Prophets in Mormonism/Part 13

The Mormon Church claims to be “the only true and living church upon the face of the whole earth” (Doctrine and Covenants 1:30) and that they alone have the authority or priesthood that God recognizes to do His work. Since such claims infer that all other churches are false and without authority, Mormonism should realize its claims will be examined and challenged. Another LDS claim is that their Church was not only founded by a prophet, but that it is always led by a living prophet. Our recent articles have raised valid questions about some of Joseph Smith’s “prophecies” found in LDS scripture in the Doctrine and Covenants. We will continue our study of LDS prophecies in this article.

Sections 121, 122 and 123 of the Doctrine and Covenants are unique because all three came from parts of two letters Joseph Smith wrote between March 20 and 25 of 1839 while he was in the Liberty Jail in Missouri. Smith later said his second letter just completed the first letter, so it is really only one letter. Smith’s complete letter is in the History of the Church, volume 3, pages 289-305. Joseph Fielding Smith, the 10th LDS Prophet said of this letter,

This is one of the greatest letters that was ever penned by the hand of man. In fact, it was the result of humble inspiration. It is a prayer and a prophecy and an answer by revelation from the Lord. None other but a noble soul filled with the spirit of love of Christ could have written such a letter. Considering their sufferings, it is no wonder that the Prophet cried out in the anguish of his soul for relief. Yet, in his earnest pleading, there breathed a spirit of tolerance and love for his fellow man. (Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual, pages 295-296, published by the LDS Church in 1981)

Page 296 in the Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual goes on to say this about Smith’s letter, “Sections 121, 122, and 123 were extracted from this commu­nication and included in the 1876 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants by Elder Orson Pratt under the direction of Brigham Young. The edition of the Doctrine and Covenants that included these three sections was sustained as scripture in the October 1880 conference of the (LDS) Church.”

Smith didn’t claim that his letter was scripture when he wrote it in 1839 and he had been dead for 32 years when Pratt selected parts of that letter to add to the Doctrine and Covenants in 1876. Although the Doctrine and Covenants Student Manual says that Pratt selected parts of Smith’s letter under the direction of Brigham Young, the LDS Prophet at that time, it is doubtful that Brigham had much to do with it. And when those parts of Smith’s letter were sustained (voted) as scrip­ture in 1880, Young had been dead for three years. Less than half of the contents of Smith’s letter are in the three Sections of the Doctrine and Covenants, so why and how did parts of it become scripture in 1880? If Smith’s letter was “a prayer and a prophecy and an answer by revelation from the Lord” as LDS Prophet Joseph Fielding Smith said, why isn’t the whole letter “scripture”? Did Smith write part of it under “humble inspiration” and the rest of it under his own human wisdom? Pratt was not an LDS Prophet, so how did he determine which part was inspired and which was not?

President Joseph Fielding Smith said that Joseph Smith was crying out in the anguish of his soul in this letter because of his persecution and imprisonment, “Yet, in his earnest pleading, there breathed a tolerance and love for his fellow man.” Here is some of the “tolerance and love” Smith expressed in his letter:

Let thine anger be kindled against our enemies; and, in the fury of thine heart, with thy sword avenge us of our wrongs… And not many years hence, that they and their posterity shall be swept from under heaven, saith God, that not one of them is left to stand by the wall. Cursed are all of those that shall lift up the heel against mine anointed [Joseph Smith], saith the Lord …They shall not have right to the priesthood, nor their posterity after them from generation to generation. It had been better for them that a millstone had been hanged about their necks, and they drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe unto all those that discomfort my people, and drive, and murder, and testify against them, saith the Lord of Hosts; a generation of vipers shall not escape the damnation of hell. Behold mine eyes see and know all their works, and I have in reserve a swift judgment in the season thereof, for them all. (Doctrine and Covenants 121:5, 15-16, 21-24).

In spite of the above threats and warnings, whenever descendants of Smith’s persecutors join the LDS Church they proudly publicize it. Such descendants have never been excluded from the LDS priesthood as Smith said in Doctrine and Covenants 121:21. The fate of every single “enemy” of Joseph Smith in Missouri isn’t known, but we do know that most of them lived the rest of their lives much like others in Missouri. So, all of Smith’s “enemies” did not receive a “swift judgment” as he said in Doctrine and Covenants 121:24.

The History of the Church in volume 3 recorded that the Mormons were forced to leave Missouri and go to Illinois less than a month after Smith’s letter was written. It also says Smith escaped from his guards soon after he wrote this letter and he went to Illinois too. He lived there for five years and then was killed while in jail in Carthage, IL, on June 27, 1844. Smith had written in Doctrine and Covenants 121:7-8 “My son, peace be unto thy soul; thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but for a moment; and then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high; thou shalt triumph over all thy foes.” But adversity followed Smith to Illinois and ended when he was killed by his foes.

Joseph Fielding Smith’s claim that Smith’s letter was the result of “humble inspiration” and was “a prayer and a prophecy and an answer by revelation from the Lord” was not true in the light of what really happened.

More about these events can be read in the Doctrine & Covenants Student Manual published by the LDS Church in 1981. We will continue this study next time.