After the martyrdom

2/28 Class by Laurel Lawrence

Read January Ensign, Miraculous Mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith

It’s good to take our families to the Church History Museum so that the things we tell them become more real.

During his ministry, Joseph Smith was taken to court and acquitted over 220 times! Eventually he became his own lawyer and was very good at it.

(The first governor of California was one of Joseph’s lawyers and said that he was such a good man!)

John Taylor and Willard Richards were he only apostles in town for Joseph’s funeral. John Taylor was severely wounded, so no idea if he was able to attend. All other apostles were away on missions, but after they heard about Joseph’s death, each remembered the day and that they had felt a great sadness on that day without knowing why. Orson Hyde remembered breaking out in tears and feeling so sad and didn’t know why. George Albert Smith couldn’t sleep and was depressed. He eventually read about it in the newspapers and didn’t believe it at first. Parley P Pratt was on a steamboat and heard new passengers talking about it and also didn’t believe it. Then other passengers began to taunt him saying, “Now what’s going to happen to your Church? How are you going to keep it together without him?” He reminded them that Jesus was also killed but His Church continued. He was very sad but received a message from God to tell the saints to continue faithful. He went back to Nauvoo. 

Everyone was very happy to see him. One of the things he taught was to not seek revenge. All the apostles knew that they needed to wait until all of them had returned before trying to reorganize the Church leadership. In the meantime the saints were instructed to keep working on the temple.  The saints needed this leadership because without Joseph, they felt like sheep without a shepherd.

Then Brigham Young remembered that the keys were there; Joseph had bestowed all the keys on the apostles before he left for Carthage. The saints were so happy to see all the apostles return.

Back when the saints moved from Kirtland to Nauvoo, Sydney Rigdon didn’t to with them. He went to Pennsylvania. He was unhappy with Joseph because of polygamy.

D&C 124 God tells him to go where they were commanded and that even now if he will obey he will be blessed. But he didn’t want to obey.  After Joseph Smith died, Syndey went to Nauvoo and announced that he had received a revelation that he  should be the new “guardian” of the Church. Sydney knew what it was like to receive a revelation because he had received D&C 76 with Joseph Smith. But Satan can counterfeit revelations and many other things:

God’s                                                    Satan’s counterfeit

Love                                                     Lust

Priesthood                                             Priestcraft for money and glory

Miracles                                                sorcery

Marriage between man and woman         Gay marriage

Prophets                                                psychics

Patriarch                                               fortune teller

Law of consecration                                communism

Eternal progression                                 reincarnation

Seer stone                                              crystal ball

Six weeks after Joseph was killed, the apostles held a solemn assembly to let the saints choose who should replace Joseph. First Syndey Rigdon spoke for 1 ½ hours. Nobody was moved or felt anything. . Then Brigham Young spoke  and talked about Joseph Smith. As he spoke people heard the voice of Joseph, with his manner of speaking with a whistle because of the chipped tooth from when he was tarred and feathered.  They thought he looked like Joseph in his looks, attitude, dress, appearance, and manner and that he had the mantle of Joseph Smith. There were over 1,000 who testified of that.

In the afternoon Brigham Young spoke again and testified of himself – that he had never faltered (like so many apostates and Sydney Rigdon) Then they had a vote to have the 12 apostles lead the Church with the president of the quorum of the twelve to govern. The vote was unanimous.

19 times during his life Joseph Smith told the people that he wouldn’t live to 40. He had carefully trained the 12 before he left for Carthage. He met with them every day before they all left on their last mission. He also gave them the endowments and gave the sealing powers to Brigham Young.

Sydney Rigdon was excommunicated and was furious and returned to Pittsburgh and started his own church called the Church of Christ, organized on April 6. He had a handful of believers “Rigdonites” who eventually all left him.

Another apostate, James Strang came forward saying he had a letter from Joseph Smith that said the saints should follow him and gather in Wisconsin. He took some saints “Strangites” and they struggled for a while and in 1856 was murdered by one of his followers.

From then on they followed the apostolic succession from President of the 12 to President of the 12.

How to remember the succession of presidents:

Never               Nelson

Order                Oaks

Big                    Ballard

Hamburgers       Holland

Except               Eyring

Under               Uchdorf

Bitter                Bednar

Cold                 Cook    

Conditions         Christofferson

And                  Anderson

Rather               Rasband

Severe               Stevenson

Rainstorms        Renlund

Get                   Gong

Soup                 Soares

The first priority for the saints was to finish the temple. They completed one ordinance at a time so that they could do that ordinance while building the next ordinance room. So the first done was the baptistery.

They continued to send out missionaries and created the quorum of 70. People were called as 70s to go on missions.

The difference between an Area Seventy and a General Authority Seventy:

An Area Seventy lives at home, continues with his job, and serves by traveling around his area completing assignments from the Quorum of the Twelve. It is a part time calling, but they are ordained Seventies. There are 210 area seventies in the world. They serve about 5 years. When they are released, they aren’t emeritus or anything. They just go back to work.

A General Authority Seventy is a full time calling. They leave their home, job, and go with their family to wherever they are assigned. They are ordained Seventy if they weren’t already, and then set apart as General Authority Seventy. There are 90 General Authority Seventies in the world. They are called to serve until they turn 70. They are replaced in the April Conference of the year they turn 70, and serve until October. When they are released they are emeritus status.

They used to call a bunch of assistants for the Quorum of the Twelve and when Kimball was president, he told them that is what seventies are, so they called 70s to do that instead of “assistants” to the twelve.

Brigham renamed Nauvoo to City of Joseph. The saints settled and more arrived daily but the persecution also grew. A year later, there was a trial for 9 leaders of the mob that killed Joseph, but they were all acquitted because they argued that what they did was the popular will of the people.

They couldn’t have any police or militia in Nauvoo, so Brigham organized the young boys, ages 9-13 to protect the safety of the citizens. They were taught to whittle and whistle. They spread all over the city and whenever they saw someone who looked or was acting superstitious, they would begin to whistle with the whistle they had whittled. They would just follow the guy around whistling, which would bring the other boys and soon the man would be surrounded by young boys, whistling. It was so annoying that they would leave. It was highly effective and was a great way to keep the young boys involved in a good cause. Plus they had all loved Joseph and wanted to do their part. There is an article in the Friend about them.

Once when Joseph was in hiding, he passed a school and was going to say hi to the kids but saw them all praying for him. He commended them and told them that God always hears the prayers of the children.

In the temple they focused on getting endowments. Brigham would work until 3am and only sleep 4 hours at night to do as many as possible. Having the ordinances was a huge help to the saints when they crossed the plains. None of the endowed members left the church and of the worst apostates, none had been endowed.

The martyrdom of Joseph Smith

It is imperative that children learn to know and love Joseph Smith. They will encounter many voices in the world who will berate Joseph and they need to know the truth. We need to teach the children stories of Joseph Smith.

In his last years, Joseph Smith said that he was more worried about the apostates than the nonmembers. They WANTED/NEEDED the Church to be wrong so they could feel right. One of the biggest, most influential of the apostates was William Law. After he was excommunicated, he organized his own church, called The True Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He created a newspaper called the Expositor, used to try to expose the Church as a fake. He used it to rail against the Church. He hated Joseph so much he had tried to kill him. He actually shot at Joseph six times and the gun mis-fired every time.

In those times it was very common for people to burn down a printing press if they felt it was printing scandalous stories. It had happened to the Saints more than 20 times, with no consequences from the law to those who did it. But when the Church burned down the Expositor, a warrant was put out for Joseph Smith, Hyrum, and other leaders of the Church. There were also more serious charges against Joseph (who was the Mayor) and Hyrum, who was the vice-Mayor. The City Council was exonerated twice in Nauvoo, so the authorities decided to move the court to Carthage, so another warrant was issued for them all.

Joseph and Hyrum knew they had 3 choices – 1. Turn themselves in, in which case they knew they would be killed, 2. Go west where the saints were beginning to move to, or 3. Go into hiding until the charges could be disputed and dropped. They decided to go into hiding. They stayed on an island in the Mississippi river until one member told Joseph Smith that he was a coward. He responded that if his life was of no value to the saints, it was of no value to himself, so they turned themselves in.

On the way to turn themselves in, they went home to say goodbye and gave each of his children a blessing and spent the night there. They had a very faithful dog named Major who followed Joseph everywhere. They didn’t want the dog to follow him to jail, so they shut him in an upstairs bedroom. But the window was open, so the dog jumped out the 2^nd story window and went with him. As Joseph waved goodbye to the saints, he said, “Little do they know the trials that await them.” D&C 135 he said, “I go as a lamb to the slaughter.” He knew he would not be coming back.

The ride took all day so when they got to Carthage, they spent that night in a hotel. Then in the morning they surrendered. There was rioting and then they were charged with treason. Same as when Christ was arrested, the charges were changed after they were taken into custody. Treason changed the charges to a capital offense, punishable by death. (Other similarities with Jesus – he submitted willingly, he gave his life, he asked someone to take care of his family, it was his own followers who convicted him, etc.)

The governor declared Martial Law and left for Nauvoo to “investigate” and should have taken Joseph with him like he said he would, so he wasn’t there to protect the leaders in jail. The men were put in Carthage to wait for trial. There had been no trial yet; they had not even been convicted.

Their first night was in a gloomy cell where they read from the Book of Mormon and Joseph testified to the guards regarding angels and truth.

Dan Jones, one of the prisoners, slept on the floor near Joseph (who was also on the floor). He didn’t want to be in a bed if others were on the floor. Joseph asked Dan if he was afraid to die and testified to him that he would live and would serve a mission in Wales.

In the morning, June 27, some men, including Dan were sent on an errand. Willard Richards and John Taylor wanted to stay. The lock on the door was broken, so they actually could have walked out anytime.  A group of the U.S. Militia was outside the jail – bad-mouthed, evil men who were boasting they would kill Joe Smith. A man named J Wheeler visited the prison and took a pistol to Joseph to defend himself.

The room was filled with a feeling of depression and gloom. They knew that the governor had left them to the mobs. Hyrum asked John Taylor to sing A Poor Wayfaring Man (not in hymnbook yet), then asked him to sing it a 2^nd time. John T said he really didn’t feel like singing; Hyrum said, “if you begin, perhaps the feeling will come.” He was singing when they saw men with their faces painted black (with gun powder) around the jail. They began to storm the door so Hyrum and Willard braced themselves against the door. Then the mobs shot through the door which wounded Hyrum, then a shot from the window killed him. Joseph saw his brother dead and leaped to the door. Joseph shot through the door, which slowed them a little but they soon broke through. John Taylor tried to jump out the window and was shot but the bullet hit his watch, stopping it. So we know the attack was at 5:15 pm. The watch saved his life. He crawled under the bed but was shot 2 more times. Joseph tried also to jump out the window but was shot and killed. Willard Richards was not shot at all. It was prophesied to him that bullets would whiz past him and he would not be hurt.

The mob fled after killing Joseph. One yelled, “the Mormons are coming!” (They apparently heard or saw something that wasn’t there.)

At the time that Joseph was killed, the cattle began to bellow all over Nauvoo. The Quorum of Twelve were all over the place on missions, and at the time of Joseph’s death, they all felt intense sadness and gloom and didn’t know why. Samuel Smith was on his way to Carthage to try to help them and arrived too late, but helped move the bodies before the mobs came back. He was sick and the ride was hard; he died 1 month later. Lucy Mack Smith had lost 5 sons and a husband. She cried, “Why hast thou forsaken my family?” The answer came back to her, “I have taken them home to rest.”

The next day they took the bodies back to Nauvoo. They covered them to protect them. They put them in Joseph Smith’s house to lie in state. Thousands went through for the viewing.

George Canon was a new convert, new to Nauvoo, and he had an ability nobody else had – he could make a “death mask”, which preserved the features of their faces so future generations would know what they looked like. He was the father of George Q Cannon.

There was a memorial service. W.W. Phelps spoke. Appropriately, he wrote Praise to the Man. Gordon B Hinckley said when he was 12 he was finally allowed to attend Priesthood meeting at Stake Conference. It was hard for him to sit still and listen to everything, but when that hymn was sung, it stirred his soul and started his testimony.

It was necessary for Joseph Smith to seal his testimony with blood. All 12 of Jesus apostles died martyrs. Willard Richards and John Taylor became the 2 witnesses of the martyrdom.

Porter Rockwell was a lifelong friend of Joseph Smith and wanted to go with him to Carthage, but Joseph asked him to stay in Nauvoo to guard his family.

Good books about Joseph Smith – They knew the Prophet and Remembering Joseph. They aren’t testimonials, but actual unsolicited journal accounts people had written.

General Joseph Smith

Laurel Lawrence’s class 2/14/19

The saints were able to live in Nauvoo in peace for about 3 years. Joseph Smith was heavily involved in all aspects of life there – father, husband, building their 1^st ever home, prophet, general of the Nauvoo Legion, and helping build Nauvoo. He was frequently seen working at the temple alongside all the others.

One of his favorite sayings was, “Just Yankee Doodle Do It!”. He liked getting things done and encouraged others to be anxiously engaged in good works.

Sidenote: the song Yankee Doodle Dandy was created by the British troops to make fun of the Yankees. They sang it to them in derision. But the pilgrims took it and made it their own theme song. They would sing it loudly to the Brits whenever they, the Yankees won a battle. The line that says, “stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni.” Refers to in those days a slang word for jewels was macaroni, so the song says the Yankees called a feather macaroni means the yanks were so dumb they even though a feather was like a jewel or expensive adornment.

Joseph felt an urgency to start performing the temple ordinances, specifically endowments before the temple was completed. He used the upper floor of the Red Brick Store  where he had a mural painted, added trees and plants to make it look like an ordinance room. He had learned the “new” concept that families can be forever, and all the saints were excited to hear that and wanted the ordinance for it.

Whenever we begin to build temples, Hell’s bells ring. Every time we have a stake or general conference, Satan holds one, too. (Harold B Lee)

Satan targeted destroying Joseph Smith as he always targets the living prophet, so he stirred up the apostate saints against Joseph. One of the new converts of this time was John C Bennet. He was very popular. He was a great speaker and writer. He was the first mayor of Nauvoo and everyone loved him. Emma was the only one who thought something was wrong with him and didn’t trust him.

When Joseph was teaching plural marriage, he would go to a man privately and teach him, then ask him to pray about it. When he went to John C Bennett, John was enraged. He rejected it without praying. He was indignant and from that time fought against Joseph. John had a wife and child back east that he had abandoned, and he frequently had affairs with other women, which he called “spiritual wifery”. H was very against the law of plural marriage that teaches to protect, provide for and love another woman, but instead practiced adultery under a “special name” which did not protect or provide for, but just used women with no commitment.

So he was booted as mayor and kicked out of Nauvoo. Joseph replaced him as mayor. He was committed from then on to destroy Joseph. He spoke publicly and wrote newspaper articles against him. Since he was charismatic and popular, people liked what he said and believed him. One of those people was William Law, who had also been excommunicated for adultery. They, with others, met secretly to find ways to destroy Joseph.

Governer boggs, who had ordered the extermination order, got shot in the head but survived. He accused Joseph Smith, and John Bennett and William Law publicized the accusation, but at Joseph Smith had an alibi that was irrefutable, so he was dismissed as a suspect. Then John Bennett and William Law created a story and wrote an article that Joseph had hired someone else to shoot Boggs – Porter Rockwell.

Porter Rockwell and Joseph Smith were childhood friends. Joseph told Porter to never cut his hair as a covenant to God, and that as long as he didn’t cut his hair and kept his covenants, his life would be protected. He only ever cut his hair once when someone needed hair to make a wig.

The persecution for Bennett’s article was so intense that Joseph and Porter had to hide out on an island on the Mississippi. While he was there he received revelation and wrote D&C 128 and encouraged the saints to continue the work on the temple. He told them that whatever is not recorded on earth will not be recorded in heaven. They had been a little lax about keeping records of all ordinances done, so that taught them the importance of it and to be diligent about it.

Joseph and Porter were finally acquitted and he returned home to a big celebration. Everyone was so happy to have him back. Joseph said he was more worried about the traitors in the Church than the apostates. He said, “they can leave the Church, but they can’t leave the Church alone.”

In 1843 Nauvoo was the largest city in Illinois with over 10,000 people. The home Joseph built was called the Mansion House. He only got to live there 6 months before he was martyred. 

They invited Lucy Mack Smith to live with them. Soon after she got there, she became very sick and almost died. Joseph and Emma would take turns staying up all night with her and caring for her. She wrote of their love and devotion. She lived on after that to an advanced age.

The 1844 Presidential election year, Joseph and other leaders looked for a good candidate. The candidates knew that Nauvoo was a major deciding vote, but when Joseph asked each of them if they would help the saints recover their losses in Missouri, they would all say there was nothing they could do.

So Joseph decided to create a platform and run for President. He knew he could not win, but by running, he could force the other candidates to respond to his campaign.

The two parties at the time were the Whigs and the Democrats. Joseph ran as an Independent. He printed a pamphlet called General Smith’s views of policies.

His platform:

Abolish slavery by the year 1850. If they had done this they could have prevented the Civil War. The plan was that the government would buy the slaves using money from the sale of western lands and educate them. It would have cost the government way less than the war cost and lives would have been saved.

Reduce Congress by 2/3 and lower their salaries. He thought it was insane that they were paid more than farmers or teachers.

He stood for prison reform – to educate non-violent prisoners; to not have a debtor’s prison, but to let those debtors out of prison and make them work to repay what they owed. He wanted to make the prisons places of learning and work to rehabilitate the prisoners.

He wanted to accept Texas and Oregon into the Union and to work with the Indians instead of fighting them.

He wanted to create a national standard of currency instead of each state having their own currency so people could purchase and trade from state to state.

Joseph sent out hundreds of men as good will missionaries. They carried the pamphlets and talked to people about Joseph’s platform. As they did, the views were very popular. It made people curious about the Church and was a good missionary tool and created a lot of good will for the Church.  Many non-members were in favor of Joseph Smith for president. Some newspapers wrote articles very favorable articles about him for president.

The last year of his life, Joseph knew his days were numbered. He called a meeting of the Council of the Twelve and gave them all the sealing powers so they could lead the Church. Afterwards, Joseph said he felt “as light as a cork”. It was a huge weight lifted off him.

Also in 1844, the apostates organized their own Church. William Law was the president. They bought a printing press that they used to print anti-Mormon literature. It was called the Nauvoo Expositor and was trashy. They wrote that Joseph Smith was the blackest sinner and compared him to Nero – that he was God-forsaken full of lies and trouble.

It was common in those days that if the majority of people felt a group was printing bad literature, they would burn down the printing press. It had happened to the Mormons 20 or more times and nobody was ever punished for it. So the City council declared the Nauvoo Expositor a nuisance and burned it down.

But this time Bennett and others decided to take Joseph to trial for it. They convinced the governor that he couldn’t get a “fair” trial in Nauvoo and that he should be tried in Carthage. 

So an arrest warrant was issued for Joseph and Hyrum.

Joseph decided he had 3 choices:

1.    Submit to be arrested, in which case he knew he would be convicted and killed.

2.    Lead the saints west

3.    Hide.

So he and Hyrum went into hiding. Many protected him, but others called him a coward. He was devastated for this accusation and said, “If my life is of no worth to my friends, then it is of no worth to me.” He was very hurt.

He talked to Hyrum and they decided to surrender. They said “We will go back and we will be butchered.”

Before crossing the river to Carthage, he turned back to the saints and said, “Love one another.” That was his last counsel for them.