Prophets in Mormonism/Part 12

Because Joseph Smith was the founding Prophet of Mormonism his messages are very important to Mormons. And his words in the Doctrine and Covenants are canonized LDS scripture, so they are infallible to most Mormons. We will now look at three more of Smith’s revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants.

There is only one verse in Doctrine and Covenants 116 which Joseph Smith said he received as a revelation at Spring Hill in Daviess County, MO, on May 19, 1838. It says, “Spring Hill is named by the Lord Adam-ondi-Ahman, because, said He, it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people, or the Ancient of Days shall sit, as spoken of by Daniel the prophet.” Joseph Fielding Smith, the tenth LDS Prophet explained,

In accord with the revelations given to the Prophet Joseph Smith, we teach that the Garden of Eden was on the American continent located where the City Zion, or the New Jerusalem, will be built. When Adam and Eve were driven out of the Garden, they eventually dwelt at a place called Adam-ondi-Ahman, situated in what is now Daviess County, Missouri…We are committed to the fact that Adam dwelt on this American continent. But when Adam dwelt here, it was not the American continent, nor the Western Hemisphere, for all the land was in one place, and all the water was in one place (Doctrines of Salvation, vol. 3, p. 74).

While Doctrine and Covenants 107:53-55 and 117:8-11 supports the LDS idea of Adam having lived in present day Missouri, two other books of LDS scripture by Smith contradict it. Both the Pearl of Great Price, Moses 3:8-15 and Genesis 2:10­18 in the Joseph Smith Translation of the Bible place the Garden of Eden in Assyria just like the Bible. Even if the land was all in one place as Joseph Fielding Smith said, Assyria and Missouri would not have been in the same location. So, did God give this confusing information or did Joseph Smith?

Joseph Smith said he received four revelations on July 8, 1838 including Doc­trine and Covenants 117 through 120. In Doctrine and Covenants 117:12 and 15 “the Lord” said, “I remember my servant, Oliver Granger, behold, verily I say unto him that his name shall be had in sacred remembrance from generation to gen­eration to generation, forever and ever, saith the Lord…Therefore let no man despise my servant Oliver Granger, but let the blessings of my people be on him forever and ever.”

Many LDS in the Kirtland area lost all they had in the Kirtland Safety Society Bank when it failed in late 1837 and they were so angry at Joseph Smith for promot­ing it that many apostatized from the LDS Church. Smith left Kirtland on January 1, 1838 and went to Far West, MO, to get away from that situation. Oliver Granger was appointed to organize the people of Kirtland, OH, into “camps” so they could move together to Far West, MO. He was doing that when Smith received this revelation.

But Oliver Granger died in Kirtland on August 25, 1841 at the age of 49, just three years after this revelation was received.

Has Oliver Granger’s name been held in “sacred remembrance” by Mormons since then? The Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual says on page 290, “Though Oliver Granger is not as well known today as other early leaders of the (LDS) Church, if no one but the Lord had his name in remembrance that would be enough.” That statement might sound good, but it is not what this “revelation” says. It says, “Let the blessings of my people (LDS) be on him (Oliver Granger) forever and ever.” Most Mormons have never even heard of Oliver Granger, so how can they bless him “forever and ever”?

Smith said Doctrine and Covenants 118 was also received on July 8, 1838 as an answer to their prayer, “Show us thy will, O Lord concerning the Twelve” (Apostles). Verses 1, 4-6 say,

Verily, thus saith the Lord: Let a conference be held immediately; let the Twelve be organized; and let men be appointed to supply the place of those who are fallen… and next spring let them depart to go over the great waters, and there promulgate my gospel, the fullness thereof, and bear record of my name.

Let them take leave of my saints in the city of Far West, on the twenty-sixth
day of April next, on the building site of my house, saith the Lord. Let my
servant John Taylor, and also my servant John E. Page, and also my servant
Wilford Woodruff, and also my servant Willard Richards, be appointed to fill the
places of those who have fallen, and be officially notified of their appointment.

A conference met the next day in Far West to work on replacing the fallen Apostles. John Page and John Taylor were ordained Apostles on December 19, 1838, but the other two weren’t ordained until they met at the temple site in Far West on April 26, 1839. Doctrine and Covenants 118 says that there were to be Twelve Apostles who would meet there and then leave to go over seas as missionaries. The History of the Church, volume 3, pages 336-337 shows there were only seven Apostles present counting the two who were ordained at that meeting and none left immediately to go overseas. Some left late in 1839 while others didn’t arrive in England until April 1840.

The temple site in Doctrine and Covenants 118 is the same as the one in Doc­trine and Covenants 115 that we wrote about in our last article. Doctrine and Cov­enants 115:11 said that the foundation was to be laid on April 26, 1839 and building the temple shouldn’t stop until it was finished. To try to fulfill that prophecy, on April 26, 1839, Alpheus Cutler rolled a large stone near what was to be the southeast corner of the temple to show that the foundation of the temple was laid! But a large stone is not a temple and no temple was ever built there. The Twelve were not all present in Far West that day and they didn’t go on a mission overseas from there. Yet, LDS claim these revelations were fulfilled!

To read more about these prophecies see the Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual published by the LDS Church. We will continue this subject next time.