next day, he would go with us.

“Without thinking we had no promise of success on any other day than the one above stated, we agreed to wait.

“When night came [that day], the jailor came alone with our supper, threw the door wide open, put our supper on the table, and went to the back part of the room where a pile of books lay, took up a book and went to reading, leaving us between him and the door, thereby giving us every chance to go if we had been ready. As the next day was agreed upon, we made no attempt to go that evening.

“When the next evening came, the case was very different. The jailor brought a double guard with him, and with them six of our brethren, to wit, Erastus Snow, William D. Huntington, Cyrus Daniels, David Holeman, Alanson Ripley and Watson Barlow. I was afterwards informed that they were sent by the Church. The jailor seemed to be badly scared. He had the door locked and everything made secure. It looked like a bad chance to get away, but we were determined to try it. So, when the jailor started out, we started too. Brother Hyrum took hold of the door and the rest followed. But before we were able to render him the assistance he needed, the jailor and guard succeeded in closing the door, shutting the brethren in with us, except Cyrus Daniels, who was on the outside.

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“The scene that followed defies description. I should judge from the number that all the town and many from the country gathered around the jail, and every mode of torture and death that their imagination could fancy was proposed for us. But they were so divided among themselves that they could not carry out any of their plans.” (Alexander McRae, Letter to the Editor, Deseret News, Salt Lake City, Utah, October 9, 1854)

Truman Madsen wrote: “During those cold winter months in Liberty Jail-December through March-Joseph did not have a blanket. He wrote to Emma and pleaded for one. She had to reply that in his absence William McLellin, formerly one of the original Twelve Apostles and now a vicious antagonist, had stolen all the blankets from his house. Several times the jailers administered poison to the prisoners…There were no sanitary facilities except the slop bucket, and there was very little light.

“Joseph was not alone; his brother Hyrum and four other brethren were with him. In some respects that was an added affliction, as he saw their sufferings too. The reports piled up of cruelties inflicted on the Saints-the whippings, the beatings, the rapes, the plundering of homes and farms, and finally the enforced exodus to Illinois in dead of winter, leaving bloody marks in their footprints on the snow. These weighed heavily on the souls and the hearts of these men in prison for conscience’ sake.” (Madsen, Truman G., Joseph Smith the Prophet, Bookcraft, Salt Lake City, 1978, pp 56-57)

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On March 19, 1839, something happened that overwhelmed the Prophet with emotions, almost more than he could take. Joseph received a series of letters, including one from his younger brother, Don Carlos and one from his precious wife Emma.

Don Carlos wrote, in part:

Brethren Hyrum [Smith] and Joseph,

Having an opportunity to send a line to you, I do not feel disposed to let it slip unnoticed. Father’s family have all arrived in this state, except you two, And could I but see your faces, this side of the Mississippi, and know and realize that you had been delivered from your enemies, it would certainly light up a new gleam of hope in our bosoms; nothing could be more satisfactory, nothing could give us more joy.” (Don Carlos Smith, Letter with postscript by William Smith, Quincy, Adams Co., IL, to JS and Hyrum Smith, Liberty, Clay Co., MO, 6 Mar. 1839. Featured version copied [between 29 May and 30 Oct. 1839] in JS Letterbook 2, pp. 38–39; handwriting of James Mulholland; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.)

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And Emma wrote in part:

Dear Husband

“Having an opportunity to send by a friend I make an attempt to write, but I shall not attempt to write my feelings altogether, for the situation in which you are, the walls, bars, and bolts, rolling rivers, running streams, rising hills, sinking vallies and spreading prairies that separate us, and the cruel injustice that first cast you into prison and still holds you there, with many other considerations, places my feelings far beyond description…

“Was it not for conscious innocence, and the direct interposition of divine mercy, I am very sure I never should have been able to have endured the scenes of suffering that I have passed through… No one but God, knows the reflections of my mind and the feelings of my heart when I left our house and home, and allmost all of every thing that we possessed excepting our little Children, and took my journey out of the State of Missouri, leaving you shut up in jail that lonesome prison. But the reflection recollection is more than human nature ought to bear, and if God does not record our sufferings and avenge our wrongs on them that are guilty, I shall be sadly mistaken. (Emma Smith, Letter, Quincy, Adams Co., IL, to JS, Liberty, Clay Co., MO, 7 Mar. [1839]. Featured version copied [between 29 May and 30 Oct. 1839] in JS Letterbook 2, p. 37; handwriting of James Mulholland; JS Collection, CHL. For more complete source information, see the source note for JS Letterbook 2.)

These letters touched a deep place in Joseph’s heart and the very next day he dictated long letters to the Church and his family, the excerpts of which have become Sections 121, 122 and 123 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

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Elder Jeffrey R. Holland teaches us three lessons from the Liberty Jail, although there are many more:

“Well, without trying to determine which of these kinds of experiences in our life are ‘mandatory’ and which are ‘optional’ but still good for us, may I suggest just a very few of the lessons learned at Liberty—those experiences that were ‘school teachers’ to Joseph and can be to us, experiences that contribute so much to our education in mortality and our exaltation in eternity…

“Now then, three lessons from Liberty Jail: May I suggest that the first of these is inherent in what I’ve already said—that everyone, including (and perhaps especially) the righteous, will be called upon to face trying times. When that happens we can sometimes fear God has abandoned us, and we might be left, at least for a time, to wonder when our troubles will ever end. As individuals, as families, as communities, and as nations, probably everyone has had or will have an occasion to feel as Joseph Smith felt when he asked why such sorrow had to come and how long its darkness and damage would remain. We identify with him when he cries from the depth and discouragement of his confinement:

“O God, where art thou? . . .

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“Secondly, we need to realize that just because difficult things happen—sometimes unfair and seemingly unjustified things—it does not mean that we are unrighteous or that we are unworthy of blessings or that God is disappointed in us. Of course sinfulness does bring suffering, and the only answer to that behavior is repentance. But sometimes suffering comes to the righteous, too. You will recall that from the depths of Liberty Jail when Joseph was reminded that he had indeed been “cast . . . into trouble,” had passed through tribulation and been falsely accused, had been torn away from his family and cast into a pit, into the hands of murderers, nevertheless, he was to remember that the same thing had happened to the Savior of the world, and because He was triumphant, so shall we be (see D&C 122:4–7). In giving us this sober reminder of what the Savior went through, the revelation from Liberty Jail records: “The Son of Man hath descended below them all. Art thou greater than he?” (D&C 122:8).

“No. Joseph was not greater than the Savior, and neither are we. And when we promise to follow the Savior, to walk in His footsteps and be His disciples, we are promising to go where that divine path leads us. And the path of salvation has always led one way or another through Gethsemane.

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“Thirdly…may I remind us all that in the midst of these difficult feelings when one could justifiably be angry or reactionary or vengeful, wanting to return an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, the Lord reminds us from the Liberty Jail prison-temple that

“the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only [or “except”] upon the principles of righteousness. [D&C 121:36]

“Therefore, even when we face such distressing circumstances in our life and there is something in us that wants to strike out at God or man or friend or foe, we must remember that ‘no power or influence can or ought to be maintained [except] by persuasion, by long-suffering, by gentleness and meekness, and by love unfeigned; . . . without hypocrisy, and without guile’ (D&C 121:41–42; emphasis added).

“It has always been a wonderful testimony to me of the Prophet Joseph’s greatness and the greatness of all of our prophets, including and especially the Savior of the world in His magnificence, that in the midst of such distress and difficulty they could remain calm and patient, charitable, and forgiving—that they could even talk that way, let alone live that way. But they could, and they did. They remembered their covenants, they disciplined themselves, and they knew that we must live the gospel at all times, not just when it is convenient and not just when things are going well. Indeed, they knew that the real test of our faith and our Christian discipleship is when things are not going smoothly. That is when we get to see what we’re made of and how strong our commitment to the gospel really is.” End of Quote from Elder Holland (Holland, Jeffrey R., Lessons from Liberty Jail, CES Fireside, Brigham Young University, September 7, 2008)

Maurine
Now, do we have our Liberty Jails? Do we have times when we come to that place where all we can do is cry out and plead, “Oh God, where art thou?” Of course, we do! We are God’s covenant children and those in the covenant agreed to be tried and tested. Somewhere in our latent memory banks echoes these words, “And we will prove them herewith, to see if they will do all things whatsoever the Lord their God shall command them. (Abraham 3:25)

We have a very dear friend, Bonnie, whose husband, Ron, was in a hiking accident well more than four years ago where he suffered a traumatic brain injury. He seemed to be recovering for a month, and then he had a severe brain bleed that left him in a coma for many months. When he woke up he couldn’t swallow or talk or move his left side or think clearly or take care of himself in any way. The severe trials for our friends were nearly overwhelming. Because of an accident in a split second of time, Ron deteriorated from a bright author and industry and church leader to someone who had to be constantly helped to be able to survive.

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We know that all of us are faced with various life-stretching and mind-boggling trials in our lives, but don’t you think that Bonnie might be tempted to say, “Oh God, where art thou?” We talk to her every day and we see them many times a week. Blessings have been given. Prayers are constantly offered in their behalf. And yet progress is slow.

Still, she says, “I see miracles every day. Each morning when I wake up, I am so exhausted, I just don’t know how I will go on. I don’t know how I will gather the physical strength to do what I need to do. I can’t fathom just getting up to help all day long. And then I do and the Lord gives me strength all day long. He helps me through. He stands beside me. He sends angels from both sides of the veil to help me. If I were to ask where He is, well, He’s everywhere. And I know that every day.”

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“He is there in finding the right doctor when I need one for a very specific challenge that Ron has. I don’t have to ask where God is. It’s as if He says, “Here am I.”

“He was there in finding just the right specialized vehicle to be able to transport Ron to his numerous appointments and see to his needs. I was paying thousands of dollars a month in transport fees but then this customized vehicle showed up in Missouri and they delivered it to my door. It was as if the Lord was saying, “Here am I.”

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She says, “He was there in having to set up operations that really needed to be done and being delayed only to find out that the delay was the exact perfect timing and led to a much better outcome for Ron. The Lord was saying, “Here am I.”

“He is right here in blessing individually my sons and daughters with increased faith, patience, hope and resilience. And perhaps that’s the most important thing of all. He just says quietly: “Here am I.”

“He is with me every day and I have learned to trust Him absolutely. I even came to the place just the other day where I said in my prayers that I was grateful that He has allowed all this to happen and give me this experience, because it has really shaped and blessed me.”

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We have been astounded as we have observed Bonnie in this trial and we have been witnesses to the fact that God is really there in every detail, in every turn, in every decision. It has been amazing.

When we are pushed to our limits, when we are at the end of our individual ropes. When we can’t go any further and we, too, as the Prophet Joseph cry out, “Oh God, where art thou?” If we stand still and pay attention and listen, we will hear the still small voice saying gently: Here am I.

Now, we have to end this podcast with a story of faith and super faith, one of our very favorite stories in Church History. We tell it every year in the very spot where it happened and it never ceases to move us to the core of our beings.

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In July 1838, while the Latter-day Saints were still living in Far West, Missouri, Joseph Smith had received a revelation that the Quorum of the Twelve were to be called on a mission to England, and the instructions were very specific:

“Let them take leave of my saints in the city of Far West on the twenty-sixth day of April next” (D&C 118:5). When this revelation was received, the Saints were living happily in Far West and did not know the thunderous storm clouds that lay on the horizon. By April 1839, the blackest, and most hateful Missouri persecutions had intervened. The people at Haun’s Mill had been massacred, while their children were at play; Joseph Smith and other key leaders had been falsely imprisoned in Liberty Jail; and Governor Boggs had issued the Extermination Order, making it legal for anyone to kill a Mormon in Missouri.

The people in Far West had been driven by gunpoint from their homes, their flocks scattered, their crops burned and some of their women ravished in brutal scenes that defy the imagination.

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By the 20th of April 1839, the last of the Saints had left, fleeing Far West at gunpoint, with the threat of death upon them should they not remove themselves immediately. The Twelve had long since left Missouri and were gathered on the eastern shore of the Mississippi River.  What did this mean for the fulfillment of this revelation? It would seem, of course, impossible and irrational to even attempt. It was unusual for a revelation to specify a definite date and a particular place, but this one did.

Joseph Smith and his fellow prisoners, as you know, had spent the winter in the dank Liberty jail, and in Missouri, some were boasting that if the Twelve returned to fulfill this commandment, they would be murdered. Wilford Woodruff said, “It was with the greatest difficulty that many of them, especially the prominent ones, got out of Missouri, for at that time many people of that state acted as though they thought it no more harm to shoot a Mormon than to shoot a mad dog.”

The mobsters boasted that the revelation calling the Twelve to England could never be fulfilled, and thus Joseph was no prophet. On April 5, 21 days before the Twelve were to leave from the corner of the Far West Temple site, eight men, including the county judge, burst into the office of the Committee on Removal, and gave Latter-day Saint Theodore Turley, who had been left behind to settle affairs, the paper containing Joseph Smith’s revelation and asked him to read it. Turley said, “Gentlemen, I am well acquainted with it,” They said, “Then you, as a rational man, will give up Joseph Smith’s being a prophet and an inspired man? He and the Twelve are now scattered all over creation; let them come here if they dare; if they do, they will be murdered. As that revelation cannot be fulfilled, you will now give up your faith.”

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Turley jumped up and said, “In the name of God that revelation will be fulfilled.” Yet, even some members of the Church had doubts about it. They thought, surely the Lord would not expect this, given the dangerous conditions in Missouri. The Lord would surely accept their work no matter what date and what place they left from. Those of the Twelve who were in the vicinity of Quincy, Illinois had the proposition placed before them. Would they be willing to go back to the temple site in Far West as the official starting place of their missions? Brigham Young had no question what their course should be, but some wondered. Surely, they suggested the Lord would take into account the murderous conditions in Missouri and not expect so much. Richard L. Evans called this, “a weak argument for weak men, which phrase is not descriptive of any member of the Twelve.” When the proposition was placed before them, they were in favor, to a man, of fulfilling the revelation and trusting in the Lord to deliver them.

They traveled back across Missouri behind enemy lines, alert for sounds, wary of strangers, putting their lives at risk. Ironically, in a scene I cannot wait to see played back in the next world, Joseph and Hyrum and their companions had escaped the Liberty Jail just days before and it took them nine days to get to Illinois. In the guise of night, they were heading east and in that same cover of darkness, the apostles were heading west. It is possible they passed each other in the night—but neither was aware of the other—although I have my suspicions that Joseph surely knew the Twelve would fulfill the prophecy.

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While it was yet dark on the morning of April 26, Brigham Young Heber C. Kimball, Orson Pratt, John Taylor and others met at the temple lot in Far West for a short service to begin their missions. Wilford Woodruff and George A. Smith were ordained apostles, making seven, or a majority, present. They prayed in the order of their standing in the Quorum, a song was sung, and a stone was rolled into place at the southeast corner of the Temple. All was done boldly, but quietly.

“As the Saints were passing away from the meeting, Brother Turley said to Elders Page and Woodruff: ‘Stop a bit, while I bid Isaac Russell (who had apostisized) good-bye;’ and knocking at the door, called to Brother Russell. His wife answered: ‘Come in, it is Brother Turley.’ Russell replied: ‘It is not; he left here two weeks ago;’ and appeared quite alarmed; but on finding it was Brother Turley, asked him to sit down; but the latter replied: ‘I cannot, I shall lose my company.’ ‘Who is your company?’ inquired Russell. “The Twelve.’ ‘The Twelve!’ ‘Yes, don’t you know that this is the 26th, and the day the Twelve were to take leave of their friends on the foundation of the Lord’s house, to go to the islands of the sea? The revelation is now fulfilled, and I am going with them.’ Russell was speechless, and Turley bid him farewell.”

The Lord’s word was vindicated. The prophecy was fulfilled.

(References: Evans, Richard L. Century of Mormonism in Great Britain, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1937. History of the Church, Vol. III, pp. 339-340. Smith, Lucy Mack. Proctor, Scot Facer and Proctor Maurine Jensen, eds. The Revised and Enhanced History of Joseph Smith by His Mother (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1996).

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Each time we go to that southeast corner of the Far West temple site, I can feel that Spirit that emanated through the apostles to take their lives in their hands and return to fulfill Joseph’s prophecy. This is faith and super faith and the legacy the Twelve left for us is priceless.

That’s all for today. Thanks for being with us. We truly love studying with you. Don’t forget we are offering The Kirtland Diary now for pre-sale, this beautiful diary for thoughts and personal revelation, at latterdaysaintmag.com/Kirtland that’s latterdaysaintmag.com/Kirtland. Next week we will be studying section 124 of the Doctrine and Covenants with a lesson entitled “A House Unto My Name.” Thanks to Paul Cardall for the beautiful music that accompanies this podcast and for our daughter, Michaela Proctor Hutchins who produces this show. Blessings to you and see you next time.

Why There is No Room for Middle Ground Concerning the Book of Mormon

In memory of Tad R. Callister (1945-2025), beloved leader, author, and teacher whose faith and insights reflected his deep love for the Savior. He served for over a decade as a General Authority Seventy and Sunday School General President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We loved the articles he shared with Meridian, and know that his inspired words will continue to draw hearts to Jesus Christ.

God or the Devil?

Years ago, my great-great-grandfather Willard Richards picked up a copy of the Book of Mormon for the first time. He opened it to the center and read a few pages. He then said, “That book was either written by God or the devil, and I am going to find out who wrote it.” He read it through twice in the next ten days and then declared: “The devil could not have written it – it must be from God.”[i]

To the contrary, some have argued that the Book of Mormon is not an either/or proposition – either the work of God on one hand or the work of the devil on the other – that somehow there exists room for middle ground and hence the reference to the Book of Mormon as “inspired fiction.” To me, however, such a proposition is logically impossible under the given circumstances, or as C.S. Lewis might say, “nonsense.”

Either the angel Moroni appeared to Joseph Smith as claimed, or he did not. Either there exist gold plates containing the actual history of the Nephite civilization, or such a representation is a total fraud. Either Nephi, Alma, and Mormon were real historic figures – prophets of God as testified by Joseph, or it is all a lie. Either Christ appeared to the Nephites and ministered to them, as corroborated by all our prophets, or such an event is a fabrication. Where is the middle ground on these issues? Are we to somehow believe that God “inspired” Joseph Smith and subsequent prophets to lie about the reality of Moroni, the gold plates, the appearance of the Savior, the existence of ancient prophets, and the entire history of the Nephite civilization, yet somehow the work is still divinely directed?

One might as well claim that there is a middle ground on issues such as whether or not God exists, or whether or not there is life after death, or whether or not Christ was the literal Son of God. Some issues don’t leave room for middle ground, and the inspired nature of the Book of Mormon is one of them. Once Joseph crossed the line and said the angel was real, the plates were real, and the history and doctrine were real, then all middle territory vanished. And that I believe, is exactly how God wants it to be – no lukewarm believers (see Revelation 3:15-16). Like the premortal existence, there are to be no fence sitters on this issue.

C.S. Lewis addressed a similar proposition with regard to the divinity of the Savior: “I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish things that people often say about Him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept His claim to be God.’ [In other words, the claim by some that there is middle ground on the issue of whether or not He is a God]. That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. . . You must make your choice. Either this man was and is the Son of God, or else a madman or something worse. . . But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”[ii]

Likewise, how can one say that the Book of Mormon is a fine moral treatise on one hand and yet at the same time believe there were no golden plates, no angel Moroni, no Nephite prophets, and no visit of Christ to America, all as represented by Joseph to be true. That would be a fraud, and a fraud does not produce a final moral treatise.

Evidences of the Divine Nature of the Book of Mormon

If the Book of Mormon is the work of God, then what witnesses do we have to that effect? Fortunately, we have many witnesses, both intellectual and spiritual. There exist multiple Bible prophecies of its coming forth.[iii] There are about 200 statements from the 11 witnesses, men of honor, who repeatedly confirmed their testimony of its truthfulness even under conditions threatening their lives or questioning their integrity. But they never folded, never recanted, whatever the pressures may have been. In addition, time is on the side of the Book of Mormon as additional archaeological evidences are unearthed, such as the discovery of ancient metal plates, cement, and domesticated barley, all of which the critics claimed were anachronisms in the Book of Mormon, until they were later discovered to exist in Book of Mormon times. Likewise we have the divine eloquence of the Book of Mormon – one masterful quote after another – scores of them – such as “men are, that they might have joy” (2 Nephi 2:25) or “when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only in the service of your God” (Mosiah 2:17). Most of us would be pleased in a lifetime to have two or three memorable quotes that would be savored by family and friends. The burning question then becomes: How did Joseph Smith at age 23 produce this litany of memorable phrases and sage counsel? The answer – he didn’t. They were revealed by God.

But one of the most compelling witnesses to me is the incredible, staggering doctrine found in the Book of Mormon, particularly with regard to the Savior’s Atonement. It is in this book that we learn of the infinite nature of such Atonement—its retroactive as well as prospective powers, the incomprehensible depths of Christ’s suffering, and of His ability to not only cleanse us but also perfect us. There are over 25 doctrines that I have counted for which the Book of Mormon clarifies or gives us additional insights to those found in the Bible. It is a goldmine of doctrinal truths—many of which were contrary to the teachings of the then-existing Christian world or simply unknown to it. Are we now to believe that Joseph Smith, on the edge of the frontier, newly married and trying to eke out a living, just dictated these thought-provoking doctrines off the top of his head? Hardly!

There is no credible historical dispute that Joseph Smith dictated the Book of Mormon, over 500 pages in length, without any notes over a period of about 65 working days. There was but one draft with minor corrections – mostly grammatical. When I finished my book entitled A Case for the Book of Mormon, my secretary asked me, “Do you know how many drafts you had?” I replied, “No.” She answered, “Seventy-two.” It took me several years and 72 drafts to write a book less than half the size of the Book of Mormon, and much less meaningful. And people want to tell me that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon without any notes in approximately 65 working days. It reminds me of the observation made by Hank Smith: “A man with an experience is never at the mercy of a man with an opinion.”[iv] And my experience, both intellectually and spiritually, clearly tells me that Joseph Smith did not write the Book of Mormon but rather was an instrument in the hands of God to translate it.

The Certain Test to Determine Its Truthfulness

Some years ago, a friend of mine left the Church. Among other things, he could not accept the Book of Mormon as true. Once you leave this Church, however, it ruins you for any other church because you know too much. And so it was the case for my friend. Unable to find the “true” church for which he was seeking, he reinvestigated our Church with an open mind. He said, “One day, while reading the Book of Mormon. . . I paused and knelt down and gave a heartfelt prayer and felt resoundingly that Heavenly Father whispered to my spirit that the Church and the Book of Mormon were definitely true.” He then added this profound insight, “Initially, I wanted the Book of Mormon to be proven to me historically, geographically, linguistically, and culturally. But when I changed my focus to what it teaches about the gospel of Jesus Christ and His saving mission, I began to gain a testimony of its truthfulness.” At the time he made this observation, he was serving as the Elders Quorum President in his ward.

While every aspect of the Book of Mormon bears witness to its divine origin—culturally, linguistically, archaeologically, and doctrinally — there is no greater witness than the spirit. Any honest seeker who applies the promise of Moroni (see Moroni 10:4-5) will discover the truthfulness of this book by the power of the Holy Ghost and realize that there is no middle ground on this issue. It is as God Himself declared, “as your Lord and your God liveth it [the Book of Mormon] is true” (DC 17:6). And so it is – from beginning to end.

---

[i] LeGrand Richards, Marvelous Work and a Wonder, 79.

[ii] Lewis, Mere Christianity, 40-41

[iii] See Genesis 49:22-26; Deuteronomy 33:13-17; Psalm 85:11; Isaiah 29:1-18; Ezekial 37:15-17; John 10:16, and Revelation 14:6-7.

[iv] Excerpt from various talks given by Hank Smith and confirmed to the writer in an email dated Sept. 1, 2017.

Cover image via Scripture Central. 

Come Follow Me Podcast #41–Far West: A Trial by Fire, Doctrine and Covenants Section 115-120

Scot

I stand in Far West, a rather obscure place in northern Missouri, and as far as I can see, where once there was a bustling community of Latter-day Saints with homes, shops and a school, there are only empty fields. What happened to the people who once were here and why is only silence left behind? How could it possibly be that a sitting governor could order an extermination order on a group of people? Here in America? Unthinkable. It’s a human, heart-breaking story that gives us context for today’s lesson.

Maurine

Hello and welcome to Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me podcast where today we are studying Doctrine and Covenants Sections 115-120 and the story of the Latter-day Saints who were warred upon in Far West. Before we launch in, Meridian’s 2026 Come Follow Me calendars on the Old Testament have just arrived and now is the time to get them for your home and for your friends for Christmas. Some people have bought as many as 45 Come Follow Me calendars—because they are the perfect gift for your Latter-day Saint friends and neighbors—those you serve with, minister to, your children who have their own families. Scot’s stunning photography of the Old Testament sites immerses you into this ancient world and week-by-week Come Follow Me assignments are featured. The places of the Old Testament are right there on the wall to inspire you. Someone just wrote, “I’m excited about this calendar. It’s so beautiful and genuinely makes me want to dig into the Old Testament.” Learn more about it at latterdaysaintmag.com/2026. That’s latterdaysaintmag.com/2026

Scot

When the Latter-day Saints were driven from Independence, Missouri at the end of 1833, they found temporary shelter in Clay County. “Though the citizens of Clay County were at first hospitable and kind to the Saints, it was not long before they began to feel that these spiritual refugees needed to find homes and work elsewhere. Citizens met in Clay, Ray, Clinton, and other counties, plotting to deprive the Saints of their rights and drive them from the counties.

“Finally, Alexander Doniphan, a state legislator and loyal friend to the Saints, introduced a bill for the creation of two small counties in the northern part of large Ray County, one to be a home for the Mormons. A buffer some six miles between the counties was created where no one would be allowed to settle. After being homeless for nearly three years, the Saints flowed into Caldwell and also Daviess counties by the thousands, seeking refuge and strength in the security of their numbers.

Maurine

“W. W. Phelps and John Whitmer located a site for a city in the northern prairie of Ray County, naming it Far West. Using money that had been collected from branches of the Church for ‘bleeding Zion,’ they purchased land for a town site.

“The Lord told Joseph in Far West [in Section 115] ‘that the gathering together upon the land of Zion, and upon her stakes, may be for a defense, and for a refuge from the storm, and from wrath. . . . Let the city, Far West, be a holy and consecrated land unto me. . . . It is my will that the city . . . should be built up speedily by the gathering of my saints.’ (D&C 115:6-7, 17.)

Scot

“The plat for the city of Far West was a pattern for Zion, given to the Saints by the Prophet Joseph Smith. It was laid out with one square mile of land, with streets aligned to the compass, running north and south, east and west, and forming 3.6-acre blocks. A temple would be built in the center of the city, and all the locations in the town would be measured by their distance away from this central block.

“What had once been a lonely prairie, where the winds blew through the grasses, became almost overnight a bustling community. As persecutions increased in Ohio, Kirtland Saints streamed in. Homeless Missouri Saints came looking for stability, and in March 1838, Joseph and six-months-pregnant Emma joined the members thronging to Far West.

“’Joseph’s presence was a solace and a sustaining power to the Saints. He animated them by the courage of his presence and taught them patience by his own tenacity and endurance,’ said George Q. Cannon. ‘He was not there as a warrior; he did not bear arms; and yet he was a tower of strength to his people.’

Maurine

“This was a time for the Saints, with unflinching spirit, to begin again, plowing fields and laying cornerstones, establishing other settlements at Haun’s Mill and DeWitt.

“Caldwell County in 1836 was a wilderness. By the spring of 1838 the population was more than 5,000 of which more than 4,900 were Latter-day Saints with the greater concentration at Far West which by this time had 150 houses, four dry goods stores, three family groceries, half-a-dozen blacksmith shops, a printing establishment and two hotels. A large and comfortable schoolhouse had been built in 1836 and served also as a church and courthouse.

Scot

“Having lost the temple in Kirtland, Joseph had uppermost in his mind the goal of building another temple. Upon the Lord’s command, cornerstones were laid July 4, 1838, with great fanfare and hope.” (Scot Facer Proctor, Maurine Jensen Proctor, Witness of the Light, A Photographic Journey in the Footsteps of the American Prophet, Joseph Smith, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book).

“During the few untroubled days at Far West, important revelations were given to the young Church. The law of tithing was reintroduced from the ancient times, which was a giving of one-tenth of one’s increase (income) annually to the Lord.

Maurine

Anciently the Lord had said, Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say: Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings…Prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of Hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it” (3 Ne. 24:8,10).

We’ve heard this often, and Elder Bednar, gives us a unique view. “The imagery of the ‘windows’ of heaven used by Malachi is most instructive. Windows allow natural light to enter into a building. In like manner, spiritual illumination and perspective are poured out through the windows of heaven and into our lives as we honor the law of tithing.”

Scot

The blessings, Elder Bednar notes are often subtle, but significant. “We may need and pray for help to find suitable employment. Eyes and ears of faith (see Ether 12:19) are needed, however, to recognize the spiritual gift of enhanced discernment that can empower us to identify job opportunities that many other people might overlook—or the blessing of greater personal determination to search harder and longer for a position than other people may be able or willing to do. We might want and expect a job offer, but the blessing that comes to us through heavenly windows may be greater capacity to act and change our own circumstances rather than expecting our circumstances to be changed by someone or something else.

Maurine

“We may appropriately desire and work to receive a pay raise in our employment to better provide the necessities of life. Eyes and ears of faith are required, however, to notice in us an increased spiritual and temporal capacity (see Luke 2:52) to do more with less, a keener ability to prioritize and simplify, and an enhanced ability to take proper care of the material possessions we already have acquired. We might want and expect a larger paycheck, but the blessing that comes to us through heavenly windows may be greater capacity to change our own circumstances rather than expecting our circumstances to be changed by someone or something else.” (David A. Bednar, Windows of Heaven, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2013/10/the-windows-of-heaven?lang=eng

Scot

We pay our tithing sometimes from scanty means, not because we are expecting a check to compensate us for our offering, but because it is our way of expressing that we are God’s people and He is our God. It is our privilege to pay tithing, and the detailed discipline and revelation that follows is priceless. We can be assured, that at least in this commandment, we can do it with exactness. It is a foundational security. We are giving to the Lord, what is already His, since He is the creator of the whole earth and everything in it.

Elder Ronald E. Poelman said, “May tithing be regarded as a sacrifice? Yes, particularly if we understand the meaning of the two Latin words from which the English word sacrifice is derived. These two words, sacer and facere, taken together mean ‘to make sacred.’ That which we return to the Lord as tithing is indeed made sacred, and the obedient are edified.

“Much earlier, the Lord emphasized the sacredness of tithing to Moses in these words, recorded in the book of Leviticus: “And all the tithe of the land … is the Lord’s: it is holy unto the Lord” (Lev. 27:30).

Maurine

Once in a while, the subtle blessings of paying tithing do become obvious. Elder Poelman said, “As a young married couple, my wife and I were expecting the birth of our first child. I was studying law at the university and working nights in a gasoline station. We had very little money. We had furnished our small basement apartment with some used furniture and many wooden boxes.

“As the time of the birth approached, we had assembled everything we would need, except we had no bed for the baby and no money to buy one.

“It was our practice at that time to pay our tithing each month on fast Sunday. As that day approached, we discussed the possibility of postponing the paying of our tithing so that we could make an initial payment on a baby bed. In the spirit of the fast, and after praying, we decided to pay the tithing and trust our Heavenly Father.

Scot

“A few days later, I was walking in the business district of the city and unexpectedly met my former mission president, who asked if I was in school or working at a job. I replied that I was doing both.

“Was I married? ‘Yes!’

“’Did we have children? ‘No, but our first child will be born in just a few weeks.’

Maurine

“’Do you have a bed for the baby?” he asked. “’No,’” I replied reluctantly, startled by the direct question.

“’Well,’” he said, “’I am now in the furniture business, and it would please me to have a baby bed delivered to your apartment as a gift.’”

“A great feeling of relief, gratitude, and testimony came over me.

“The gift filled a temporal need but is still a poignant reminder of the spiritual experience that accompanied it, confirming again that the law of tithing is a commandment with a promise.” (Ronald E. Poelman, Tithing: A Privlege, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/1998/04/tithing-a-privilege?lang=eng)

Scot

In the early decades of the Church, leaders continued to affirm that tithing was a commandment and obligation. In 1882, tithing payment became a requirement for temple attendance. Finally, in May of 1899, Lorenzo Snow, the fifth president of the Church was worried about the debt and steep financial obligations of the Church. He prayed and did not receive an immediate answer but he did receive a prompting that he should visit the towns in southern Utah where there had been a terrible drought as it hadn’t rained in months. As he traveled south, President Snow saw the thirsty plants and animals, the arid ground that could not grow the crops necessary to feed the people.

Maurine

Then at a stake conference in St. George, Utah, he paused as he spoke. “The room was still as everyone waited for him to speak. When he started talking again, his voice was strong, and the people could tell that he was speaking under the inspiration of the Lord. He said, ‘The word of the Lord is: The time has now come for every Latter-day Saint … to do the will of the Lord and to pay his tithing in full. That is the word of the Lord to you, and it will be the word of the Lord to every settlement throughout the land of Zion’. (quoted in LeRoi C. Snow, “The Lord’s Way Out of Bondage,” p. 439) He told the Saints that the Lord was displeased with them because they had not been paying their tithing and he promised them that if they paid their tithing, rain would begin to fall and their crops would grow.

Scot

As he traveled back to Salt Lake City, he stopped at many settlements to preach the law of tithing. He told the Church: “The poorest of the poor can pay tithing; the Lord requires it at our hands. … Everybody should pay tithing. … The law shall be observed. … And we shall pay our debts. … God bless you” (quoted in Carter E. Grant, The Kingdom of God Restored, p. 546).

The part of this story that we don’t usually hear is that it rained as the Lord promised—but it didn’t come for two months! It is not as if the rain began gushing and the rows filled with water as people turned in their first tithes. They had to act on great faith and we may find this in our lives. Blessings, even vital ones, may not come in our time or in our way, but we can trust if we obey the law, the windows of heaven will be opened to us. The strict adherence to this sacred law, first given in Far West in this dispensation would later free the debt-laden Church from all encumbrances of the world, but Joseph would not live to see that day.

Maurine

Another vital revelation given in Far West was the official name of the Church.

“For thus shall my church be called in the last days, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.” (D&C 115:4.) At the time of the ministry of the Savior upon the earth, too, his church was called after his name, with members referred to as “Saints.”

Who names something defines it. And the Lord did. It is not inconsequential that over the years we slid into calling ourselves Mormons, a name that enemies of the Church had once given us derisively. When President Russell M. Nelson announced a course correction for the Church, he said, “I did this because the Lord impressed upon my mind the importance of the name He decreed for His Church, even The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”

Scot

He said, “As you would expect, responses to this statement and to the revised style guide have been mixed. Many members immediately corrected the name of the Church on their blogs and social media pages. Others wondered why, with all that’s going on in the world, it was necessary to emphasize something so ‘inconsequential.’ And some said it couldn’t be done, so why even try? Let me explain why we care so deeply about this issue. But first let me state what this effort is not:

• It is not a name change.
• It is not rebranding.
• It is not cosmetic.
• It is not a whim.
• And it is not inconsequential.”

(President Russell M. Nelson The Correct Name of the Church, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/general-conference/2018/10/the-correct-name-of-the-church?lang=eng).

It is so consequential.

When the Savior visited the Americas, He said, “Ye shall call the church in my name…And how be it my church save it be called in my name? For if a church be called in Moses’ name then it be Moses’ church; or if it be called in the name of a man then it be the church of a man; but if it be called in my name then it is my church, if it so be that they are built upon my gospel” (3 Nephi 27:8.).

Maurine

When President Nelson asked us to use the correct name of the Church, people said it was impossible and awkward. How can you rebrand something like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, when that name has been used on air since 1929? What do you do about your websites and missionary efforts that have all been branded “Mormon”? For me, it is so grounding to know that the Lord cares what His church is called and no other consideration is as important. Early on, we gave Meridian Magazine, the url ldsmag.com, so it could be simple for people, but we didn’t have to think twice about changing the url to latterdaysaintmag.com to align ourselves with what the Lord said His church should be called.

Scot

Now we return to the story of the tragedy of Far West, which is important to understand, because it profoundly marked the sensibilities of the Latter-day Saints and Joseph Smith in the years that followed.

“While Joseph was laying out this city, apostasy began to rage within the ranks of the Church. Jealousies, pride, and insurrections overcame some of the most powerful leaders of the Church, including David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, W. W. Phelps, Luke Johnson, and others, some of whom had been charged with using Church funds to obtain personal profit. [Some of them had used the Church’s funds to buy personal property.] Joseph’s heart broke to see many of these once-loyal friends turn against him and the Church, to see them excommunicated. Joseph’s life now was nearly always in danger from without and within the Church.” (See Proctor, Witness)

William Phelps, who had written “The Spirit of God like a Fire is Burning” for the dedication of the Kirtland Temple” and had the printing press that was destroyed in Independence turned against the Church.

Maurine

“Affidavits and letters that apostate William Phelps had written led to much suffering and hardship for the Saints in Far West. When he later came back repentant, desiring to have full fellowship again with the Saints, Joseph wrote to him with compassion and charity: “It is true, that we have suffered much in consequence of your behavior—the cup of gall, already full enough for mortals to drink, was indeed filled to overflowing when you turned against us. One with whom we had oft taken sweet counsel together, and enjoyed many refreshing seasons from the Lord—’had it been an enemy, we could have borne it. . . . ‘

“’However, the cup has been drunk, the will of our Father has been done. . . . I shall be happy once again to give you the right hand of fellowship, and rejoice in the returning prodigal. . . .

‘Come on, dear brother, since the war is past, For friends at first, are friends again at last.’ William Phelps ever remembered the kindness and loving forgiveness of the Prophet and the Lord.

Scot

As the Saints began to assemble in Far West, “the war clouds began again to lower with dark and threatening aspect,” recorded Parley P. Pratt. “Those who had combined against the laws in the adjoining counties, had long watched our increasing power and prosperity with jealousy, and with greedy and avaricious eyes. It was a common boast that, as soon as we had completed our extensive improvements, and made a plentiful crop, they would drive us from the state, and once more enrich themselves with the spoils.”

One day the Prophet was at his parents’ home writing letters. “While he was thus engaged,” his mother recorded, “I beheld a large company of armed men advancing . . . eight of them came into the house. . . . ‘We have come here to kill Joe Smith and all the “Mormons.”‘ . . . ‘I suppose,’ said I, ‘you intend to kill me, with the rest?’ ‘Yes, we do,’ returned the officer. ‘Very well,’ I continued, ‘I want you to act the gentleman about it, and do the job quick. Just shoot me down at once, then I shall be at rest; but I should not like to be murdered by inches.’ ‘There it is again,’ said he. ‘You tell a “Mormon” that you will kill him, and they will always tell you, “that is nothing—if you kill us, we shall be happy.”‘

“Joseph, just at that moment finished his letter, and, seeing that he was at liberty, I said, ‘Gentlemen, suffer me to make you acquainted with Joseph Smith, the Prophet.’ They stared at him as if he were a spectre. He smiled, and stepping towards them, gave each of them his hand, in a manner which convinced them that he was neither a guilty criminal nor yet a hypocrite.” Joseph spoke to them at length about the things the Saints had suffered and then “he said, ‘Mother, I believe I will go home now—Emma will be expecting me.’ At this two of the men sprang to their feet, and declared that he should not go alone, as it would be unsafe—that they would go with him, in order to protect him.” At the doorway, Lucy heard the conversation of the remaining guards about Joseph: “Did you not feel strangely when Smith took you by the hand? I never felt so in my life.” “I could not move. I would not harm a hair of that man’s head for the whole world.” “This is the last time you will catch me coming to kill Joe Smith, or the ‘Mormons’ either.”

Maurine

“To the great chagrin of the Saints, however, their avowed enemy in Jackson County, Lilburn W. Boggs, was elected governor of the state. In “Diahman” (short for Adam-ondi-Ahman), the members of the Church wanted to be sure that they elected their own representative to serve in state government. Local resident William Peniston was a staunch foe of the Saints and desired to be elected against a far greater ratio of Mormons to non-Mormons.

“The day of the election arrived, August 6, 1838, and Peniston addressed a crowd of voters in Gallatin (four miles south of Diahman), which at that time was a small row of ‘ten houses, three of which were saloons.’ Hoping to excite the crowd against the Mormons, he shouted, ‘The Mormon leaders are a set of horse thieves, liars, counterfeiters, and you know they profess to heal the sick, and cast out devils, and you all know that is a lie.’ With this kind of a speech, emotions ran high, and Dick Welding, a mob bully, punched one of the Saints to the ground. A fight broke out on all sides, with Mormon John Butler grabbing an oak stake from a woodpile and striking Missourians to the ground. Many people on both sides were seriously injured. Though few Mormons braved voting that day, Peniston still lost the election.

Scot

“After the election-day incident, relations between the Latter-day Saints and their anti-Mormon neighbors deteriorated rapidly. The Prophet tried to calm the hostility that had arisen in the area, visiting Adam Black, the newly elected judge for Daviess County, and pleading with him to sign an agreement of peace.

“It was a worthless scrap of paper whose promise lasted less than twenty-four hours. Distorted stories spread like a prairie fire, further enflaming the mob spirit. ‘Smith has organized an army of five hundred men to exterminate the old settlers,’ they said.

“Smoldering emotions turned to violence against the Saints. Hyrum Smith testified in an affidavit that several Mormons were whipped and that their bodies were lacerated with hickory withes, as well as being tied to trees and deprived of food.  Joseph noted families scattered from their homes and said, ‘My feelings were such as I cannot describe when I saw them flock into the village, almost entirely destitute of clothes.’”

“When the Saints appealed to Governor Boggs for relief, he said, ‘The quarrel was between the Mormons and the mob,’ and that they ‘might fight it out.’

Maurine

“Emboldened by the governor’s apathy, a mass of anti-Mormon forces marched on Caldwell and Daviess counties to force the Mormons out.

“As dawn approached on October 25, 1838, the militia from Far West engaged in battle at Crooked River, and three of the Mormons, including David W. Patten of the Council of the Twelve, were killed. The clash gave Boggs, a longtime enemy of the Saints, the excuse he had been waiting for. He claimed that the Saints had initiated hostilities, therefore, he wrote by executive order, ‘The Mormons must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state, if necessary for the public good.’

“Parley P. Pratt complained of the order: ‘It said nothing of criminals; it made no allusion to punishing crime and protecting innocence; it was sufficient to be called a “Mormon.” A peaceable family just emigrating, or passing through the country; a missionary going or coming on his peaceable errand of mercy; an aged soldier of the American revolution on his death bed . . . a widow with her babes; the tender wife, or helpless orphan; all were included in this order of wholesale extermination or banishment.’

Scot

“Extermination began, just three days after the governor’s order, at Haun’s Mill, a small settlement, where at 4:00 P.M. children were playing on either side of the creek and mothers were involved in domestic duties. Suddenly the sound of one hundred rifles crashed through the air as the mob shot mercilessly at everything in sight. Amanda Barnes Smith and her daughters saved their lives by running to the woods with bullets whistling by ‘like hailstones.’ But when she crept back to the mill, she saw her husband and ten-year-old son ‘lifeless upon the ground.’ Then she found another son shot in the head under the blacksmith’s bellows where he had attempted to hide. Nineteen people were massacred.”

Can you imagine the hard-heartedness of someone who would point guns through the trees and turn them on peaceful families going about their every day work on a sunny afternoon?

Maurine

On October 31, 1838, the anti-Mormon, official state militia, numbering up to three thousand gathered around Far West, ready to attack. Now, we have our own Benedict Arnold, a Latter-day Saint by the name of George M. Hinckle who was a colonel of the Mormon-controlled Caldwell County Militia. He made a secret deal with Commanding General Lucas of the state militia to turn over Joseph Smith for trial and punishment.

He also agreed that Mormon property would be confiscated for damages and that the Saints would surrender their arms and leave the state.

Scot

“In Far West, [the traitor] Hinckle told Joseph, Sidney Rigdon, Parley Pratt, and others, that Lucas wanted a peace conference with them. When they met together, however, Lucas instantly ordered his guard to surround the Mormon leaders. Whooping and yelling like bloodhounds let loose upon their prey, they swore oaths and mocked the men throughout the night: ‘Come, Mr. Smith, show us an angel. Give us one of your revelations. Show us a miracle!’” Their intent was to murder them without trial the next morning.

“Parley Pratt wrote, ‘No pen need undertake to describe our feelings during that terrible night, while there confined—not knowing the fate of our wives and children, or of our fellow Saints, and seeing no way for our lives to be saved except by the miraculous power of God. But, notwithstanding all earthly hopes were gone, still we felt a calmness indescribable. A secret whispering to our inmost soul seemed to say: ‘Peace, my sons, be of good cheer, your work is not yet done; therefore I will restrain your enemies, that they shall not have power to take your lives.’’

Maurine

Lucy Mack Smith wrote of her experience that night: “At the time when Joseph went into the enemy’s camp, Mr. Smith and myself stood in the door of the house in which we were then living, and could distinctly hear their horrid yellings. Not knowing the cause, we supposed they were murdering him. Soon after the screaming commenced, five or six guns were discharged. At this Mr. Smith, folding his arms tight over his breast and grasping his sides, cried, groaning with mental agony, ‘Oh, my God! my God! they have murdered my son and I must die, for I cannot live without him!’

“I was unable to answer him. In all our other troubles I had been able to speak a word of consolation to him, but now I could do nothing but mingle my cries and groans with his. Still, the shrieking and screaming continued. No tongue can ever express the sound that was conveyed to our ears nor the sensations that were produced in our hearts. It was like the screeching of a hundred owls mingled with the howling of an army of bloodhounds and the screaming of a thousand panthers all famishing for the prey which was being torn piecemeal among them.

“My husband was immediately taken sick and never regained his health afterwards, although he lived two more years.” (Lucy Mack Smith, author; Scot Facer Proctor, Maurine Proctor, editors. The Revised and Enhanced History of Joseph Smith by His Mother; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book).

Scot

General Alexander Doniphan received an order from his superior, General Lucas, to execute the prisoners the next morning in the public square, he saved their lives, saying, “It is cold-blooded murder. I will not obey your order. My brigade shall march for Liberty tomorrow morning, at 8 o’clock; and if you execute these men, I will hold you responsible before an earthly tribunal, so help me God.”

General Doniphan saved Joseph, Hyrum and the other church leaders with his refusal to shoot them, but as they left the next morning, they knew their lives were in great danger.

Maurine

Lucy said, “When our sons were to be taken away, a messenger came and told us that if we ever were to see our sons alive again, we would have to go immediately to them, as they were in the wagon to be driven to Independence and would be gone in a few minutes. My husband was then too ill to be able to go, but Lucy and I started alone, for we were the only well ones of the family.

Lucy said, “When we came within about four hundred yards of the wagon, we could go no farther because they were surrounded by men.‘I am the mother of the Prophet, I cried, ‘and is there not a gentleman here who will assist me through this crowd to that wagon that I may take a last look at my children and speak to them once more before they die?’ One individual volunteered to make a pathway through the army, and we went on through the midst of swords, muskets, pistols, and bayonets, threatened with death at every step, until at last we arrived at the wagon. The man who accompanied me spoke to Hyrum, who was sitting in the front, and told him his mother was there and wished him to reach his hand to her. He did so, but I was not permitted to see him, for the cover of the wagon was made of very heavy cloth and tied closely down in front and nailed fast at the sides.

We merely shook hands with him and the other prisoners who sat in the forepart of the wagon, before several of the men in the mob exclaimed, ‘Drive over them,’ calling to us to get out of the way, swearing at us and threatening us in the most dreadful manner.

Scot

Lucy continued, “Our friend then conducted us to the hinder part of the wagon where Joseph was, and said, ‘Mr. Smith, your mother and sister are here and wish to shake hands with you.’ Joseph crowded his hand through between the wagon and cover where it was nailed down to the end board. We caught hold of his hand, but he did not speak to us. I could not bear to leave him without hearing his voice. Oh, Joseph, said I. ‘Do speak to your poor mother once more. I cannot go until I hear you speak.’

“’God bless you, Mother,’ he sobbed out. Then a cry was raised and the wagon dashed off, tearing my son from us just as Lucy was pressing his hand to her lips to bestow upon it a sister’s last kiss-for we knew that they were sentenced to be shot.”

Maurine

Lucy said, “We succeeded in getting to the house again, although we were scarcely able to support ourselves…

“My son-in-law Mr. McLeary went out with some others to meet the mob and ascertain what their business was. They gave the messengers to understand that they would soon commence an indiscriminate butchery of men, women, and children, that their orders were to convert Far West into a human slaughter pen and never quit it while there was a lisping babe or a decrepit old woman breathing within its bounds.

“The people were all driven in from the country, and there was more than an acre of land in front of our house completely covered with beds, lying in the open sun, where men, women, and children were compelled to sleep in all weather. These were the last who had got into the city, and the houses were so full that there was no room for them. It was enough to make the heart ache to see children in the open sun and wind, sick with colds and very hungry, crying around their mothers for food and their parents destitute of the means of making them comfortable, while their houses, which lay a short distance from the city, were pillaged of everything, their fields thrown open for the horses belonging to the mob to lay waste and destroy, and their fat cattle shot down and turning to carrion before their eyes, while a strong guard, which was set over us for the purpose, prevented us from making use of a particle of the stock that was killed on every side of us.

Scot

She continued, “Soon after this the brethren were compelled to lay down their arms and sign away their property. It was done immediately in front of our house, and I could hear General Clark’s speech distinctly in which he declared that my sons must die, that ‘their die was cast, their doom was fixed, their fate was sealed, and also that if he could invoke the spirit of the unknown God to rest upon us, he would advise us to scatter abroad.” (Lucy Mack Smith, Revised).

Maurine

“For some, the flight from Missouri was evidence that the Lord had forsaken the Saints. They had lost their property and had suffered sorely. Their Prophet was jailed, with no prospect for relief. Their dreams of the promised Zion as the center place were indefinitely postponed.

“In fact, the enemies of the Church must have been sure it had been successfully destroyed, once and for all.

“For the less steady, Missouri had been a time of sifting. John Corrill was one who had once thrown himself wholeheartedly into the cause. He had not whimpered at the expulsion from Jackson County; he had offered to be whipped or die for the gospel; he had wandered homeless into Clay County; he had stood by the Prophet in all things—and now it was enough. He had lost his faith in Joseph Smith. He wrote, ‘Calculation after calculation has failed, plan after plan has been overthrown, and our prophet seemed not to know the event till too late. If he said, ‘Go up and prosper,’ still we did not prosper, but have labored and toiled, and waded through trials, difficulties, and temptations, of various kinds, in hope of deliverance. But no deliverance came.’

Scot 

“Others, however, did not give up. In the face of great adversity, they grew in faith and courage. Eliza R. Snow, struggling out of Adam-ondi-Ahman in the dead of winter, was taunted by a militiaman, “Well, I think this will cure you of your faith.” Looking him square in the eye, she replied, “No, sir, it will take more than this to cure me of my faith.”  Then she, with twelve thousand others who felt the same way, trudged eastward to the Mississippi River. (Proctor and Proctor, Witness).

Maurine

That’s all for today. Don’t forget that the new Come Follow Me calendars that feature Scot’s stunning photography of Old Testament sites is now available. See samples of it at latterdaysaintmag.com/2022. That’s latterdaysaintmag.com/2022

Next week we’ll study Doctrine and Covenants 121-123 in a lesson called, “O God, Where Art Thou?” Thanks to Paul Cardall for the music and to our daughter, Michaela Proctor Hutchins who produces this show.

President Nelson: The Many Ways We Will Miss You

I returned late on Saturday night from several days of filming in and near Nauvoo, Illinois. We’re working on the Interpreter Foundation’s forthcoming series of short video documentaries, titled “Becoming Brigham.” The keys of the priesthood were a major focus for this latest round.

By the winter and spring of 1843 and 1844, Joseph Smith’s enemies were forming their plots to kill him and thereby, they hoped, to destroy the Church. Sensing that his time on earth was drawing to an end, the Prophet met frequently with members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles not only to instruct them but to bestow upon them the priesthood keys that would be necessary to govern the Church. During an extraordinary meeting in March 1844, Joseph charged the Twelve with leadership of the Church after his death, explaining that he had conferred upon them all of the ordinances, authority, and keys that were necessary for that task.

Until then, only Hyrum Smith (as assistant president of the Church) and Joseph himself possessed the keys; strikingly, although he was a counselor in the First Presidency, Sidney Rigdon did not. “I roll the burden and responsibility of leading this church off from my shoulders on to yours,” Joseph told the Twelve. “Now, round up your shoulders and stand under it like men; for the Lord is going to let me rest awhile.”

Shortly after returning home, I learned of the death of President Russell M. Nelson. And I thought, yet again, of the keys that have resided in the apostleship since that March 1844 meeting. Today, although we mourn the passing of a beloved prophet, there is no leadership crisis or succession struggle, there is no uncertainty. Immediately upon the passing of President Nelson, President Dallin H. Oaks became the senior apostle in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And, thus, he is its earthly leader.

I was privileged to have some small personal association with President Nelson, especially in the years just prior to his assumption of the presidency. In my experience with him, he was unfailingly kind and, despite his remarkable secular accomplishments and his lofty ecclesiastical rank, unassuming. As did others, I marveled at his longevity—although, as we all knew, it could not go on forever. He himself quoted the writer of Ecclesiastes in General Conference: “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die.” With millions of other Latter-day Saints, I will miss him.

We will miss his continual encouragement for us to be peacemakers, given with gentle good humor: “Anger never persuades,” he taught. “Hostility builds no one. Contention never leads to inspired solutions.

“At this point you may be thinking that this message would really help someone you know. Perhaps you are hoping that it will help him or her to be nicer to you. I hope it will! But I also hope that you will look deeply into your heart to see if there are shards of pride or jealousy that prevent you from becoming a peacemaker.”

We have rejoiced as he has enlarged roles for women as witnesses in the temple and elsewhere in the Church, and built bridges with groups who might previously have viewed us with suspicion or even hostility. We have been thrilled as, at each General Conference, he has announced the construction of numerous temples, bringing the ordinances of salvation and exaltation to Latter-day Saints everywhere—in Bangkok and Lubumbashi, in Mozambique and Mongolia, in Pago Pago and Papua New Guinea. We have loved his clear focus on the Savior, on reminding both Latter-day Saints and others that Jesus Christ is at the absolute center of our faith and, in every sense, its foundation.

Yes, we will definitely miss him. In contemplating President Nelson’s passing, though, it seems appropriate to consider what he himself has had to say about death. I begin with his testimony:

“As a special witness of Jesus Christ,” he declared, “I testify that He lives! I also testify that the veil of death is very thin. I know by experiences too sacred to relate that those who have gone before are not strangers to leaders of this Church. To us and to you, our loved ones may be just as close as the next room—separated only by the doors of death.”

Not only as a Church leader but as an accomplished heart surgeon, President Nelson was well acquainted with death and the threat of death. Moreover, in the latter capacity, he worked often and well to prevent it or, at least, to delay it. But, significantly, he did not regard death as an enemy:

“Scriptures,” he said, “teach that death is essential to happiness: ‘Now behold, it was not expedient that man should be reclaimed from this temporal death, for that would destroy the great plan of happiness.’” (Alma 42:8; italics added; see also 2 Ne. 9:6).

“Life does not begin with birth,” he reminded us, “nor does it end with death. Prior to our birth, we dwelled as spirit children with our Father in Heaven. There we eagerly anticipated the possibility of coming to earth and obtaining a physical body. Knowingly we wanted the risks of mortality, which would allow the exercise of agency and accountability. ‘This life [was to become] a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God’ (Alma 12:24). But we regarded the returning home as the best part of that long-awaited trip, just as we do now. Before embarking on any journey, we like to have some assurance of a round-trip ticket. Returning from earth to life in our heavenly home requires passage through—and not around—the doors of death. We were born to die, and we die to live (see 2 Cor. 6:9). As seedlings of God, we barely blossom on earth; we fully flower in heaven.”

Drawing upon his medical experience, President Nelson spoke with awe of the remarkable power of human bodies to heal themselves. But, in a striking statement, he also said that God has bestowed upon us a counterbalancing gift:

“It is the blessing of aging, with visible reminders that we are mortal beings destined one day to leave this ‘frail existence.’ Our bodies change every day. As we grow older, our broad chests and narrow waists have a tendency to trade places. We get wrinkles, lose color in our hair—even the hair itself—to remind us that we are mortal children of God, with a ‘manufacturer’s guarantee’ that we shall not be stranded upon the earth forever. “

Death, in President Nelson’s view, is a liberation, a promise of rescue, a ticket home. And, even, seen from a very Latter-day Saint point of view, a kind of comfort for our Heavenly Parents:

“If there were no death . . . the whole reason for our existence would thus be frustrated. . . . After all, he wants us to return to his presence. His highest hopes are for our immortality and eternal life. What loving father or mother does not yearn for the day when a distant daughter or son will return? The longing of the lonesome heart does not ease with the passage of time. It only becomes more intense. Few experiences provide the joy that homecoming brings. The embrace of awaiting parents when their arms envelop a beloved son or daughter is truly sublime. . . . ‘Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.’ (Ps 116:15) . . . Reunion, reason, and rounding out of divine intent all reassure us that physical death must be.”

Of course, since our sight is limited by the veil and hindered by our lack of faith, we mortals find it difficult if not altogether impossible to view death as a positive good:

“Even when the elderly or infirm have been afforded merciful relief,” he said, “their loved ones are rarely ready to let go. The only length of life that seems to satisfy the longings of the human heart is life everlasting.

“Irrespective of age, we mourn for those loved and lost. Mourning is one of the deepest expressions of pure love. It is a natural response in complete accord with divine commandment: ‘Thou shalt live together in love, insomuch that thou shalt weep for the loss of them that die’ (D&C 42:45).

“Moreover, we can’t fully appreciate joyful reunions later without tearful separations now. The only way to take sorrow out of death is to take love out of life.”

With such teachings in mind, it is impossible not to think of the joyful reunion that Russell Nelson is now enjoying with his first wife, Dantzel, who passed away suddenly and unexpectedly in 2005; with his two already-deceased daughters, Wendy and Emily; with his parents and others whom he lost over his astoundingly long life.

“Our limited perspective would be enlarged,” he explained, “if we could witness the reunion on the other side of the veil, when doors of death open to those returning home.”

We marveled at his astounding clarity and vigor into exceptional old age. But even Russell M. Nelson, superman though he seemed to be, began to lose his balance and to require assistance when walking, or even a wheelchair. And, in his very last years, he began to lose his eyesight. Very recently, in fact, there have been reports that his vision loss had become quite serious.

Such reports caught my attention: My own father suddenly and completely lost his sight a few years before his death, which came at nearly ninety years of age. We had no family history of such a loss, and it was devastating to all of us—but it was, of course, especially challenging for my father. In his last years, he came to love John Newton’s great hymn “Amazing Grace,” which, I’m delighted to know, is being included in the new official hymnbook of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: “I once was lost,” Newton wrote, “but now am found, was blind, but now I see.” Dad and President Nelson both see now with perfect clarity, in a realm of everlasting light.

They have been “taken home to that God who gave them life” (Alma 40:11), and, in the Resurrection, their bodies “shall be restored to [their] proper and perfect frame” (Alma 40:23; see also Alma 11:42–45).

So, while we mourn our loss, we should also rejoice in what President Nelson has gained after an exceptionally long life of exceptional service in both medicine and the Church. Now that his turn has come to pass through the doors of death, he can say as did Paul: “The time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:6–7).

We will miss President Nelson, and we want to honor him. How can we do that? By centering our lives on Christ, as he urged us to do. By seeking revelation, as he encouraged us to do. By trying to foster peace with and among those around us. And by attending the temple as often as we can, thus participating in the gathering of Israel on the other side of the veil, as well as on this side. Referring to the astonishing surge in temple building that occurred under his leadership, President Nelson remarked that “Building and maintaining temples may not change your life, but spending your time in the temple surely will.“

I have every confidence that President Russell M. Nelson has already heard the words “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” Still, we mourn him. We will miss him. But, as he himself always assured us, if we follow the covenant path that he so faithfully followed and taught, we too can someday hear those words.

Does the Book of Mormon Fit on the Gold Plates?

Nearly 200 years ago, on September 22, 1827, Joseph Smith claimed to have recovered an ancient record, engraved on gold plates, from a hill near Palmyra, New York. He had been led to the record by an angel four years earlier, and more than two years after he had taken the plates from the hill, he published the Book of Mormon as a translation of that record revealed to him by the gift and power of God. Eleven witnesses affirmed the historical reality of those plates, and though some left the church, all of them went to their graves testifying that they had seen the plates.

For two centuries, debate has raged as to whether Joseph really possessed and translated an ancient record, and in recent years, a new argument has been gaining traction: the Book of Mormon, some detractors claim, is too long to fit on the gold plates as described by Joseph Smith and the witnesses. Some of the biggest names in online discussions about religion, such as Catholic apologist Trent Horn and skeptic influencer Alex O’Connor, have raised questions about the feasibility of fitting the entire 270,000-word text of the Book of Mormon onto the unsealed portion of a six-inch stack of 6 x 8-inch plates.

A response to this claim by Josh Coates, the executive director of the non-profit B. H. Roberts Foundation, was presented at the 2025 FAIR conference in August and published in the Interpreter journal earlier this summer. Using descriptions of the plates given by the witnesses to establish his parameters, Coates literally did the math and found nearly one million configurations in which the entire text of the Book of Mormon—including the lost 116 pages—could fit onto a set of plates consistent with the historical record.

Yet some may still wonder how feasible it would be for ancient scribes and metalworkers to create a record consistent with the configurations produced by Coates, which require nearly 200 plates, each less than two-thousandths of an inch thick and written over in characters less than six millimeters in size.

To answer this question, I’ll compare three parameters discussed by Coates to artifacts found in the Old and New Worlds: (1) the size of the writing, (2) the thickness of individual plates, and (3) the total number of plates. A more in-depth review of this and other evidence can be found in my paper recently published by FAIR, where I comprehensively compared all the dimensions of the gold plates to archaeological discoveries.

Size of Writing

Coates found that the script on the plates could be no larger than 5.4 mm per character, while some configurations required the script to be as small as 2.5 mm per character. (For reference, 12-pt font is typically about 2–3 mm per character.) This may seem impossibly small, but there are numerous examples of metallic inscriptions from the ancient Near East written in script between 2 and 5 mm.

One of two small silver scrolls found in Jerusalem, and dated to 600 BC, has an average script size of 5.4 mm per character. The other, smaller scroll was engraved with characters an average of 3.25 mm in size. The Assyrian king Sargon II (ca. 722–705 BC) commissioned inscriptions onto tablets of silver and gold with characters around 4.5 and 3.5 mm, respectively. An earlier Assyrian king, Tukulti-Ninurta I (ca. 1243–1207 BC), commissioned a gold tablet inscribed with characters a mere 2.2 mm on average. Several other Assyrian inscriptions on gold and silver are known with writing between 3.4 and 4.5 mm.

Admittedly, many of these are relatively short inscriptions on small surfaces, but small writing was used on longer inscriptions, too. An unusually large silver amulet found in Egypt features a 38-line text that translates to nearly 1000 words, written in a small script averaging 1.6 mm per character. A Hittite treaty was engraved onto a large bronze tablet with over 350 lines and 4000 words in its English translation, written in characters that are on average 3.5 mm tall. A Roman legal code, approximately 20,000 words in its English translation, was engraved onto 10 large bronze tablets in Latin characters, an average of 5 mm in height.

The overall average character size across 24 metallic inscriptions I have examined is about 3.4 mm. Writing between 2–5 mm, then, was well within the capabilities of ancient Near Eastern scribes when writing on metals.

Thickness of Individual Plates

Several witnesses compared the thickness of the individual plates to “common tin” of their day. In the early nineteenth century, commercial tin-plate could be between 0.012–0.02 inches thick, with the most commonly available being 0.019 inches, according to Coates’ research. Coates, therefore, used 0.015–0.019 inches as his parameters for plate thickness. Others, such as geologist and engineer Jerry Grover, have argued that the plates could have been even thinner—between 0.005–0.01 inches—based on some witness statements that indicate the plates were “pliable” and comparable to thick paper.

But were pre-Columbian metalworkers capable of making such razor-thin plates? Yes. Gold-copper alloy discs from Nariño, Colombia, ranging from four to six inches in diameter, were measured to be generally about 0.012–0.02 inches thick, exactly the range of nineteenth-century tin plates. A fifth-century gold-copper alloyed bead found in Mesoamerica was made of hammered sheet metal between 0.012 and 0.016 inches thick. Similarly, a golden ornamental plume from Peru, dated to Book of Mormon times, is between 0.012–0.016 inches thick, and has an intricate design engraved on both sides, illustrating that plates this thin could be inscribed on both the front and back.

Even Grover’s estimates for pliable, paper-thin plates are supported by ancient artifacts. Golden crown-like diadems, “fabricated of flexible sheet metal that bends easily,” observes Julie Jones, are “among the earliest worked gold objects from South America.” Heather Lechtman examined gilded copper artifacts from northern Peru, dated to the early centuries AD, which had “edges that were paper-thin.” According to expert Warwick Bray, Peruvian goldsmiths could hammer gold-copper-silver alloys into a thin sheet merely 0.008 inches thick.

So archaeology confirms that thin plates made of gold and copper, comparable to the thickness of nineteenth-century tin or pliable, thick paper, could be manufactured in the Americas during Book of Mormon times.

Total Number of Plates

Even with small writing, the length of the Book of Mormon requires a large number of plates in order to fit on the unsealed portion, and if the plates are really only fractions of an inch thick, there would be hundreds in a six-inch stack. Coates’ calculations resulted in a range of 187–259 plates in the entire stack, while Grover, assuming the plates could be thinner, ended up with even higher estimates of 300–600 plates. Such a large volume may seem unrealistic, but once again, ancient examples of similar size abound.

I already mentioned the Roman legal code on 10 bronze tablets, dated to the first century AD. These tablets are each nearly two feet long and three feet wide—spanning 30 feet across when mounted side-by-side. The total surface area of these tablets is equivalent to 170 Book of Mormon plates of 6 x 8 inches each, as described by witnesses.

Matthew Roper, writing for Scripture Central, mentions several large sets of engraved copper plates, bound together by rings, from ancient and medieval India. One set of 57 plates, each about 16.3 x 9 inches, has a total surface area comparable to 174 Book of Mormon plates. Another set consists of 86 plates, each 17.3 x 8.3 inches, equivalent to 258 Book of Mormon plates. Roper has also identified a copy of the Quran found in China, engraved on 604 gold-gilded copper plates about 4.3 x 6.3 inches each, equivalent to 343 Book of Mormon plates.

Although not bound together as a set, a corpus of nearly 800 ancient Hindu hymns engraved on 493 large plates was discovered in India in 2023. These plates are nearly 27 inches long and 3 inches wide, making their total surface area comparable to 812 Book of Mormon plates.

Clearly, a large volume consisting of hundreds of metal plates is not outside the scope of attested historical practice.

Why Does This Matter?

The parameters required to fit the Book of Mormon onto the plates, as established by Coates and others, may seem extraordinary. Individually, however, each parameter is abundantly attested in archaeological discoveries. Still, the unique combination of small writing across hundreds of razor-thin plates should deepen our appreciation for the consecrated effort that went into making and preserving this sacred record.

Jacob noted “the difficulty of engraving our words upon plates” (Jacob 4:1), and Moroni lamented “the awkwardness of our hands” (Ether 12:24). These words gain greater meaning as we better understand the physical details of how many plates were needed, how thin the plates had to be, and how small they had to write to fit every word of this powerful testament of Christ.

With the recent the anniversary of Moroni’s visits earlier this week, it is worth reflecting on the generations of sacrifice required to engrave the Book of Mormon onto the very gold plates commissioned into Joseph Smith’s care on September 22, 1827, as well as how nearly 200 years’ worth of scholarly discovery now enables us to not only address challenges to our faith, but to also increase our gratitude for those who “labor[ed] diligently to write” (Jacob 4:3).

Neal Rappleye is a research associate for the Ancient America Foundation, and co-host of the newly launched podcast, Informed Saints. He has published widely on the ancient background of the Book of Mormon in Latter-day Saint academic venues. Through Informed Saints, he and his co-hosts seek to bring academic research on Restoration history and scripture to life in new and exciting ways for larger audiences.

Elder Bednar Dedicates the Refurbished Hill Cumorah Historic Site

This article is excerpted from the Church Newsroom. To read the full article, CLICK HERE. 

Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the refurbished Hill Cumorah historic site in Palmyra, New York, on Sunday, September 21, 2025. The Prophet Joseph Smith was visited here in the 1820s by an angel named Moroni and given the gold plates that contained the record now known as the Book of Mormon.

In his dedicatory prayer, given to around 500 guests and a global broadcast audience, Elder Bednar of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said, “I dedicate this site as a place of holy remembrance, a place of heavenly inspiration, a place of heartfelt appreciation, a place of seeking and learning, and a place of humble reverence.”

The Apostle asked God “to bless all people who come to this place with curious and open minds and with sincere and receptive hearts. May they be blessed to learn here eternal truths by the power of the Holy Ghost.”

In his remarks that preceded the prayer, Elder Bednar compared the Hill Cumorah to the burning bush of the Hebrew Bible (see Exodus 3). It was at that bush on Mt. Horeb that Moses had an encounter with the divine. Moses was told to remove his shoes because he stood on holy ground.

“Today, you and I also stand on holy ground,” Elder Bednar said.

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ believe that the Book of Mormon was originally written in an ancient language on metal plates, often called gold plates. The final prophet to write in the book, Moroni, buried the plates in the hill now known as Cumorah around A.D. 420. Some 1,400 years later, Moroni, then an angel sent from heaven, guided the young Joseph Smith to the plates. The angel Moroni first visited Joseph exactly 202 years ago, on September 21, 1823, when Joseph was 17. Moroni showed him the gold plates for the first time the following day. On September 22, 1827, after four years of preparation, Joseph was allowed to take the plates from the hill. He translated the record into English by the gift and power of God.

The Book of Mormon’s witness of Jesus Christ is published today in more than 100 languages.

Elder Bednar was accompanied on Sunday by his wife, Susan, and several Church leaders: Elder Kyle S. McKay of the Seventy (the Church Historian and Recorder) and his wife, Jennifer; and Elder Hugo E. Martinez of the Seventy (assistant executive director of the Church History Department) and his wife, Nuria.

Elder Bednar called Moroni’s many visits to Joseph Smith a part of the prophet’s “celestial curriculum” that prepared him for what was ahead. Reflecting on that idea, Elder Martinez said the curriculum began with Joseph’s First Vision and continued through his receiving priesthood authority from other divine messengers.

“It’s through those steps that we see and find that that’s how the young prophet grew as a true prophet of God,” Elder Martinez said. He added that the Hill Cumorah matters because it is a part of how God ushered in “the restoration of the fulness of time as has been spoken of in the Bible, the Book of Mormon and other books of scripture.”

To read the full article, CLICK HERE

Come Follow Me Podcast #37: “After Much Tribulation Cometh the Blessings,” Doctrine and Covenants 102-105

Maurine

The material we talk about today gives us specifics about a dramatic, heart-rending series of events from the 19^th century, but is also so relevant for our times, as if the story was written just for us. It simply could not be more to the point.

Scot

Hello our dear friends and welcome to Meridian Magazine’s Come Follow Me podcast . We’re Scot and Maurine Proctor and today we are talking about Doctrine and Covenants 102-105 in a lesson called “After Much Tribulation…Cometh the Blessings.”

Before we launch, we want to thank our sponsor Cardio Miracle. It is a powdered drink, taken daily, that signals your body to create nitric oxide, which is essential to blood vessel health, circulation, and cellular signaling. Our bodies slow down making it as we age. In fact, some studies have suggested that by the ages of 50 or 60, our bodies may make half as much nitric oxide as they did in our young adulthood. Healthy blood vessels make a healthy you. Like sending water to the very end of the row in farming, nitric oxide pushes blood flow and oxygen to the ends of your small capillaries. I take this every day and have for seven years and I’ll never quit.

Maurine

Today, as we study Doctrine and Covenants sections 103-105, you may be surprised how these sections work together to address a major problem facing the Saints, as well as became an important pivotal moment in gospel understanding. Yet, these may be hard to connect together and deeply understand without the back story, which, we just so happen to be giving you today. Section 103 instructs Joseph Smith and the leaders of the Church to organize Zion’s Camp. This, of course, calls for money and resources, and with the loss of the property in Missouri and challenges in Kirtland, the Church is struggling in debt. The Lord gives section 104 to address this problem, and finally Section 105 is given when Zion’s Camp is disbanded at Fishing River.

So let’s take our story back to Missouri. In November 1833, the Saints are driven out of Missouri, forced from the property they had purchased and the land the Lord had consecrated to them.

The mobs rejoiced as they saw the Mormons driven north to Clay County out of their midst.

Scot

These were exiles, first huddled along the banks of the Missouri River and later scattered in counties, looking for shelter and work and seeking redress. What should be done about this?  In February, 1834, Parley P. Pratt and Lyman Wight arrived in Kirtland with the sad news of the Missouri Saints and a letter from William Phelps saying that the Missouri Governor Dunklin would be willing to help the Saints return to their homes in Jackson County, but he could not maintain a militia to protect them beyond that.  The Church would have to raise and arm a force sufficiently big to maintain the safety of the Saints once these displaced returned back home.

Joseph had already been told in Section 101, that the “the strength of mine house” (Doctrine and Covenants 101:55), would be called to go to Zion and redeem the land and aid “the dispossessed Saints in Missouri…This was no vigilante movement. It was Joseph’s clear intention to work within the law and in cooperation with the state of Missouri in returning the Jackson County Saints to their homes,” (H. Dean Garrett, Stephen E. Robinson, Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants, Vol. 3).  The moment had come.

Maurine

Before Zion’s Camp could leave, however, 8 recruiters, including Joseph, were sent out  to find 500 volunteers, as the Lord said was necessary, that these companies could “go up unto the land of Zion by tens, or by twenties, or by fifties, or by an hundred, until they have obtained to the number of five hundred of the strength of my house” (Doctrine and Covenants 103:30). This was not an easy task.

Zion will be reclaimed “by power”, we learn in Doctrine and Covenants 103:15, but the Lord does not specify what power. Joseph is compared to Moses as he is called upon to gather an army of Israel, and as the children of Israel were led out of bondage, “so shall the redemption of Zion be” (v. 18). They will leave not knowing if they will face violence and certainly without the promise that they would all come home. The Lord says, “Let no man be afraid to lay down his life for my sake” (vv. 20, 27).

Scot

Heber Kimball said they gathered “with what means they could spare to go up to Zion and render all the assistance that we could to our afflicted brethren. We gathered clothing and other necessaries to carry up to our brethren and sisters who had been plundered; and putting our horses to the wagons and taking our firelocks and ammunition, we started on our journey.”( http://www.boap.org/LDS/Early-Saints/HCKimball.html)

They had hoped for gathering of 500, but they ended up with only a little over 200. They were hardy, and willing, and about to face an Abrahamic test.

Little money was available among them to make this journey, and they all gave it to a general fund. What that really meant was that they could starve together equally, living on poor rations, with aching and sometimes swollen feet in the march from Kirtland to Jackson County.

Maurine

Wilford recorded: ““He [Joseph] said . . . ‘Brethren, don’t be discouraged about our not having means. The Lord will provide, and He will put it into the heart of somebody to send me some money.’ The very next day he received a letter from Sister Vose, containing one hundred and fifty dollars. When he opened the letter and took out the money, he held it up and exclaimed: ‘See here, did I not tell you the Lord would send me some money to help us on our journey? Here it is.’ I felt satisfied that Joseph was a Prophet of God in very deed.”

Joseph spoke to the group before leaving: “I want to say to you before the Lord, that you know no more concerning the destinies of this Church and kingdom than a babe upon its mother’s lap. You don’t comprehend it. It is only a little handful . . . you see here tonight, but this Church will fill North and South America—it will fill the world. It will fill the Rocky Mountains. There will be tens of thousands of Latter-day Saints who will be gathered in the Rocky Mountains.”

The little group departed on their thousand-mile march to western Missouri, calling themselves “Zion’s Camp.” They armed themselves with weapons, many supplies, and great faith.

Scot

The Lord says, “let not your hearts faint, for I say not unto you as I said unto your fathers: Mine angel shall go up before you, but not my presence. But I say unto you: Mine angels shall go before you, and also my presence and in time ye shall possess the goodly land” (vv. 19,20).

Now the question might be legitimately asked, why did the Lord let their enemies prevail against the Saints in Jackson County any way? He answers here that “those who call themselves after my name might be chastened for a little season with sore and grievous chastisement, because they did not hearken altogether unto the precepts and commandments which I gave them.”

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The Lord also promised that He would “pour out his wrath without measure in mine own time”(v. 2) on the persecutors, but he has “suffered them thus far, that they might fill up the measure of their iniquities, that their cup might be full” (v. 3). In other words, he allows people their agency to act out their evil intent that it might stand in judgment against them.

This reminds me of the moment in the Book of Mormon where Alma and Amulek are forced to watch the believers, who are their own converts, burn by fire. Alma says, that the Lord allowed it “that the people may do this thing unto them, according to the hardness of their hearts, that the judgments which he shall exercise upon them in his wrath may be just, and the blood of the innocent shall stand as a witness against them” (Alma 14:11).

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Twelve hundred homeless Saints were scattered through the counties of Missouri, their dream of a Zion at the center place vanished like smoke on the wind. Elizabeth Haven, who endured many persecutions, recorded in a letter to a friend: “God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. Many have been sifted out of the Church, while others have been rooted . . . in love and are the salt of the earth. . . . We are to be tried (everyone who inhabits the celestial kingdom) like gold seven times purified.” (in Scot Facer Proctor, Maurine Jensen Proctor, Witness of the Light, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book).

What the Lord must build first, before Zion can come to be, is people.

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In verses 5-10, the Lord gives them an if-then proposition. If the people will “hearken from this very hour unto the counsel which I, the Lord their God shall give them,” and hearken “to observe all the words which I, the Lord their God shall speak unto them”, they will “begin to prevail against [their] enemies from this very hour” and “shall never cease to prevail.” If not, that promise does not hold.

So often we want a world with no expectations, where nothing is demanded of us. We believe we are entitled to rewards even if we do nothing or follow the lowest or laziest common denominator of our natures. A God of high expectations might even be offensive to us, opting instead for a world where little is expected of us. That’s not the God we have.

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He tells us why here. “Those who want to build and live in Zion were set to be a light unto the world, and to be the saviors of men.”

This is a calling and a privilege. Who can the Lord send to be a light and the saviors of men in this mortal world, if not us. We’re not much, but we are what he’s got.

“And…as they are not the saviors of men, they are as salt that has lost its savor, and is thenceforth good for nothing but to be cast out and trodden under foot of men” (vv. 9-10). His rewards are conditioned upon obedience.

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This image of being salt that has lost its savor is interesting. You can trace the history of the world through the need to acquire salt. Roman soldiers were often paid in salt instead of money-thus the word salary comes into our language from salt. Not only does salt improve the flavor of food, but foremost, it is a preservative. It is used to preserve meat, fish and vegetables. When you are called to be the salt of the earth, you are called both to have a positive influence in the life of others, but, more importantly, you are called to preserve a world. That need for preservation is even greater when a world is in decline. It’s a remarkable calling and a powerful one.

How does salt lose its savor? Salt doesn’t lose its savor by becoming old. It does not go stale or mold or rot. Salt loses its savor when it becomes corrupted with something else, another element. If salt is not pure, it loses its savor. That’s quite a metaphor for what the Lord expects. If ye are the salt of the earth, ye are the preservers of the earth, and the Lord will sanctify you, even with hardship, to make you pure. It is his gift to you.

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Before Zion’s Camp could leave for Missouri to help the Saints in the spring of 1834, the Prophet Joseph Smith had to solve huge financial challenges for the Church. H.Dean Garrett and Stephen E. Robinson note, “Joseph wrote to Orson Hyde on 7 April, ‘[U]nless we can obtain [financial] help, I myself cannot go to Zion, and if I do not go, it will be impossible to get my brethren in Kirtland, any of them, to go; and if we do not go, it is in vain for our eastern brethren to think of going.’

“Two years earlier, in April 1832, the united order (or united firm) had secured a five-year loan for $15,000, an immense sum at the time, primarily for purchasing goods and property in Missouri. When the Saints were driven out of Jackson County, not only did they suffer staggering financial losses and abject poverty, but the united order also lost its collateral on this loan and its primary means of paying it back. Added to this were other debts incurred by the order on behalf of the Church in Missouri and in Kirtland. The provisioning of Zion’s Camp also would require a great outlay of funds, as did continuing construction on the Kirtland Temple. Further, an apostate named Philastus Hurlbut was trying to acquire property owned by the united order by suing Church leaders, and defending themselves in court was causing escalating legal fees. And, as always, the needs of Kirtland’s poor Saints also had to be met. For all of these reasons, the Church in the spring of 1834 was deeply in debt.” (H. Dean Garrett, Stephen E. Robinson, Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants, Vol. 3, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book).

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Garrett and Robinson continue: “At a conference in Avon, New York, on 17 March 1834, Joseph Smith proposed, besides raising volunteers and contributions for Zion’s Camp, also raising two thousand dollars to pay the debts of the Church in Kirtland. On 7 April 1834, Joseph wrote in Kirtland, ‘Bishop Whitney, Elder Frederick G. Williams, Oliver Cowdery, Heber C. Kimball, and myself, met in the council room, and bowed down before the Lord, and prayed that He would furnish the means to deliver the Firm [the united order] from debt, that they might be set at liberty; also, that I might prevail against that wicked man, Hurlburt, and that he might be put to shame.’ Two days later, Hurlbut lost his lawsuit, was put under bond to keep the peace, and was forced to pay court costs.”

What came two weeks later was Section 104, which contains one of the most emphatic sections in all of scripture on consecration, something the Lord calls “an everlasting order” (v. 1). The scripture has much that is practical. Under the threat of lawsuit from Hurlbut, the brethren had considered dissolving the United Firm or what we generally know as the United Order, but in this section instead the united order in Kirtland and the one in Zion are to operate separately. Stewardships are given. Treasuries are established.

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But here is the key, and the first principle of consecration, said with the greatest clarity.

“I, the Lord, stretched out the heavens, and built the earth, my very handiwork; and all things therein are mine” (D&C 104:14). What is His? The air we breathe, the land we stand on, the food we eat, the things we think we own. Our lives, our time, our talents, all are His.

The Lord as the creator of the earth decrees the rules of stewardship and accountability over it.  He says, “It is my purpose to provide for my saints, for all things are mine.”

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“But it must needs be done in mine own way; and behold this is the way that I, the Lord, have decreed to provide for my saints, that the poor shall be exalted, in that the rich are made low.

“For the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare; yea, I prepared all things, and have given unto the children of men to be agents unto themselves” (vv. 15-17).

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If the Saints would not willingly consecrate, Joseph said, “God shall…prevent them from ever obtaining a place of refuge or an inheritance upon the Land of Zion.”

Those who left on Zion’s Camp in May and June 1834, led by Joseph Smith, traveled about 900 miles from Kirtland to Clay County, Missouri. The participants in that group included names we are familiar with: Parley P. Pratt, Orson Hyde, Wilford Woodruff, Heber C. Kimball, and Brigham Young. These were willing to stake their lives and time on the line for the aid of their ailing friends in Missouri.

“As Wilford Woodruff was settling his business affairs and preparing to join Zion’s Camp, his friends and neighbors warned him not to undertake such a hazardous journey. They counseled, ‘Do not go, if you do you will lose your life.” He replied, “If I know that I should have a ball put through my heart the first step I took in the state of Missouri I would go.’”(in David A. Bednar, On the Lord’s Side: Lessons from Zion’s Camp, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2017/07/on-the-lords-side-lessons-from-zions-camp?lang=eng)

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“Wilford Woodruff later declared while serving as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: ‘We gained an experience that we never could have gained in any other way. We had the privilege of … traveling a thousand miles with [the Prophet], and seeing the workings of the Spirit of God with him, and the revelations of Jesus Christ unto him and the fulfilment of those revelations. … Had I not gone up with Zion’s Camp I should not have been here today.’” (See Bednar https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2017/07/on-the-lords-side-lessons-from-zions-camp?lang=eng)

“George A. Smith described in his journal the reaction of the Prophet to the daily challenges of the march to Missouri.

“’The Prophet Joseph took a full share of the fatigues of the entire journey. In addition to the care of providing for the Camp and presiding over it, he walked most of the time and had a full proportion of blistered, bloody and sore feet. … But during the entire trip he never uttered a murmur or complaint, while most of the men in the Camp complained to him of sore toes, blistered feet, long drives, scanty supply of provisions, poor quality of bread, bad corn dodger, frouzy butter, strong honey, maggoty bacon and cheese, etc., even a dog could not bark at some men without their murmuring at Joseph. If they had to camp with bad water it would nearly cause rebellion, yet we were the Camp of Zion, and many of us were prayerless, thoughtless, careless, heedless, foolish or devilish, and yet we did not know it. Joseph had to bear with us and tutor us, like children.’”(See Bednar).

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“On one occasion, three prairie rattlesnakes were found in the spot where Joseph had pitched his tent. Some of the brethren were about to kill them, but Joseph said: ‘Let them alone—don’t hurt them! How will the serpent ever lose his venom, while the servants of God possess the same disposition, and continue to make war upon it?’ The brethren took the snakes carefully on sticks and carried them across the creek to safety. Joseph felt that “men must become harmless, before the brute creation; and when men lose their vicious dispositions . . . the lion and the lamb can dwell together, and the sucking child can play with the serpent in safety.”

“‘Notwithstanding our enemies were continually breathing threats of violence,’ wrote Joseph, ‘we did not fear, neither did we hesitate to [take] our journey, for God was with us, and His angels went before us, and the faith of our little band was unwavering.’” (See Proctor, Witness).

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After walking eight hundred miles in six weeks, Zion’s Camp arrived in Clay County to a threatening environment and disappointing news. Governor Dunklin refused to fulfill his promise to provide a force to assist the Saints to regain their homes in Jackson County. Rumors had spread that about the size and intentions of the camp, and several hundred Missourians had gathered, threatening attack. Five marauders rode wildly through the camp to warn them of their impending doom.

“When the five men entered the camp, not a cloud was to be seen in the whole heavens, but soon a small cloud like a black spot appeared in the northwest and began to unroll itself like a scroll. In a few minutes, the whole heavens were covered with a pall as black as ink. The storm soon broke with wind, rain, thunder, lightning, and hail. Many Saints fled to a nearby Baptist meetinghouse. Wilford Woodruff remembered: ‘As the Prophet Joseph came in shaking the water from his hat and clothing he said, ‘Boys, there is some meaning to this. God is in this storm.’ We sang praises to God, and lay all night on benches under cover while our enemies were in the pelting storm.”

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Wilford Woodruff continued, “Very little hail fell in our camp . . . the lightning flashed incessantly. . . . The earth trembled and quaked, the rain fell in torrents, and, united, it seemed as if the mandate of vengeance had gone forth from the God of battles.”  The water in nearby Big Fishing River, which had been only ankle deep the night before, had risen to forty feet deep, drowned some of the mob, and sent the others running for shelter and galloping off to their homes. They declared that if that was the way God fought for the Mormons, they might as well go about their business.

“While their enemies attacked them from without, a deadly enemy attacked the army from within. Cholera broke out, ravaging about sixty-eight of the men and women, fourteen of whom died. The brethren rolled the corpses in blankets and buried them on the bank of Brush Creek. Heber C. Kimball remembered, ‘We felt to sit and weep over our brethren, and so great was our sorrow that we could have washed them with our tears, to realize that they had traveled one thousand miles through so much fatigue to lay down their lives for our brethren.’” (See Proctor, Witness).

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Joseph and Hyrum related this account to their mother:

“Soon after arriving at the point of destination, the cholera  broke out among us, and the brethren were so violently attacked that it seemed impossible to render them any assistance. They immediately sent for us to lay hands on them, but we soon discovered that this also was the judgment of the Almighty, for when we laid our hands upon them in the name of the Lord in order that they might be healed, the disease instantly fastened itself upon us. And in a few minutes we were in awful distress. We made mute signals to each other and left the house for the purpose of going into some secluded place to join in prayer that God would deliver us from this awful influence; but before we could get a sufficient distance to be secure from interruption, we were scarcely able to stand upon our feet and we were greatly alarmed, fearing that we should die in this western wilderness so far from our families, without even the privilege of blessing our children or giving them one word of parting counsel. Hyrum cried out, ‘Joseph, what shall we do? Must we be cut off from the face of the earth by this horrid curse?’

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“‘Let us,’ said Joseph, ‘get down upon our knees and pray to God to remove the cramp and other distress and restore us to health, that we may return to our families.’ We did so but without receiving any benefit, but still grew worse. We concluded, however, to make a second effort, and when we kneeled again, the cramp seized the calves of Joseph’s legs, gathering the cords into bunches, and then the operation extended in like manner all over his system. He cried heartily unto God, but the heavens seemed sealed against us and every power that could render us any assistance shut within its gates. The universe was still. ‘When we arose again,’ said Joseph, ‘I found Hyrum was in the same situation with myself.’

“We soon came to the resolution of appealing again to God for mercy, and not to rise from our knees until one or the other got a testimony that we should be healed, and he who received the first intimation from the Spirit should inform the other of the same. We prayed some time, first one and then the other, and soon perceived that the cramp began to loose its hold. In a short time Hyrum sprang to his feet and exclaimed, ‘Joseph, we shall return, for I have seen an open vision in which I saw Mother on her knees under an apple tree praying for us, and she is even now asking God, in tears, to spare our lives, that she may behold us again in the flesh. The Spirit testifies to me that her prayers and ours shall be heard’-and from that moment we were healed and went on our way rejoicing.” (Lucy Mack Smith, and Scot Facer Proctor, Maurine Jensen Proctor, editors. The Revised and Enhanced History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, Salt Lake City, Deseret Book.)

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On June 21, the Saints met with county and militia officials hoping to resolve the issue. Joseph assured them that they were anxious for a settlement to the difficulties upon constitutional principles. These meetings went nowhere, and, finally, Joseph, seeing his little band of Zion’s Camp was badly outnumbered, appealed to the Lord and received Section 105 on June 22, 1834. Here he was assured, “For behold, I do not require at their hands to fight the battles of Zion: for, as I said in a former commandment, even so will I fulfil—I will fight your battles” (v. 14). The Lord said, “I have heard their prayers, and will accept their offering.”

The building of Zion must be postponed “for a little season” (v. 9) “that my people may be taught more perfectly, and have experience, and know more perfectly concerning their duty, and the things which I require at their hands.”

We asked earlier, what kind of power would it take to redeem Zion?  Now the Lord gives the answer, “This cannot be brought to pass until mine elders are endowed with power from on high” (v. 11) It is not military power, nor any kind of power that man can scramble together. Instead, “I have prepared a great endowment and blessing to be poured out upon them, inasmuch as they are faithful and continue in humility before me” (v. 12). It is the Lord’s power, and the Lord postpones the building of Zion, until the people are ready to receive it. Zion’s Camp is to be disbanded.

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Steven Harper notes, “The revelation which is both pacifistic and militant, marks a turning point in Church history. It is a document of détente. It calls for a proclamation of peace now even as it foreshadows a future role for the army of Israel. It postpones Zion in Jackson County for an ambiguous ‘little season’ (v. 9). It commands Saints in the meantime to receive the anticipated endowment of power to help them gain experience, to learn their duty and doctrine better, and to increase in number and holiness. They are to continue to purchase western Missouri lands but to avoid gathering in numbers perceived as threatening by non-Mormon settlers.

“Doctrine and Covenants 105 gives Joseph and his army orders to retreat. They are instructed to seek redress lawfully. But the war is far from over. These tactics will buy time ‘until the army of Israel becomes very great’ (v. 26) while more land in Jackson and adjoining counties can be legally purchased. Once it is, the revelation says, ‘I will hold the armies of Israel guiltless in taking possession of their own lands, which they have previously purchased with their moneys, and of throwing down the towers of mine enemies that may be upon them’ (v. 30). First, however, ‘let my army become very great, and let it be sanctified before me, that it may become fair as the sun, and clear as the moon, and that her banners may be terrible unto all nations; that the kingdoms of this world may be constrained to acknowledge that the kingdom of Zion is in very deed the kingdom of our God and his Christ; therefore, let us become subject unto her laws’ (vv. 31–32).”

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Meanwhile, Latter-day Saints are to “sue for peace, not only to the people that have smitten you, but also to all people; and lift up an ensign of peace, and make a proclamation of peace unto the ends of the earth” (vv. 38–39)…

“The brethren were to return to the house of the Lord in Kirtland, to be endowed with power on conditions of humility and faithfulness (v. 12), and then spread out over the globe to gather Israel. Then, when the army became very great both numerically and in”

“obedience to the law of consecration, they would regain Zion.”

“Back in Kirtland [Joseph] urged the Saints to finish the house of the Lord, and he began holding sanctifying training meetings to prepare the brethren for the solemn assembly.” (Steven C. Harper, Making Sense of the Doctrine and Covenants, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book).

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Some who had come on Zion’s Camp were disgruntled when it was disbanded and questioned the prophet, but the Lord revealed this to Joseph in Section 105. “It is expedient in me that they should be brought thus far for a trial of their faith” (v. 19).

Elder David A. Bednar said, “Because of the failure to reestablish the Saints on their lands in Jackson County, Zion’s Camp was considered by some an unsuccessful and unprofitable endeavor. A brother in Kirtland—one who lacked the faith to volunteer to go with the camp—met Brigham Young on his return from Missouri and asked, “‘Well, what did you gain on this useless journey to Missouri with Joseph Smith?’ ‘All we went for,’ promptly replied Brigham Young. ‘I would not exchange the experience I gained in that expedition for all the wealth of Geauga County,’” the county in which Kirtland was then located.”

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Elder Bednar continued, “In a most literal way, the physical and spiritual challenges of Zion’s Camp constituted a sifting of the wheat from the tares (see Matthew 13:25, 29–30; D&C 101:65), a dividing of the sheep from the goats (see Matthew 25:32–33), a separating of the spiritually strong from the weak. Thus, each man and woman who enlisted in the army of the Lord faced and answered the penetrating question of ‘Who’s on the Lord’s side?’”

“Indeed, ‘the time to show’ for those faithful men and women was the summer of 1834. But the decision to march with the Prophet Joseph to Missouri was not necessarily a one-time, all-inclusive, or immediate response to the question of ‘Who’s on the Lord’s side?’ The time to show for those Saints arose frequently and repeatedly through mental and physical fatigue, through bloody blisters on their feet, through inadequate food and unclean water, through a multitude of disappointments, through dissensions and rebellions within the camp, and through external threats from vicious enemies.”

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Elder Bednar said, “The time to show came in the experiences and privations of every hour, of every day, and of every week. It was the grand combination of the many seemingly small choices and actions in the lives of these devoted Saints that provided the conclusive answer to the question ‘Who’s on the Lord’s side?’

“How did the testing and sifting that occurred in the lives of the Zion’s Camp participants serve as a preparation? Interestingly, eight of the brethren called into the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1835, as well as all of the Seventies called at that same time, were veterans of Zion’s Camp. At a meeting following the call of the Seventies, the Prophet Joseph Smith declared:

“’Brethren, some of you are angry with me, because you did not fight in Missouri; but let me tell you, God did not want you to fight. He could not organize his kingdom with twelve men to open the gospel door to the nations of the earth, and with seventy men under their direction to follow in their tracks, unless he took them from a body of men who had offered their lives, and who had made as great a sacrifice as did Abraham.’

“Now, the Lord has got his Twelve and his Seventy, and there will be other quorums of Seventies called.”(David A. Bednar, On the Lord’s Side: Lessons from Zion/s Camp, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2017/07/on-the-lords-side-lessons-from-zions-camp?lang=eng).

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The call to join Zion’s Camp was an opportunity for testing, sifting and proving your spiritual mettle. We mentioned at the beginning of this podcast that these sections were particularly relevant for our time—and they are. Surely when the call came from the prophet to join Zion’s Camp, a great number would not make that sacrifice. Surely, when the group was disbanded, after much sacrifice, without achieving an apparent purpose, many felt justified in criticizing the prophet.

I am surprised at how many not only resist our prophet’s counsel, today,but are angered by it. They don’t want to hear things they don’t want to hear. I love what Elder Bednar continued to say as he reflected on Zion’s Camp.

He said, “As a result of my call in 2004 to serve in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, I have a decidedly distinctive perspective about what it means to observe, to learn from, and to follow the Brethren. I now see on a daily basis the individual personalities, the various preferences, and the noble characters of the leaders of this Church. Some people find the human limitations and shortcomings of the Brethren troubling and faith diminishing. For me, those weaknesses are faith promoting. The Lord’s revealed pattern of governance in His Church provides for and attenuates the impact of human frailty. It is truly miraculous to me to witness the Lord accomplishing His will through His servants despite the flaws and failings of His chosen leaders. These men never have claimed to be and are not perfect; they certainly are, however, called of God.

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Elder Bednar said, “Since my call as a General Authority, I have tried to observe and learn as some of my Brethren have faced the effects of aging or the relentless demands of physical limitations and constant pain. You cannot and will never know the private and silent suffering some of these men live through as they serve publicly with all of their heart, might, mind, and strength. Serving with and watching President Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008), President James E. Faust (1920–2007), Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin (1917–2008), President Boyd K. Packer (1924–2015), Elder L. Tom Perry (1922–2015), Elder Richard G. Scott (1928–2015), and my other apostolic associates empower me to declare clearly and authoritatively that the Brethren with whom I serve are warriors—noble and great spiritual warriors—in the truest and most admirable sense of that word! Their patience, persistence, and courage enable them to “press forward with a steadfastness in Christ” (2 Nephi 31:20) that is worthy of our emulation.” (Bednar, Lessons).

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That’s all for today. Next week we’ll discuss Doctrine and Covenants Sections 106-108 in a lesson called “To Have the Heavens Opened”. Thanks to Paul Cardall for our music and to Michaela Proctor Hutchins who produces this podcast. See you next week.

The Gathering of Israel—Russell M. Nelson 101: The Greatest Work on Earth Today!

The gathering of scattered Israel is “the greatest challenge, the greatest cause, and the greatest work on earth today!” President Nelson has made this clear in many of his talks and teaching and he has invited all of us to be a part of this critical work in these last days. Let his teachings on this course through your minds and hearts today.

Read Russell M. Nelson 101: The Atonement of Jesus Christ here.
Read Russell M. Nelson 101: The Temple here.
Read Russell M. Nelson 101: The Temple Part 2 here.

Thank you, President Nelson, for inviting us all to participate in this monumental work. We are trying to follow your example.

Happy, happy birthday, President Nelson dear.

It is Happening Right Now!

For the more than 36 years I’ve been an Apostle, the doctrine of the gathering of Israel has captured my attention. Everything about it has intrigued me, including the ministries of Moses and Elijah, both of whom came to the Prophet Joseph Smith. … For centuries, prophets have foretold this gathering, and it is happening right now! As an essential prelude to the Second Coming of the Lord, it is the most important work in the world!

(Let God Prevail–October 2020)

On Either Side of the Veil

When we speak of gathering Israel on both sides of the veil, we are referring, of course, to missionary, temple, and family history work. Anytime we do anything that helps anyone—on either side of the veil—to make and keep their covenants with God, we are helping to gather Israel.

(Let God Prevail–October 2020)

The Book of Mormon and the Gathering

The coming forth of the Book of Mormon is a sign to the entire world that the Lord has commenced to gather Israel and fulfill the covenants He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We not only teach this doctrine, but we participate in it. We gather pedigree charts, create family group sheets, and do temple work vicariously to gather individuals unto the Lord and into their families. In fact, if there were no Book of Mormon, the promised gathering of Israel would not occur.

(The Future of the Church: Preparing the World for the Savior’s Second Coming–April 2020)

A Daily Commitment to Come Unto Christ

Missionary work is crucial to that gathering. Servants of the Lord go forth proclaiming the Restoration. In many nations our members and missionaries have searched for those of scattered Israel. They have hunted for them ‘out of the holes of the rocks.’ And they have fished for them, as in ancient days (see Jeremiah 16:16). The choice to come unto Christ is not a one-time decision; it is a daily commitment. And as we help people make and keep those commitments, we are helping to gather Israel.

(The Future of the Church: Preparing the World for the Savior’s Second Coming–April 2020)

The Ball is in Our Court

The lineage of Joseph—through Ephraim and Manasseh—is the seed appointed to lead in the gathering of Israel. The pioneers knew they were part of the house of Israel. They knew they were fulfilling prophecy. They knew that the long-awaited gathering of Israel was to commence with them. This ‘ball’ was in their court! And now, it is in ours.

(The Exodus Repeated—September 1997, BYU Speeches)

The Most Important Work on Earth Today

The gathering of Israel is the most important work taking place on earth today. One crucial element of this gathering is preparing a people who are able, ready, and worthy to receive the Lord when He comes again. The gathering is not only missionary work, it is temple work. It is covenant work. It is the work of salvation and exaltation.

(Overcome the World and Find Rest—October 2022)

You Young Men Have Been Reserved for This Time

Each of us has a role to play in the gathering of Israel. Today I reaffirm strongly that the Lord has asked every worthy, able young man to prepare for and serve a mission. Missionary service is a priesthood responsibility. You young men have been reserved for this time when the promised gathering of Israel is taking place. As you serve missions, you play a pivotal role in this unprecedented event!

(Preaching the Gospel of Peace—April 2022)

Preparing the World for the Second Coming

Dear young friends, you are each vital to the Lord. He has held you in reserve until now to help gather Israel. Your decision to serve a mission, whether a proselyting or a service mission, will bless you and many others. There is nothing happening of greater importance on this earth right now than the gathering of Israel and preparing the world for the Second Coming of the Lord.

(Preaching the Gospel of Peace—April 2022)

The Lord’s Youth Battalion

You will remember that I have invited the youth of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to enlist in the Lord’s youth battalion to participate in the greatest cause on earth today—the gathering of Israel. This cause is the most important thing taking place on earth today. It is essential to the preparation for the Second Coming of the Savior. Each of you has an important part to play in it.

(Witnesses, Aaronic Priesthood Quorums, and Young Women Classes—October 2019)

To Bless all Covenant Children

Moses appeared in the Kirtland Temple and conferred upon Joseph Smith the keys for the gathering of Israel and the return of the ten tribes. Elijah the prophet appeared there also. His appearance fulfilled Malachi’s promise that before the Second Coming, the Lord would send Elijah to ‘turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers.’ Elijah conferred the keys of the sealing power upon Joseph Smith. These keys authorized Joseph Smith—and all succeeding Presidents of the Lord’s Church—to gather Israel on both sides of the veil, to bless all covenant children with the blessings of Abraham, and to seal families eternally.

(Rejoice in the Gift of Priesthood Keys—April 2024)

Sisters’ Participation is Critical

My dear sisters, I’m extending a prophetic plea to you, the women of the Church, to shape the future by helping to gather scattered Israel. This gathering is ‘the greatest challenge, the greatest cause, and the greatest work on earth today’! Your participation is crucial. You were sent to earth at this precise time—the most crucial time in the history of the world—to help gather Israel.

(Sisters’ Participation in the Gathering of Israel—October 2018)

One Great Work

Our greatest joy comes as we help our brothers and sisters. Thank you for all you are doing to help gather Israel on both sides of the veil. Missionary work, temple work, and family history work are all part of this. The Lord’s invitation is for all of us to join in this effort and find joy in it.

(The Second Great Commandment—October 2019)

To Fulfill Our Divine Mandate

The gathering of Israel moves forward. The Lord Jesus Christ directs the affairs of His Church, and it will achieve its divine objectives. May we go forward together to fulfill our divine mandate—that of preparing ourselves and the world for the Second Coming of the Lord.

(A New Normal—October 2020)

Invite All to Come Unto Their Savior

Our message to the world is simple and sincere: we invite all of God’s children on both sides of the veil to come unto their Savior, receive the blessings of the holy temple, have enduring joy, and qualify for eternal life. That is the essence of the gathering of Israel. It is to bring God’s children back to Him, covenanted and sealed to Him and to their families forever.

(Let Us All Press On—April 2018)

 

Read Russell M. Nelson 101: The Atonement of Jesus Christ here.

Read Russell M. Nelson 101: The Temple here.

Read Russell M. Nelson 101: The Temple Part 2 here.