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From: "Perry L. Porter" <[e-mail]>
Subject: ---> Lesson 23
Date: 02 Jul 1997 19:48:43 -0700

Doctrine and Covenants 78-83; 1 04

Scriptural Highlights

1. The Lord provides for the temporal needs of his Saints.

2. "Unto whom much is given much is required."

3. We are to care for the poor.

Ask a class member to bear testimony of the blessings of caring for the needy.
Discussion and Application Questions

* According to D&C 78:3-5, what were the objectives of the united order?
(See also D&C 82:18-19.) How does equality in "earthly things" help us
obtain "heavenly things"? (D&C 78:5). How does obedience to the Lord's
commandments help prepare us for life in the celestial kingdom? (D&C 78:7.)

* According to D&C 78:14, what was a further objective of the united order?
How can we prepare to be as independent as possible even during times of
adversity? How does the Church help members to stand independent?

* What does it mean to do things with an eye single to the glory of God?
(D&C 78:8; 82:19.) How can you know if you are doing things with an eye
single to the glory of God?

*Who is Michael? (D&C 27:11; 78:16; 107:53-57.)

* Why is it important to feel gratitude to God for our blessings? (D&C
78:19; 104:14.) In what sense are we always in debt to God? (Mosiah
2:20-24.) How can we develop feelings of greater thanksgiving for God's
blessings?

* How can the Lord's counsel in D&C 81 :5-6 apply to us today?

* What relationship exists between forgiving other people and obtaining
forgiveness from God? (D&C 82:1; 64:9-10; Matthew 6:12-15.) What blessings
come to us as we forgive and forget and leave judgment to the Lord? (D&C
82:23.)

* In D&C 82:1-7 the Lord promised to forgive his servants but warned that
they must refrain from further sin. What are the consequences when we sin
and do not repent? (D&C 82:3, 7; 1 :31-33.) How can we avoid becoming
complacent in our attitude toward sin?

* The Lord said, "I . . . am bound when ye do what I say; but when ye do
not what I say, ye have no promise" (D&C 82:10; see also D&C 130:20-21).
How have you found this to be true? What is the Lord "bound" to do when we
obey him? Why do we sometimes have difficulty

page 45

Lesson 23

recognizing the blessings the Lord gives us when we obey?

* What does D&C 82:18-19 teach us about improving on the talents the Lord
has given us? What talents might we possess that could be helpful in
building the kingdom of God?

* According to D&C 83, what are the roles of the family and the Church in
providing for women and children? How can we make greater efforts to care
for the widows and fatherless? (James 1 :27.)

* What is a stewardship? (See D&C 104:11-13, the quotation from President
Kimball, and the quotation from the Guide to the Scriptures in lesson 21.)
What kinds of stewardships do we have today? How will the Lord bless us as
we magnify our stewardships? (D&C 104:30-33; 51:19.)

* In D&C 104:14-18 the Lord explains his way of providing for the temporal
needs of his children. What is our responsibility when we receive of the
Lord's abundance? How does the Church help us provide for the needy? (See
the quotation from Elder Nelson and the quotation from President Kimball in
lesson 16.) How might an evaluation of our needs and wants make it possible
for us to do more in caring for the needy?

* Although there is famine and great need throughout the world, the Lord
has said that "the earth is full, and there is enough and to spare" (D&C
104:17). What are some of the causes of famine and need? How can we avoid
contributing to these causes?

Quotations

President Spencer W. Kimball: "In the Church a stewardship is a sacred
spiritual or temporal trust for which there is accountability. Because all
things belong to the Lord, we are stewards over our bodies, minds,
families, and properties.... A faithful steward is one who exercises
righteous dominion, cares for his own, and looks to the poor and needy"
(Ensign, Nov. 1977, p. 78).

Elder Russell M. Nelson: "As individual members of the Church, you and I
participate in the Lord's 'own way.' At least once a month, we fast and
pray and contribute generous offerings to funds that enable bishops to
disperse aid This is past of the Law of the gospel. Each of us truly can
help the poor and the needy, now, and wherever they are. And we, too, will
be blessed and protected from apostasy by so doing" (Ensign, May 1986, p. 27).

Next Week's Reading Assignment Doctrine and Covenants 84-85

Class Member Study Guide

Lesson 23

Early in March 1832, the Lord revealed that there must be an organization
to regulate and establish the law of consecration among his people (see D&C
78). The Lord referred to this organization as an "order" (D&C 78:8), and
it later came to be known as the united order (see D&C 92:1). Saints were
to become part of the order "by a bond or everlasting covenant" (D&C
78:11). The order was to receive consecrations from the Saints of all their
possessions, give stewardships back to the Saints, and supervise the
storehouses of the Church.

In response to the command to "sit in council with the saints which are in
Zion" (D&C 78:9), the Prophet began preparing to leave for Missouri. This
was a particularly difficult time for Joseph. On the night of 24 March
1832, a mob broke into his home at Hiram, Ohio, dragged him out into the
cold, stripped off his clothing, covered his body with hot tar and
feathers, and broke one of his teeth trying to force a vial of poison into
his mouth. As a result of the mobbing, Joseph's adopted twins, who had been
suffering from measles, were exposed to the cold night air. One of the
twins died five days later from the effects of the exposure.

In spite of this tragedy and continuing mob threats to their families,
Joseph and other Church leaders left for Missouri on 1 April, only a few
days after the infant's death.

After arriving in Jackson County, the Prophet called a general council of
the Church. At the council, misunderstandings that had existed between some
of the Church leaders were amicably resolved (see D&C 82:1). Joseph was
acknowledged as President of the High Priesthood, as he had been three
months earlier in Ohio (see heading to D&C 75), and the Missouri branch of
the united order was organized. Section 82 was received during the
conference and section 83 a few days afterward.

Joseph Smith received D&G 104 two years later. In it the Lord temporarily
dissolved the united order in Kirtland and reorganized it separately from
the order in Missouri (see D&C 104:47-51). Properties were given as
stewardships to the members in Kirtland. Until this time, there had been
one united order that included the Saints in Ohio and Missouri. The Lord
made these changes because financial problems in Kirtland and persecutions
in Missouri made it advisable to separate the resources of the two groups
of Saints. The Lord commanded the Saints in Kirtland to use their
stewardships to further the important work of publishing the scriptures. He
also explained the way in which his Saints should care for the poor.
As you study D&C 78-83 and 104, consider the following:

* What were some objectives of the united order? (D&C 78:3-5, 14;
82:18-19.) How can we prepare to be as independent as possible even during
times of adversity?
What are the consequences when members of the Church sin and do not repent?
(D&C 82:1-7.) How can we avoid becoming complacent in our attitude toward sin?

* What is our responsibility when we receive of the Lord's abundance? How
might an evaluation of our needs and wants make it possible for each of us
to do more in caring for the needy?
Tarring and Feathering the Prophet, by C. C. A. Christensen. While living
in Hiram, Ohio, Joseph Smith was beaten and covered with tar and feathers
by members of a mob. Sidney Rigdon was also badly beaten and is shown Iying
in the background. Courtesy Museum of Fine Arts at Brigham Young University.
Page 46

VVVVVV-----From: Stephen Ott <[e-mail]>------VVVVVVV



Section 78
    Most students of Church history are aware that sections 78, 82,
92, 103, 104, and 105 carried a number of code names and words used
to disguise the identity of the persons, places, and concepts referred to.
The original drafts of these revelations did not contain these code words
but used rather the real names of the persons and places.  These code
words began with the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants.
However, many readers have not understood why these unusual names
were used.  Some have supposed they represented a divine or revealed
name of the persons and perhaps pertained to past or future existence.
This evidently was not the case.  The code names were used in 1835 so
as not to expose to the enemies of the Church the identity of the
persons, places, or concepts.  The 1876 edition of the Doctrine and
Covenants printed the real names in brackets after the code words.  This
practice was continues until the 1981 edition.  Since there exists no
present need to have the code names, the 1981 edition uses only the
names in the original manuscript.  This procedure is explained in the new
headnote to sections 78 and 82.
    Robert J. Matthews, "The New Publications of the Standard
Works?1979, 1981," Brigham Young University Studies, Volume 22,
Number 4.

    The United Firm was a business partnership consisting of about a
dozen Church leaders.  Members of the firm were either land-owners or
merchants whose purpose was to work in concert, using the financial
means at their disposal, to generate pofits.  Inasmuch as the members of
the partnership were also presiding Church leaders, it is difficult to
determine which of their financial transactions were purely personal and
which were Church-related  This dual relationship has led some writers
to erroneously conclude that the United Firm administered the law of
consecration.  Specifically, the Church bishop administered the program
of consecration.  The United Order was essentially a private business
concern.
    The nucleus from which the United Firm grew was the
Gilbert-Whitney store, as it was called, expanded to two branches (one
in Kirtland and one in Independence) ....
    Section 78 directed that the order be formed and commanded that
Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, and Newel K. Whitney "sit in council with
the Saints ... in Zion," to regulate the affairs of the poor.  ...  During
their
visit in Missouri, a meeting of the United Firm essentially incorporated the
Missouri branch of the Gilbert-Whitney Store into the firm.
    William E. McLellan stated on more than one occasion that there
were nine members of the United Firm, but there may have been more.
The following are known to have been members in 1832: Joseph Smith,
Sidney Rigdon, Jesse Gause, Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, A. Sidney
Gilbert, Newel K. Whitney; undoubtedly Edward Partridge, William W.
Phelps, and John Whitmer were also members in that year.  Frederick G.
Williams and John Johnson became members of the order in 1833.
    The members of the United Firm were consecrated in their
respective responsibilities, and although they were to benefit personally
from the profits of the firm, the surplus profits were to be used for the
operation and blessing of the whole Church.
    ...  On 10 Aprl 1834 members of the firm met and decided that the
order should be dissolved, ... a revelation (section 104), commanded that
the two brances of the firm become separate entities and that the
members discontinue operating jointly.
    The coded names in section 78 and subsequent revelations
dealing with United Firm ... were used to prevent enemies of the Church
from taking advantage of the brethren after the revelations were
published.  It was decided that the financial affairs of the Church,
administered by the firm, should be kept confidential.
    Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith:
A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and
Covenants, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), p. 167-169.

    According to two manuscript copies ... section 78 was received
in Kirtland not Hiram ....  A notation in the "Kirtland Revelation Book," ...
details the Prophet's activities ... "From the 16th of February up to this
date [8 March] have been at home except a journey to Kirtland on the
29th Feby. and returned home on the 4th of March we received a
revelation in Kirtland and one since I returned home blessed be the name
of the Lord."  The revelation received in Kirtland was section 78 ... and
the revelation received after the Prophet's return to Hiram, Ohio, related
to the duties of the Church bishop and the calling of counselors in the
presidency of the High Priesthood ....
    Early manuscripts of section 78 ... clearly indicate that the subject
at hand was the organization of brancehs of the Literary and United
Firms ....  Explicit reference to these business concerns was deleted
when the revelation was published in 1835.  ...  The terms
"Adam-ondi-Ahman" and "Son Ahman" ... were not part of the original
revelation ... but were added in 1835.
    Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith:
A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and
Covenants, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), p.  312-313.

15,20: Adam-ondi-Ahman & Son Ahman not part of the original revelation.
Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A
Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants,
(Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), p. 313.

References to business concerns deleted when published in 1835.
Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A
Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants,
(Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), p. 313.


81
    At a priesthood conference hold in Amherst, Ohio, on 25 January
1832, Joseph Smith was ordained and sustained President of the High
Priesthood.  Less than two months later the Prophet appointed two men
to stand with him in the Presidency of the High Priesthood.  ...  Although
the "Presidency" of the High Priesthood ... was to preside over all
ordained high priests, by 1834 this body had become the First
Presidency of the Church.
    ...
    While the recipient of Section 81 has traditionally been believed to
be Frederick G. Williams, the "Kirtland Revelation Book" discloses that the
revelation was intended for Jesse Gause.  ...
    Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith:
A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and
Covenants, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), p. 170-171.

    Use of the term "First Presidency" in revelations prior to 1834 is
anachronistic.  In all cases where this occurs the language was modified
in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants.
    Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith:
A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and
Covenants, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), p. 314.

82
    ... 26 April 1832, a general council of the Church was convened
in which the Missouri Saints acknowledged Joseph Smith as President of
the High Priesthood.  At the close of the conference, the Prophet
received section 82.
    ...
    Section 82 concerns itself witht he organization of a branch of
the United Firm in Missouri and the responsibilities of the members of the
firm to "manage the affairs of the poor."
    Verse 1 specifically refers to difficulties between Joseph Smith
and Church leaders in Missouri and an eight-month-old disagreement
between Sidney Rigdon and Edward Partridge.
    ...
    We lack some details about the latter problem, but the factors
involved were "money," Ridgon's near drowning in the Missouri River on
his return trip to Ohio from Missouri in 1831, and inconveniences
suffered on the 1831 Missouri trip.  ...  Sidney became so disturbed over
this affair that he became mentally depressed and preached falsely in
public in Kirtland. ...
    ...
    Rigdon quickly became aware of his error, sought forgiveness,
and on 28 July was reordained as a member of the Presidnecy of the
High Priesthood.
    Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith:
A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and
Covenants, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), p. 172-175.

    Sidney's first revelation in Kirtland was telling the people that the
kingdom was rent from the, and they might as well all go home for they
were rejected.  The saints felt very bad and were alomost distracted.
When brother Joseph cam home, (who was absent at the hime) he
called Sidney into council and there told him he had lied in the name of the
Lord; and says he, "you had better give up your licence and divest
yourself of all the authority you can, for you will go into the hands of
satan, and he will handle you as one man handleth another, and the less
authority you have the better for you ....
    Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith:
A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and
Covenants, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), p. 315.

104
    ... an important revelation giving instructions to members of the
United Firm.  ... "revelation given April 23d 1834, appointing to each
member of the United firm their stewardships."
    Prior to the Prophet's leaving for Missouri in May 1834, he
desperately sought to borrow or collect by donation two thousand
dollars to pay pressing debts incurred by the United Firm.
    ... Joseph Smith and other journeyed to New York to seek
volunteers to help redeem the Jackson County Saints and to obtain
money "for the relief of the brethren in Kirtland."  ...a Church council
voted that several elders should "exert themselves to obtain two
thousand dollars for the present relief of Kirtland" ....  ... returned to
Kirtland unsuccessful in obtaining the needed money, the Prophet met
with Newel K. Whitney, Frederick G. Williams, Oliver Cowdery, and
Heber C. Kimball and prayed that the Lord would "furnish the means to
deliver the [United] Firm from debt."  ...
    On 10 April 1834, unable to secure the needed funds, members
of the United Firm met and agreed that the "order" should be dissolved
and each member have his stewardship set off to him.
    Section 104 gives the particulars of the division of the United Firm
among the members living in Kirtland, and also directs the two branches
of the firm (i.e., the Missouri branch and the Kirtland branch) to become
separate entities.
    ...
    ... another revelation, received the same day ... required "every
one of what was then called the firm to give up all notes & demands that
they had against each other and all be equal."
    ... which follow verse 59 in the "Kirtland Revelation Book," are not
part of the present text of section 104 of the Doctrine and Covenants:
Therefore, a commandment I give unto you, that ye shall take the books
fo Mormon and also the copy-right, and also the copy-right which shall
be secured of the Articles and Covenants in which covenants all my
commandments which it is my will should be printed, shall be printed, as
it shall be made known unto you; and also the copy-right of the new
translation of the scripture; and this I say that others may not take the
blessings away from you which I have conferred upon you.
    Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith:
A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and
Covenants, (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), p. 210-212.

    ... the practice of bracketing the real names next to the
substituted names began with the 1876 edition.  By the 1921 edition
almost all the real names had been identified.  In the 1981 edition the code
names were removed from the text in all but four cases, and the identity
of one of these four is suggested in a textual note.  ...
    ... received by Joseph Smith between 1832 and 1834.  ... Joseph
Smith was officially sustained for the first time by a conference vote as
President of the High Priesthood.  With his selection of two counselors in
March, the first presiding quorum of the Church was established.  ...  By
the end of the the membership was about ten thousand.  ...
Nevertheless, by 1832 a growing climate of hostility was manifesting
itself against the Mormons.  ...
    In the context of this growing hostility the decision was made to
conceal the true idnetities of various early leaders, particularly those
responsible for the economic matters of the Church.  Sicne there were
numberous problems connected with the early attempts to establish the
law of consecration and stewardship, especially as it related to property
holding, it was natural to hide the identity of those assigned specific
temporal duties.
    The published revelations which contained the substituted names
include section 78, 82, 92, 96, 103, 104, and 105.  ... all of them were
concerned with the united firm ....  Thus section 78, the first section to
use code names, deals with the establishment of a storehouse for the
pooor; section 82 with the management of the properties for the poor; 92
with Frederick G. Williams who was instructed as a member fo the First
Presidency to become a member of the united firm; 96 with the
purchasing of properties; 104 with the stewardships fo those who were
members of the united firm; and 105 with Zion's Camp and the
redemption of Zion in Missouri.
    ...  None of them appears in the 1833 Book of Commandments....
All but two (103 and 105) were printed in the 1835 Doctrine and
Covenants....
    It is clear that the pseudonyms were not part of the original
revelations, for in the cases where original manuscripts are extant, the
code names are absent. ...
    The first attempt in LDS literature to explain the substituted names
was made by Orson Pratt.  ...  Orson decided to publish an article on the
matter in The Seer.  Although it was a short essay, it was the first
attempt to publicly reveal the true identities of the pseudonyms.  ...  He
concluded his explanation by revealing the real names from memory and
listing the five pseudonums whose real names he could not remember:
Alsam, Mahalaleel, Horah, Shalemanasseh, and Melemson. ...
    Int he 1876 eidtion the code names were placed beside the real
names.  ...  The unidentified names in the 1981 edition, with only one
exception , are the same names Orson Pratt could not remember in 1854.
    ...
    The Phelps list is important because it finally reveals the identity of
the remaining substituted names.  ...it reveals the actual names of the
remaining three individuals unidentified in the 1981 edition of the D&C:
Mahalaleel was Algernon Sidney Gilber; Horah was John Whitmer; and
Shalemanasseh was William W. Phelps.  ...
    ...  It is possible that they were simply invented, but it appears
more likely that most of these names came from the Hebrew sutdies of
early Mormon leaders.  ... these early Mormons were just beginning their
Hebrew studies, and perhaps a closer search fo their texts and
dictionaries might reveal the actual source of these pseudonyms.
    David J. Whittaker, "Substituted Names in the Published
Revelations of Joseph Smith," Brigham Young University Studies,
Volume 23, Winter 1983, Number 1.

    ... these economic revelations were given to specific people for
specific purposes and ... generalizing may misinterpret them.
    ...  Contrary to the traditional idea of failure, the United Order of
Joseph Smith's time performed its mission brilliantly.  This group was
chosen even before the Twelve Apostles were called on 14 February
1835....  It combined the functions of today's Corporation of the
President, the First Presidency, the Quorum of the Twelve, and the
Presiding Bishopric in conducting the business affairs of the Church.  As
the Quorum of the Twelve became mature and stable, it assumed with
the First Presidency all the duties of the United Order.  ...  The creation of
units in Utah from 1854 to 1877, which were also called united orders,
has caused confusion....  The united orders from different eras had
different purposes, structures, and membership.  They also had no
historical continuity.
    The United Order of Joseph Smith's day was organized
essentially as a general partnership, with t a branch in Kirtland and one
in Missouri.  By law all the partners of a business partnership are fully
liable for the business agreements made by any one of the partners.  In
that sense, all the partners hold all business and personal assets in
common and put all business gains into one account before each
person's share of the total is calculated.  ...
    The original United Order was a combination of Church leader in
Kirtland ... and those who had recently been sent to Missouri....  Bishop
Partridge's two counselors, John Corrill and Isaac Morley, apparently
acted as agents of the firm....  Two other men -- Frederick G. Williams
and John Johnson -- were added later as full members by specific
revelations....
    ...
    From the original group of eleven partners, subgroups were
formed as specific transactions or funcitons needed to be carried out....
These subgroups were kept insulated from each other....  In today's
world where liability-limiting corporations can be formed almost at will,
the myriad of general partner/silent partner arrangements of Joseph
Smith's Order would likely be recast into a system of subsidiary
corporations under the control of a parent corporation.  ...that was not
practical in Joseph Smith's day, since a separate act of state legislature
was needed for any new corporation and men in the legislature were
often hostile to LDS interests.  ...  If two or three men operated one store
under a normal business name, and two or three other men operated
another store under a different business name, and a third group
operated a printing establishement under a third name, no one would
suspect that all were really part of the same group....
    ...  It allowed the United Order brethren to control their business
credit, risks, and liabilities.  If a creditor of one Mormon enterprise
realized that he could claim payment from several other enterprises
which were all parts of the same organization, that creditor could
severlely disrupt the gathering and settlement of the Saints.  As it was,
the creditors contracted with a limited set of men and looked only to them
for repayemnt.
    The brethren contracted some large debts in their business
dealings with the trade and finance institutions of their time....  These
large lines of credit were necessary to sustain extensive purchases of
land in Kirtland and Missouri, and later, Far West and Nauvoo....  Church
-controlled firms made wholesale purchases of goods and resold them to
the Saints, providing a reliable source of supplies and precluding
price-gouging by outside traders....
    It was, of course, necessary for some early migration plans to be
secret....  If anyone, Church member or not, knew shere and when the
Church was planning to move, they could purchase land at the
destination from the government and then resell it at a large profit to the
Saints.  ...
    ... the existence and mission of the United Order was of
necessity known to very few.  ...
    ...  After the initial thrust into Missouri, communication between
the east and west branches probably was too slow to allow most
decisions to still be made in Kirtland.  Men on the spot had to be given
that authority.  The single firm became two firms, and each probably
added extra personnel as agents.  ... the eastern branch relinquished
control of the western branch's operating decisions.  Finally, some time
after 1838, the functions of the United Order were absorbed by the First
Presidnecy, the Quorum of the Twelve, and the Presiding Bishopric....
    Kent W. Huff, "The United Order of Joseph Smith's Times,"
Dialogue: Journal of Mormon Thought, Summer 1986.

-------

    ... it need not be imagined that the Latter-day Saints cannot truly
live the law of consecration nor truly please God in their economic lives
unless or until they reinstitute some particular aspect or phase of early
Mormon Consecration.

     ...  While not all of the "law" deals with economics or caring for
the poor, Doctrine and Covenants 42:30-42 contains the underlying
principles of the law of consecration and is generally considered the
basic source whenever discussing this law.

    Most Saints have thought that the united order was widely
practiced in Ohio and Missouri.  Indeed, the phrases order, united order,
and order of Enoch frequently appear in the Doctrine and Covenants....
... these are substitute phrases for "united firm," the original words in the
revelations for an organization which was disbanded 23 April 1834  (see
D&C 104).  The wording was changed so that enemies of the Church
and angry creditors would not use the printed revelations against the
Church.  Members of the united firm were also given coded names in
several editions of the Doctrine and Covenants for the same reason.
    The united firm was a business partnership between a handful of
Church leaders, no more than twelve at any one time, to consolidate the
financial resources and organizational and professional talents of these
men to generate profits to be used for the personal living expenses as
well as the economic needs of the Church.  ..  The main reason for the
tremendous indebtedness accrued by the united firm was the
destruction of the Church printing press and the closure of Sidney
Gilbert's store by mobs in Independence....

    The law of tithing, while considered by some commentators in the
past as in "inferior" law to the law of consecration, seems to have been
merely a new phase of consecration.

Bruce A. Van Orden, "The Law of Consecration," The Capstone of our
Religion: Insights into the Doctrine and Covenants, Edited by Robert L.
Millet and Larry E. Dahl (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1989)

------

    In one of the revelations instructing the Saints to move to Ohio
(see D&C 38:32), Joseph learned that the Lord would reveal to him a
new divine law in that state.  Upon his arrival, Joseph learned that
serious problems were plaguing members of the Family.  The pooling of
property had led some to believe that everything should be shared,
including clothes, and what belonged to one belonged to all.  On
9?February 1831, twelve elders approached Joseph Smith and inquired if
the time was ripe for the unfolding of the "law" that had been mentioned
in the New York revelation.  In their presence, the Prophet sought divine
information and recorded most of what is today section 42 of the
Doctrine and Covenants.5 Included in this revelation was a partial
description of the law of consecration and stewardship.
    According to his law, members were to consecrate their
properties to the Lord for the support of the poor "with a covenant and a
deed which cannot be broken" (see D&C 42:30).  This "substance" or
property was to be "laid before the bishop." Following an expansion in
the government of the Church in the early 1830s, which included the
calling of bishop's councilors and the introduction of the office of high
priest, Joseph Smith edited the revelation to read that the properties
were to be laid before the bishop "and his two councilors, two of the
elders, or high priests, such as he shall appoint or has appointed and set
apart for that purpose."6The bishop was then to convey to this member,
who was called a steward, property sufficient for his and his family's
needs.  A steward was to be accountable to the Lord for "his own
property, or that which he . . . received by consecration" (see D&C
42:31-32).  After this first consecration, surpluses were to be conveyed
to the bishop, kept in the Lord's storehouse, and used "to administer to
the poor and the needy," as determined by the bishop (see D&C
42:33-34).
    ...
    ...  Between the end of October and December 1830
approximately nine families living in Kirtland joined the Church.  These
individuals owned 132 acres of land in that township.  Most of these
converts were living on the Isaac Morley farm.  If all of the land owned
by the Kirtland Saints would have been divided among these nine
families, each family would have received less than fifteen acres.
Although Newel K. Whitney owned a profitable mercantile store and
didn't need as much land as most, a majority of the Kirtland converts
were farmers; fifteen acres was not sufficient to support an average
family.
    ...
    One problem encountered in organizing communal societies was
a tendency for poor people to be attracted to such movements and for
the wealthy to shun such enterprises.  For example, one possible
problem encountered by the Family was that some took advantage of
Isaac Morley, who had undoubtedly contributed more than others.  That
which belonged to one was considered the property of all, arousing
jealousy and bitter feelings.  ...  However, as explained, one of the
probable reasons that the law of consecration and stewardship was not
immediately put into use in Kirtland was because members did not own
sufficient land in that town for a satisfactory redistribu?tion to have
occurred.
    ...
    ...  While visiting the Saints in Thompson, the Prophet learned that
the bishop of the Church was to receive the property of the people and
was to divide the "inheritances" among the stewards according to their
"circumstances,"  "wants," and "needs".  ...  There was confusion
among early members concerning whether the consecrated property
that was deeded to the bishop should be leased or deeded to the
stewards.  Eventually, Joseph resolved this problem and in harmony with
divine guidance edited section 51 ... by adding the following instructions
to this revelation: a transgressor who left the Church was to retain that
which had been deeded to him but had no claim on the surplus that he
contributed to the Church...."
    When Leman Copley was encouraged to live the law of
consecration and stewardship, which would have meant sharing his
property with others and losing title to part of his farm, he apostatized.
The New York Saints were in a difficult situation.  After initiating a
building program in Thompson, they were ordered by the legal owner of
the property to leave.  They had sacrificed economically while complying
with the commandment to move to Ohio.  ...  After seeking advice from
the Prophet, they were instructed to move to western Missouri.  ...
    ...  Most of the converts who had been living in Kirtland in the fall
of 1830 also migrated to Jackson County, Missouri.  All of the individuals
who are known to have been members of the Family ....
    ...
    During this second residence of the Prophet (between mid-1832
and January 1938), like his first brief stay in that community, there is no
evidence that Joseph Smith attempted to implement the law of
consecration and stewardship in that community.  Many factors hindered
such action.  At no time during this decade did the members own
sufficient land in Kirtland for all stewards to have been given an
adequate inheritance.  ...
    Developments in Missouri also probably interfered with the
application of the law of consecration and stewardship in Ohio.  Lack of
a correct understanding of this law, lack of money and land, selfishness,
covetous desires, persecution, and expulsion from Jackson County all
contributed to the failure of the Saints in Missouri to live this higher law.
In 1838 members throughout the Church were given a lesser law, the
law of tithing....
    Meanwhile, members in Kirtland were striving to live another
commandment, the law of consecration rather than the law of
consecration and stewardship (as described in sections 42 and 51).
Except in a few rare instances, members were not asked to deed title of
their property to the Church and receive in exchange an inheritance.
There was no attempt in Kirtland to obtain a degree of equality through
the redistribution of property according to family circumstances, wants,
and needs.  Instead, members were commanded to consecrate or
dedicate their lives for the building of the kingdom of God on earth.  ...
Moreover, these and other Latter-day Saints were commanded to
sacrifice and pay a tithing (see D&C 64:23).  Tithing at that time was not
interpreted as we understand this law today, but referred to "all freewill
offerings, or contributions, to the Church" (see section heading to D&C
119).
    One of the closest applications of the law of consecration and
stewardship in Ohio is found in the operations of two businesses, the
Literary Firm and the United Firm (also known as the United Order).
These were two Church-sponsored businesses which had branches in
Ohio and Missouri.  The primary purpose of the Literary Firm was to
publish Church literature, such as the Book of Commandments, 7he
Evening and Morning Star, the Doctrine and Covenants, 7he Messenger
and Advocate, and a hymnal.  Organized in November 183 1, this
partnership continued to print material for the Church until 1838 (see D&C
70:1-5; 72:20-21)."
    The United Firm was similar to the Literary Firm in a number of
ways.  ... the United Firm pooled the talents and resources of three
groups within the Church: men who possessed special skills needed to
operate the business, Church leaders (including a representative from
the First Presidency), and members who made significant economic
contributions (such as Martin Harris).  These partners used their talents
and material means to build the kingdom of God on earth, including
generating profits for the Church (see D&C 82:11-12; 92: 1; 104:19).
    Although some historians in the past have suggested that the
United Firm or United Order functioned as a board of directors who
managed the law of consecration and stewardship, this body did not
administer this law in Ohio nor Missouri.  ...  Partners in the United Firm
did not enter this business by deeding title of their property to the bishop
and receiving in exchange an inheritance.  Instead of directing the law of
consecration and stewardship, the Partners, in harmony with the
principle of stewardship, obtained and managed various Church
businesses.  ...  it was dissolved in Kirtland in 1834.  Then the
redistribution occurred under the direction of the Prophet (see D&C 104)
rather than through the bishop and his councilors.

Milton V. Backman, Jr., "Clothed With Bonds of Charity: The Law of
Consecration and Stewardship in Ohio, 1830-1838", Hearken, O Ye
People: Discourses on the Doctrine and Covenants, Sperry Symposium
1984 (Sandy, Utah: Randall Book Co., 1984)

----------


    Unfortunately, these published works have given too little
attention to sources.  Public discourses, unofficial comments, and
isolated references made years after the fact have been given more
weight than official documents and contemporary newspaper articles,
letters, and diaries.  Moreover, these studies have overlooked the fact
that the meaning of certain fundamental terminologies used in the
Prophet's lifetime?like "the law of consecration, " "the united order, " and
"the order of Enoch"?came to mean something quite different in Utah.  ...
 the early Mormon law and practice of consecration was not worked out
in a single day, but it developed and changed over several years.  ...
    ... (1) consecration?that is, the act of setting apart or devoting
one's self and his possessions for sacred purposes?became a
fundamental law of the Church in 1831 and was never rescinded, and
that (2), specific programs of consecration were established and
necessarily modified by Church authorities in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois.
None of these specific economic programs, conceived of by the Prophet
and his closest associates and implemented or partially implemented by
the early Saints, should be viewed as the "real" law of consecration and
all other substitutes.  ...   Thus, it need not be imagined that the
Latter-day
Saints cannot truly live the law of consecration nor truly please God in
their economic lives unless or until they reinstitute some particular aspect
or phase of early Mormon consecration.



    Joseph Smith's first serious interest regarding an economic law
for the Church must have begun soon after he met Sidney Rigdon in
December 1830. ...  Rigdon had been in the thick of the religious
excitement over communal living for a long while.  It was only a few
days after he found the Prophet Joseph Smith in Western New York that
revelations regarding economics and consecration began to be received.
 ...

    Section 42 described the underlying principles which comprised
the new law of consecration.  These principles differed little from those
of other religious communities of the day, all based in the requirement of
consecrating all of one's possessions to a common fund for the purpose
of eliminating poverty and assisting in the payment of common debts
through personal sacrifice.  However, the implementation of these
principles in the Mormon practice of consecration differed considerably
from other idealistic communities.
    ... a hybrid combining individualism and collectivism; it contained
elements of communitarianism as well as capitalism.  The program was
distinctly communitarian in that it required total consecration of all
possessions as well as yearly donation to the church of all surplus
profits.  It not allow for private ownership of property, and it contained
strong elements of group control and supervisory management bv the
bishop.  ...  Stewards were given specific .property for which they alone
were responsible.  There was freedom of enterprise in production and in
the management of properties held as stewardships as well as basic
freedom of economic activity.



    ... prospective stewards, would legally transfer title to all of their
possessions to the bishop.  ...   The bishop's job was to make sure that
the prospective steward's disclosure was satisfactory and then
determine what he should be given as an "inheritance." ... in the case of
differences of opinion, the bishop had the authority to make a final
decision regarding the size and nature of the steward's inheritance.
    An important feature of the Mormon law of consecration which
clearly distinguished it from other communitarian systems was the
concept of individual stewardship.  "Every man" was to be a "steward
over his own property.  ... there was to be a "yearly"  accounting
between the bishop and the steward. ...


    ...  Mormon bishops were rare during the first decade of the
Church's existence.  There were hardly more than two until the Mormons
settled in Nauvoo.  During the 1830s, the high priests assisted when
necessary by the elders, directed the administrative and spiritual affairs
of the Church.  ... bishops did not have charge of specific congregations,
nor did they spend large amounts of time interviewing and counselling
members in their private lives.



    The bishop was given the management and supervision of the
finances of the Church as well as the law of consecration and
stewardship.  The bishop received the properties of the Saints, allocated
stewardships, administered to the poor, and managed Church funds.



    During the first few months after the reception of the law of the
law of consecration and stewardship, an attempt was made by some of
the Saints in Ohio to comply with its provisions.  A group Saints from
Colesville, New York, established themselves at Thompson, Ohio, near
Kirtland in May 1831.


    The second attempt to establish the l831consecration law was
Jackson County, Missouri.  ...   An article in the church newspaper, The
Evening and the Morning Star, explained that members who settled in
Jackson County and did not "receive their inheritance by consecration,"
would not even be recognized as Saints nor have their names recorded
on any church records.  Consecration was compulsory for any Mormon
who desired to gather with the Saints in Missouri.

    The stewardship contract was to be binding during the life of the
steward unless he left the Church or  was excommunicated.  Were this
to happen, he would forfeit the land and be compelled to pay an
equivalent for the personal property.
    The contract obligated the bishop to provide for the steward and
his family in the case of "infirmity or old age" so long as they were
members of the Church.  If the steward were to die, the widow could
"claim [the] property" on the same terms as her husband.  ...  Printed
forms were used containing the deed of gift contract on the left-hand
side and a "stewardship agreement" on the right.  These contracts were
both properly signed and witnessed.
    ... the Mormon system of land tenure during this period did not
include full rights of conveyance of property in fee simple.  The contracts
granted right of use only?a life lease subject to cancellation by the
bishop in case of withdrawal from the Church or excommunication.  And
the revelations had clearly spelled this out.  After the bishop "has
received the properties" of the steward, they "can not be taken from the
church." And again, he that "sinneth and repenteth not shall not receive
again that which he has consecrated unto me."
    ... the system prohibited the steward from selling or exchanging
the consecrated property with others in the program, even family
members.  ...the rigid control of the property by the bishop tended to
discourage opportunists who might join the economic system to obtain an
"inheritance" of land, and promptly withdraw.


    ... the failure of the 1831 of the 1831 economic law is not
surprising.  Frist, the denial of private ownership of property was a
drastic modification of conventially accepted and recognized property
rights.  ... private accumulation and control of wealth was viewed by
Americans as an essential guarantee of every citizen of the United
States.  Similarly, the requirement of the stewards to transfer all of their
property to the bishop and to reconsecrate their annual surpluses
threatened the incentive motive and prompted members to withhold
possessions from consecration or pursue private investments outside of
the system.
    ... the members were by and large poor before they entered the
consecration system.  Redistribution of property thus resulted in a
leveling down rather than a leveling up of the stewards' living standard.
...



    ... the brethren in Missouri decided that a change in the
consecration law was imperative.  Private ownership of property was
essential.  ...  You must "give a deed, securing to him who receives
inheritances, his inheritance for an everlasting inheritance, or in other
words to be his individual property, his private stewardship."
    ... transfer of land in fee simple was not universal.  Some
(perhaps many) of the stewards were content to leave their property in
the hands of the bishop.  However, with regard to surplus
consecrations, the Mormon leader was emphatic.  Gifts, whether real or
personal property, must be conveyed to the bishop by deed or title.  ...
see that whatsoever is given, is given legally."  ..."in this way no man
can take any advantage of you in law."  Should the steward be found a
transgressor or desire to withdraw from the system, he would retain title
to his inheritance, but "the property which he had consecrated to the
poor [the gift or surplus]" would remain in the hands of the Church.  "He
cannot obtain [it] again," insisted the Prophet, and he is "delivered over to
the buffetings of Satan."

    There was no further attempt to enforce the 1831 law of
consecration dn stewardship in Ohio, nor in any other branch of the
Church outside of western Missouri, after the failure of the Colesville
Branch at Thompson, Ohio.  Because the 1831 economic system
contained communitarian ideas, and because many converts to
Mormonism in the Western Reserve had been identified with Rigdon's
"Family," it took the Mormons quite some time to convince the public that
they did not practice common stock principlis.  (Even in Nauvoo,
outsiders believed that the Saints maintained a community of property.)


    The Literary Firm, organized in November 1831, concerned itself
with the printing of official Chruch literature.  ...
    Members of this partnership practiced the law of consecration
and stewardship, though in a slightly different manner than the Saints in
Missouri....  For example, they consecrated their time, skills, and money
for the purpose of printing Church literature rather than deeding personal
and real properties to the Church bishop.  ...it was agreed that these men
were to "have claim for assistance upon the bishop."  ...they were
ventually to live from the profits of the sale of the publications, and even
produce surpluses from the business "which shall benefit the church" at
large.
    ...
    In March 1832, a companion firm, known as the United Firm, was
organized in Ohio.  ... proceeds of the United Firm were to assist in the
operation of the Literary Firm.
    ...



    The United Firm (also known as the "United Order" or "Order of
Enoch") was a business partnership organized in Kirtland, Ohio, on the
1st of March, 1832.  Its membership consisted of a handful of Church
leaders, never exceeding twelve in number.  Capital for this enterprise
derived from loans which were secured by the assets of members of
the firm who were either landowners or merchants residing in the
Kirtland area.  The purpose of the partnership was to consolidate the
financial resources and organizational talents available to these men in
order to generate profits which could be used for personal living
expenses as well as the economic needs of the Church.

    ... the partners "resolved" that the United Firm would do business
under two different name (1) "Gilbert, Whitney & Company" in Missouri
and (2) "Newel K. Whitney & Company" in Kirtland.
    ...

    Other details concerning the operation and management of the
United Firm foro the next year are sketchy at best.  ... large amounts of
money were borrowed....
    ... members of the Firm had other worries and pressures which
directly or indirectly curtailed the fulfillment of their goals.  Not only
were
the partners having trouble making ends meet with the limited funds at
their disposal, but numerous unforeseen expenses continued to take
monies that could have otherwise paid some of the company's bills.

    ... when all possibilities of obtaining the necessary money were
exhausted, the United Firm was dissolved and divided, and a revelation
was received which confirmed these decision.  ... the breakup of the
company did not immediately absolve the partners from repaying loans to
creditors, but i did allow the members to operate and manage their own
stewardships privately and independent of the United firm's
administrative canopy.
    ...
    Section 104 of Doctrine and Covenants (1) gives the particulars
of the division of the United Firm among its members living in Kirtland and
92) because of the problems inherent in managing and communicating
with the Missouri branch of the company as well as the failure of the
store and the loss of the printing office in Independence, directs that the
two branches "no longer be bound" together.  ...
    ...
    Because the partners of the western branch of the Firm had
been expelled from their properties (i.e., the printing office, the
storehouse, and the residences and lots) no particulars were given at
this time as to how they should be divided.

    In 1835, a portion of the rim's notes still remained unpaid.  Even
so, that summer, when the manuscripts for the second edition of the
Doctrine and Covenants were being prepared for publicaton, it was
decided that the Uniter Firm revelations (78, 82, 92, 96, 104) should be
included.  However, because of potential lawsuits over the delinquent
notes, it was considered unwise to publish the names of the partners of
the now defunct company.  These revelations, received specifically for
the Firm, contained important gospel principles and teachings about
consecration.  Therefore, it was agreed that coded or fictitious names be
substituted for the partners' real names.  Also it was thought best to alter
the name of the United Firm to read "United Order" or "Order of Enoch."
"Order" sounded like a religious fraternity and was void of an business
connotations.
    ...
    Unaware of the history of the United Frim during the
1830s, Mormons in Utah (as early as the 1850s) began to
confuse terminology regarding the law of consecration and the
United Firm (Order).  Since all of the then existing references to
the Firm in the doctrine and Covenants had been changed to the
"United Order," it was easy to assume, though erroneously, that
"United Order" in the Doctrine and Covenants referred to a
religio-socio-economic law instead of a business partnership.
Consequently, in the 1870s, the terms "United Order" and
"Order of Enoch" were used by the saints to refer to
communitarian programs, instituted by  Brigham Young,
programs which sought to elevate the poor, achieve a
self-sufficient economy, and establish spiritual unity.  And the
United Firm (Order) revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants
were quoted as authority to encourage the Saints to pool their
labor as well as their capital to realize these communitarian
goals.
    In the twentieth century, the terms "Law of
Consecration," "Law of Consecration and Stewardship," "United
Order," and "Order of Enoch" have come to be used
interchangeable by the Latter-day Saints.  It is often assumed,
erroneously, that these terms refer to a single economic
program revealed to Joseph Smith in the 1830s, and that this
same program will be practiced by the Saints in the future.


    ...  On the 7th of December, the bishopric committee presented
their proposal.  They suggested that an annual "voluntary freewill
offering" would "be pleasing in the sight of the Lord" and would "in some
degree" fulfill the law of consecration.  They agreed that a percentage of
a member's net worth was "a more equal mode of raising funds" than a
tax on what he produces or on his annual income.  It was also agreed
that widows, generally, and "all other families" whose total assets were
less than seventy-five dollars should be exempt from this "tithing."  The
amount of the tithing to be required was 2% or 1/50th of a member's net
worth.  Any of the Saints who were unwilling to contribute this amount
were to be considered "weak in the faith" and "under the influence of
covetousness to that degree that their case must be considered
hopeless unless they repent."
    In order to assure accountability, once yearly each household
steward would "render and inventory" to the bishop declaring his net
worth....  ...the bishopric and local presidency and high council would
yearly determine what percentage of a steward's net worth would be
needed "to be raised [for] the following year."  ...
    ...
    Record which would demonstrate how this 2% "tithing" worked,
are presently unavailable,  ... if the program was implemented at all, it
lasted only a short while.  ...a general call was issued to the Saints to
"consecrate their properties" to the Lord, "for the support of the poor and
needy," and funds were allocated to "build a sufficient storehouse or
houses to receive all the consecrations of the people."  ...consecrations
were altogether too sparse to answer the needs of the poor and pay
existing operating expenses....
    The voluntary contribution initiative of 2% of a member's net
worth, conceived of in December 1837, undoubtedly served as a prelude
to the new economic system given in July 1838.  ...  The nature of this
inquiry as well as the text of the revelation make it clear that "tithing," as
it is used in section 119, did not simply connote ten percent, but a
contribution or an offering or a donation of one's possessions or time.
    There is no evidence that Mormon leaders or members
perceived the economic plan embodied in section 119 to be an
"inferior law" of Church economics.  ... the 1838 program was
viewed by the Saints simply as a new phase of consecration.  ..
many hailed it as a markedly improved economic plan for
obtaining donations and contributions.  Admittedly, this
program did not provide for the bishop to redistribute the
wealth of the members, nor to allocate specific inheritances or
personal stewardships.  Yet, significantly, the equalizing effect
of the 1838 plan on the members was identical to earlier
programs.
    Until after 1844, there was never any attempt to establish
a set amount of money or property as a required contribution
from the faithful.  To a person who asked Joseph Smith to
indicate what percentage of amember's assets or income was
required to be in good standing, the Mormon leader wrote: "We
have no special instructions ... respecting how much a man of
property shall give annually."  The question of how much
should be required did not exemplify the tru spirit of charity and
implied limits of responsibility; it assumed that some
prescribed quantity of money, property, or service could
release ... a Mormon from further obligation to his religion or to
his fellowman.
    The Prophet's response transcended the mundane question of
percentages and emphasized true generosity in giving and freedom from
all taint of self-interest.  We ask only that our members "feed the hungry,
clothe the naked, provide for the widow, dry up the tear of the orphan,
comfort the afflicted, whether in this church, or in any other, or in no
church at all, wherever [they] find them."  ...
    During the remainder of the Prophet's lifetime contributions and
donations were obtained by regular encouragement from teh pulpit and
by general epistles.  ... Joseph Smith opened the Recorder's Office every
Saturday to receive the Saints' "tithings" (cash donations) and
"consecrations" (property donations).
    In addition to the general call for voluntary contributions at
Nauvoo, Joseph Smith, in 1842, sought to achieve a more perfect
program of sacrifice and consecration among those whom he believed to
be faithful and loyal.  He proposed to accomplish this by placing these
Saints under explicit covenants of obedience while at the same time
teaching them exalting keys of knowledge and power.  The sacred ritual
which encompassed these covenants and ordinances was known as
the ancient order of the priesthood or temple endowment.  ... covenant of
consecratoin became an integral part of the higher order of the
melchizedek Priesthood.  For those chosen to participate in this sacred
ceremony, the covenant of consecration became a vital part of the
process by which they could become joint-heirs with Christ by
consecrating all of their time, talents, and material wealth to the Chruch
and by sacrificing ... all things for the advance of God's work on the
earth.


^^^^^^-----From: Stephen Ott <[e-mail]>------^^^^^^^






-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Perry L. Porter" <[e-mail]>
Subject: ---> Lesson 24
Date: 05 Jul 1997 14:17:40 -0700

Doctrine and Covenants 84-85

Lesson 24

Scriptural Highlights 1. The greater and lesser priesthoods 2. The oath and
covenant of the priesthood 3. The importance of studying the Book of Mormon
As you discuss D&C 84:54-57, bear your testimony about the importance of
studying the Book of Mormon.

Discussion and Application Questions

* The Prophet Joseph Smith called D&C 84 a "revelation on Priesthood"
(History of the Church, 1 :287). What is priesthood? Why does the Lord give
priesthood power to mortals? (See the quotation from the Melchizedek
Priesthood Leadership Handbook. ) What blessings have come to you through
the priesthood?

* In D&C 84:6-17 the Lord reviews the line of priesthood authority from
Moses back to Adam. How does a person receive priesthood authority?
(Articles of Faith 1 :5; Joseph Smith - History 1 :68-69.) Why is it
important for priesthood holders to be able to trace their line of
authority back to the Lord?

* What are the functions of the Melchizedek Priesthood? (D&C 84:18-25;
107:18-19.) How do the ordinances administered by the Melchizedek
Priesthood lead us to exaltation?

* What are the functions of the Aaronic Priesthood? (D&C 84:26-27;
107:13-14, 20.) How do the ordinances of the Aaronic Priesthood help
prepare us for the greater blessings of the Melchizedek Priesthood?

* What blessings does the Lord promise through the oath and covenant of the
priesthood? (D&C 84:33-41.) What must we do to qualify for these blessings?
(See D&C 84:33, 36, 43-44, and the quotation from President Kimball.) How
can we magnify our callings in the priesthood and in the Church?

* In what ways does the Spirit give "light to every man"? (D&C 84:46;
Moroni 7:16). What kinds of things does the Spirit communicate with us
about? How has the Lord blessed you as you have hearkened to the Spirit?

* The Lord lamented that the world "groaneth" under the bondage of sin (D&C
84:49-53). How does sin bring bondage? How can we strengthen ourselves to
resist sin?

* Why was the entire Church under the Lord's condemnation in 1832? (D&C
84:54-57.) Judging by this standard, do you think the Church is under
condemnation today? (See the quotation from President Benson.) How are our
individual lives affected when we do not
study the Book of Mormon? How is the Church as a whole affected?

* What are the signs of the believers in Christ? (D&C 84:65-72.) Why does
the Lord provide these signs? (D&C 84:73.) Why do you think the Lord
cautions us against speaking too freely about these signs?

* What promises does the Lord give his friends in D&C 84:77-88? (See also
John 15:12-15.)

* What does the Lord's statement in D&C 84:109-10 suggest about how the
Church should be governed and how we should serve in our callings?

Quotations

Melchizedek Priesthood Leadership Handbook:"Priesthood is the power and
authority of God. It existed with him in the beginning and will continue to
exist throughout all eternity (see D&C 84:17). By it He creates, sustains,
governs, redeems, and exalts.

"God gives priesthood power to worthy male members of the Church, who
receive it by prophecy and the laying on of hands by His authorized
servants.... The priesthood enables mortals to act in God's name for the
salvation of the human family. Through it they can be authorized to preach
the gospel, administer the ordinances of salvation' and govern God's
kingdom on earth" (p. 1).

President Spencer W. Kimball: "One breaks the priesthood covenant by
transgressing commandments  but also by leaving undone his duties.
Accordingly, to break this covenant one needs only to do nothing" (The
Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, p. 497).

President Ezra Taft Benson: "We have not been using the Book of Mormon as
we should. Our homes are not as strong unless we are using it to bring our
children to Christ.... Converts will not survive under the heat of the day
unless their taproots go down to the fulness of the gospel which the Book
of Mormon contains. Our Church classes are not as spirit-filled unless we
hold it up as a standard....
"Do eternal consequences rest upon our response to this book? Yes, either
to our blessing or our condemnation. Every Latter-day Saint should make the
study of this book a lifetime pursuit. Otherwise he is placing his soul in
jeopardy and neglecting that which could give spiritual and intellectual
unity to his whole life" (Ensign, May 1975,p. 65).

Next Week's Reading Assignment Doctrine and Covenants 86-87; 88:86-116; 133

Page 47

Class Member Study Guide

Lesson 24

At a conference in January 1832, several elders were called to preach in
parts of the eastern United States, especially New England. They wanted to
share the gospel with relatives and friends left behind when they moved to
Kirtland. In September the missionaries began to return home. When they had
gathered at Kirtland to rejoice together, the Prophet Joseph Smith received
D&C 84, a revelation on priesthood.

* What are the functions of the Melchizedek Priesthood? (D&C 84:18-25;
107:18-19.) What are the functions of the Aaronic Priesthood? (D&C
84:26-27; 107:13-14, 20.)

* What blessings does the Lord promise through the oath and covenant of the
priesthood? (D&C 84:33-41.)
What must we do to qualify for these blessings? (D&C 84:33, 36, 43-44.)

* Why was the entire Church under the Lord's condemnation in 1832? (D&C
84:54-57.) How are our individual lives affected when we do not study the
Book of Mormon?

At this time problems arose in Missouri because some Saints were not
willing to receive their inheritances in the way revealed by the Lord.
Joseph Smith wrote to W. W. Phelps in Missouri explaining the will of the
Lord in dealing with these problems. Section 85 is an excerpt from this
letter.
A first edition copy of the Book of Mormon.

VVVVVV-----From: Stephen Ott <[e-mail]>------VVVVVVV


Jesse Gause: Joseph Smith's Little-Known Counselor
D. Michael Quinn
BYU Studies, Fall 1983

    For more than twenty years, Jesse Gause was a Quaker in good
standing, but his movement from place to place indicates a great
restlessness.  ...  It is unclear whether he was pressured into military
service during the War of 1812 despite his Quaker pacifism or whether
he was reasserting the military tradition of his father.  ..
    Jesse Gause remarried almost immediately after his wife's death,
and these abrupt changes in his marital situation seemed to precipitate a
religious crisis in his life.  ...  Exactly seven months after his resignation
from the Quakers, Jesse Gause and his children were listed as members
of the Hancock "Family" of the United Society of Believers in Christ's
Second Appearing (the "Shakers").  ...
    ...  It is not known when or how Mormon missionaries contacted
Jesse Gause, but less than five months after he came to Ohio as a
Shaker, he was converted to the Church and was soon chosen as a
counselor to Joseph Smith.
    ...  Both men were simply called "counselors" to the Church
president, but President Gause may have had the precedence of being
first counselor: Joseph Smith listed him first when recording the
organization of the First Presidency, and Jesse Gause was also nearly
ten years older than Sidney Rigdon at a time in the Church when
seniority was determined on the basis of age.  On 10 August 1832, one
of Gause's Shaker associates wrote that Jesse Gause "is yet a
Mormon--and is second to the Prophet or Seer--Joseph Smith."
    An obvious question about Gause's appointment is why Joseph
Smith chose as counselor a man who had been a member of the Church
only a few months, maybe even weeks, when the Prophet could have
advanced to that position other men who had been associated with the
Church from its beginning.  ....  Jesse Gause had three years' experience
with the communitarian Shaker families in Massachusetts and Ohio, and
another twenty-three years' experience with the close-knit Quakers.  ...
    ...  President Gause actively functioned as a counselor in the First
Presidency during the spring and summer of 1832.  ...  But after the
summer of 1832, something changed in Gause's relationship to
Mormonism, and he "denied the faith."
    As with his conversion from Quakerism to Shakerism, his
desertion of the Mormon church may have centered in his personal
family circumstances.  During his missionary journey of August, jesse
Gause visited his second wife ... and tried to persuade her to leave the
celibate Shakers and join his conversion to the restored gospel.  His wife
refused ...
    In view of what is known about Jesse Gause's troubled family
relations in the summer of 1832, his disaffection from Mormonism may
have resulted from hi learning about polygamous theory and practice that
were emerging at that time.
    ...  "Bro. Jesse" was excommunicated on 3 December 1832, and
Frederick G. Williams was appointed as counselor in place of Gause in a
revelation of 5 January 1833, which was never published in the Doctrine
and Covenants.
    ...  Apparently, Jesse Gause continued to be a restless
geographic wanderer and religious seeker until his death at age
fifty-two.
    ...  When the revelation appointing Jesse Gause to the presidency
was published for the first time, his name was simply removed and that
of Frederick G. Williams was substituted in its place.


^^^^^^-----From: Stephen Ott <[e-mail]>------^^^^^^^

---------

CD-ROM ON SESQUICENTENNIAL NOW AVAILABLE TO GENERAL PUBLIC

SALT LAKE CITY (RP) - A ground breaking multi-media CD-ROM containing
audio recordings, video clips, and print material about the incredible
journey of the 19th Century Mormon Pioneers is now available to the
general public.

The CD-ROM is, itself, a pioneering effort in multi-media technology by
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was originally
produced by its Public Affairs Department for the news media, as part of
the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the
pioneers in the Great Salt Lake Valley.

Members of the Church and others may purchase a copy of the CD for
$5.  It is available at the Church Distribution Centers.
The 600-megabyte CD contains video clips, photos, text and audio
recordings of some 120 pioneer journal entries, and a map of the entire
Mormon Trail from Nauvoo to the Salt Lake Valley.  Also included is
information about the contemporary Church in the world today--from
Alaska to Zimbabwe.

By simply inserting the CD into their computers, users can Awalk the trail
with the pioneers and listen to their stories of faith and sacrifice,@ said
Elder M. Russell Ballard, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
and chairman of the Church's Pioneer Sesquicentennial Committee.

"It's a virtual library of information covering not only the history of the
Church and the pioneer trek, but it also provides information about the
Church today in all 50 states and in 57 nations," Elder Ballard said. AIt
provides a link between the historical pioneers and the pioneering still
being done by Church members throughout the world," he added.

Some actual descendants of such pioneers as Brigham Young, William
Clayton and a little-known but stalwart pioneer woman named Patience
Loader are seen and heard talking about their ancestors' journal entries
and expressing their feelings about what their heritage means to them.

 "There are 120 pioneer journal entries on the CD," Elder Ballard said,
Aall of them seen on the screen and heard by narrators."
One of the exciting features of the CD, he said, is the map of the Mormon
Pioneer

Trail. The user can scroll from Nauvoo to the Salt Lake Valley, stopping at
any of 40 locations along the trail where significant events happened.
"For example", he said, "you can click onto a location--such as Winter
Quarters--and read and hear from journal entries telling about events
relating to that site."

Restoration Press News Service

----------
Y. scholar finds 'explosion' in Book of Mormon use

He says it has evolved from little-used text to central LDS scripture.


Last updated 06/14/1997, 12:01 a.m. MDT

By Edward L. Carter
Deseret News staff writer

PROVO - Latter-day Saints' use of the Book of Mormon has undergone
significant changes in the final decades of the 20th century, a Brigham
Young University professor has found.  Noel B.  Reynolds, professor of
political science and president of the Foundation for Ancient Research and
Mormon Studies (FARMS), discovered that the Book of Mormon was little-used
during the first third of this century.  Although one of four books
considered scripture by Latter-day Saints, the Book of Mormon was studied
only sporadically until the 1970s.  However, Reynolds said recently at a
FARMS conference, the book now "clearly holds center stage in Latter-day
Saint scriptural study and appreciation."

"It seems evident that the last few decades have produced a significant
revolution in the LDS community in terms of the increased understanding and
appreciation for the Book of Mormon as an inspired work of scripture,"
Reynolds said.

Reynolds' study of 20th-century LDS use of the book included surveys of
Sunday School manuals, courses at BYU and LDS Institutes of Religion, LDS
General Conference addresses and publications about the Book of Mormon.  He
also documented the book's role in the church's missionary efforts,
distribution and translation of the book and archaeological and geographic
studies sparked by the book.  Reynolds said the proliferation of scholarly
publications about the book since 1970 is perhaps the "strongest indicator
of a significant increase in serious interest in the Book of Mormon." Most
of the increase in publication rates came in the areas of general and
religious works rather than fiction or polemics, Reynolds found.

One of the most dramatic turnarounds in use of the Book of Mormon took
place at BYU itself.  No serious courses were offered about the book until
1937, and even the introduction of that class met substantial resistance,
Reynolds discovered.  He said that students and faculty at BYU from
1900-1950 were generally skeptical or antipathetic toward the Book of
Mormon - so much so that their views would likely be seen as apostate or
dissident today.  However, the 1950s saw the introduction of courses in Book
of Mormon archaeology, and study of the book became a requirement for
freshmen in 1961.  In contrast to the "intellectual milieu" of the first
part of the century, the Book of Mormon now enjoys overwhelming support
among faculty at BYU, Reynolds said.

Reynolds used research by Richard C.  Galbraith of BYU's Family Science
Department to show that citations of the Book of Mormon in General
Conference talks languished at 12 percent of all scriptures cited from 1942
to 1986.  In 1986, however, then-LDS President Ezra Taft Benson challenged
church members to emphasize the Book of Mormon.  After that, Book of Mormon
citations in conference jumped to 40 percent before leveling off at 25
percent of all scriptures cited.  Reynolds noted that President Benson's
emphasis played a major role in making the Book of Mormon central in the
minds and activities of Latter-day Saints.

In 1988, President Benson asked church members to "flood the earth" with
the Book of Mormon.  Two years later, distribution of copies of the book
through the "Family to Family" program peaked at 6.6 million.  That number
represented a sixfold increase over the 974,000 copies distributed in 1983.
"The extraordinary success and popularity of the program provide clear
evidence of a solid and enthusiastic base of support for the Book of Mormon
among Latter-day Saints in recent decades," Reynolds said.

A possible explanation for the explosion of Book of Mormon use since the
1970s involves Fawn Brodie's critical look at the life of Joseph Smith.  In
1945, Brodie authored the book, "No Man Knows My History," which attempted
to explain Joseph Smith's religious experiences without accepting his
claims of revelation.

Publication of the book provoked Hugh Nibley, a then-recent Ph.D.  graduate
of the University of California-Berkeley, to embark on a lifelong
investigation of the origins of the Book of Mormon, Reynolds said.  In turn,
Nibley's efforts inspired a generation of BYU students, some of whom showed
up as professors at BYU after 1970, to undertake scholarly work about the
Book of Mormon.

As a result of this and other factors, Reynolds said, "The Book of Mormon
appears much more frequently as the focus of official and unofficial
attention in all kinds of LDS settings."

Reynolds also discovered that the Book of Mormon has played
a greater part during the past three decades than before in Sunday School
manuals, LDS Institute classes and missionary lessons.  All of the interest
has sparked increased translation of the book, and many studies speculating
about geography and archaeology relating to the Book of Mormon, Reynolds
said.
------------------------
[Commentary, the converse of this is that the Book or Mormon was NOT used
much for the first 150 some odd years.  I have heard it said but do not
have the source that Joseph Smith only quoted scripture from the Book or
Mormon 5 times in all of his public sermons.  For the most perfect book
from which a man can get closer to God from reading it than any other book,
it's lack of being for it's first 100 years is most peculure.]

From No. 106 July 1997 Mormon History Association Newsletter

Under the heading of Omaha Reports from the annual symposia of the Mormon
History Association, an attendee, Cherry Silver of Salt Lake City,
submitted a few short quotes from a memorial service arranged by Marurine
Carr Ward, and held at the Winter Quarters Bronze meonument, where the
speaker Richard Bennett said among other things :

"Speaker Richard Bennett called Winter Quarters cemetery "Mormonism's other
sacred grove. While the Sacred Grove celebrates the dawning of a brighter
day, Kirtland the turning of the hearts to the fathers, Independence the
temples of our God, and This is the Place monument discovery and sacrifice,
there are few celebration at Winter Quarters, only worshipful remembrance."

"Much has changed since 1846 and 47," Bennett suggested. "No longer a step
sister to our history, much of a positive nature has been rediscovered
here. A certain quality, an essential mission and message remains, which
holds us like a collective Unconscious."

"Let us not complicate the simplicity of it all," Bennett urged. "We now
know why they died, about how many were buried here, and more about the ebb
and flow of their activities. Winter Quarters was no cult of charismatic
leaders, no fanatic fringe, no seeking after death, . . . but a measured
devotion, a testament to the simple faith of the Latter-day Saints. With
due credit to Brigham Young and other leaders, this was the faith of all
the people. They would find this place if they would find their God."

"We make our own journey through life," Bennett concluded, "either with or
without purpose. Those who journey ended here, their direction was right at
least, and direction is everything. . . There are worse things than
cemeteries. Death but not defeat is represented here--quest and enduring
victory."

-----------------------
[Comentary While the above "talk" is stirring it is also disturbing, for
the implication is from the phrase "Those who journey ended here, their
direction was right at least, and direction is everything" indicates that
going west was the divinely appointed solution.  This flies in the face
that the Mormon History Association is not the LDS History Association,
many excellent RLDS Historians and RLDS History buffs, are association
members and atendee's.  It also ill motives on almost half the Mormons
living in the East that did NOT make the full journey West, but turned
back, some of which became RLDS and other types of "Mormons", i.e. Jack
Mormons as well.
It also implies with it that Rigdone, and others had no claim on
leadership, which is not a forgone historical fact, but as they say, "The
Victors write the History".  I say that it is over the edge to say that
because a slight majority of the saints moved West, that this is the
"direction" that God wanted them to go.  Since the Majority of the
Doctrines, and practices that really forced the Mormons to be kicked out of
Nauvoo, such as Voting in a block, Polygamous Marriages, and a Theocracy of
welding of church and state operations, were with time, given up in Utah,
why could the practices not have been given up earlier and the saints
stayed in "True" Zion?

Research has found at least 10 families that lived in Jackson Country and
more in adjacent counties for as many as 10 years after the extermination
order, and were not forced out, my GGG Grand father Sanford Porter as well.

Though the victors write the history, that does not make the history
accurate or divinely sanctioned.]
-----------------------
The Oath & Covenant of the Priesthood
This a pretest only a Pretest
(It will count as 50 % of your grade)
Enter the letter for any correct response on the line to the left of each
corresponding number.
(Review section)
__________   1.   The lesson regarding the assignation of J.F.K. taught us
that;
    A.   The government can't be trusted, ergo, we should have our 2 years
supply including ammunition.
    B.   Lee Harvey Oswald was the one and only lone gunman that killed J.F.K.
    C.   Truth is allusive, events assumed to be factual require critical and
periodic study.
    D.   The Elders of Israel have a to become as informed as possible, to
protect the constitution.

__________  2.   A typical lesson on making family histories;
    A.   Illustrated the importance of genealogy in turning the hears of the
children to their fathers and the hears of the fathers to their children.
    B.   Was a great example of why we should always have our cam corder load
and read to make another scene for America's funniest home videos.
    C.  Showed how easy it was to interview grandma and preserve a precious
personality.
    D.   Demonstrated that a home movie of a new baby may turn out to be more
precious later than it appeared to be at that moment.

__________   3.   A lesion on the importance of music in the lives of
latter day saints;
    A.   Showed that the harder you try to prepare for something the more
likely you are to be really embarrassed when you mess up.
    B.   Taught that quality music contains many fundamental aspects such as
intonation, dynamics, varying rhythm, Vocal or instrumental talent, etc.
    C.    Implied that Perry doesn't consider County "music" as good music.
    D.    Proved that Opera is the highest form of music.
    E.    Intimated that Perry has a crush on Amy Grant.

4.   Name the topic of any other lesson that your current SS teacher has
taught;

_____________________________

(Pretest section)
5.   T rue or F alse   The Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood only apply
to the Melchizedek not the Arronic Priesthood.

6.   Name one term of the covenant;

____________________________________________.

7.   Name one promise if we obey the covenant

___________________________________.

8.   In What section in the D&C is the Oath and Covenant located;  Sec.

________,  Verses __________ (extra credit for verses).

9.   In what book of the Book of Mormon is the Oath and covenant of the
priesthood repeated
Book ____________, Chapter __________, Verses _____________ (extra credit
for verses).

10.   Enter the initials of a role model that you think strives to keep the
Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood ____________________________.

(Extra credit, make up your own quality question and answer it correctly)

11.


Notes:

As the 24th of July approaches and the 150 Anniversary of the Saints
entering the Valley, many emotional and faith promoting lessons will be
hear, here is one that likely will not be heard :

I showed the first 20 Minutes of the excellent documentary "Struggle for
Statehood", after which I related the following.

Jim Bridger informed Brigham Young that it is unwise to bring such a large
group into the Salt Lake Valley, until it could be demonstrated that it
would be possible to raise grain there.

Jim Bridger is supposedly to have said that he would give a thousand
dollars if he knew that an ear of corn could ripen in the Salt Lake Valley.

Other versions have it that he would pay 1000 dollars for a bushel of corn
raised in that valley.
Essentials in Church History, By Joseph Fielding Smith Page 366

The story that Bridger offer $1,000 for the first bushel of corn grown in
the Salt Lake Valley was alter in the Journal History to read that "Bridger
would give $1,000 if he only knew if we could raise an ear of corn." Utah's
History, by Campbell, Alexander... page 123 footnote 3

- Thus possible interpretations of such a statement would be ?
[Most likely, is that Bridger didn't want competition for his trading post,
and wanted them to move on to California.

Raising of the Mormon Battalion.

    - Most did not want to go.
    - Mormons not that loyal to the U.S. at that time.
    - Their only battle was against wild Bulls.
    - This was the longest Military march by US troops up to that point in time.

By shear coincidence on Feb 4th, the same day the first group from Nauvoo
left on their Westward trek, 70 Men, 68 Women, and 100 children, sailed out
of New York Harbor aboard the Brooklyn.  They were headed for Samuel Brannon.

Elder Orson Pratt of the Council of the Twelve was presiding over the
Church in the eastern states when word arrived late in 1845 of the decision
to hasten the departure from Nauvoo. Immediately he issued a dramatic call
for the Saints in that area to ; join the exodus. Angered at the treatment
the Church was receiving, he perhaps overstated the case when he declared:
"We do not want one saint to be left in the United States" after the following
spring. "Let every branch," he wrote, "in the East, West, North and South,
be determined to flee out of Babylon, either by land or by sea."6 Elder
Samuel Brannan, publisher of the Prophet, the Church paper in New York, was
appointed to charter a ship and direct a company that would go by sea as
soon as possible.

 6. Times and Seasons, December 1, 1845

The Story of the Latter-day Saints, by Allen page 238

The saints could not possibly subsist in the Great Salt Lake Valley, as
according to the testimony of the mountaineers, it froze there every month
in the year, and the ground was too dry to sprout seeds without irrigation,
and irrigated with the cold mountain streams the seeds planted would be
chilled and prevented from growing;. . . He considered it no place for an
agricultural people, and expressed his confidence that the saints would
emigrate to California the next spring. On being asked if he had given his
views to President Brigham Young he answered that he had. On further
inquiry as to how his views were received he said in substance that the
president laughed and made some rather insignificant remark, "but, " said
Brannan, "when he has fairly tried it, he will find that I was right and he
was wrong, and will come to California."

Utah's History by Campbell Page 116

Near this point Young became severely ill with "mountain fever" and was
unable to advance with the company. Orson Pratt, with twenty-three wagons
and forty-two men, was sent ahead to lo: locate the Donner-Reed Trail. (See
map, p. 728.) After traversing Echo Canyon to present-day Henefer, Pratt
and John Brown rode down Weber Canyon for several miles before deciding
against that route. Later that day they found the Donner-Reed tracks, and
by July 19 the advance party reached the summit of Big Mountain, where they
could see over a great extent of country. Pratt and Brown climbed farther
than their companions and were able to see portions of Salt Lake Valley.
Two days later Pratt and Erastus Snow were the first of the pioneer company
to enter the valley, having followed the Donner Trail over Little Mountain,
down Emigration Canyon, and over Donner Hill. With only one horse the two
men took turns walking and ridding over major portions of the valley before
returning to the vanguard camp in the canyon.

On July 22 the first wagons moved downstream toward the mouth of Emigration
Canyon. Finding the route over Donner Hill quite unsatisfactory for a
permanent road, the Mormons spent four hours cutting a new road around the
north end of Donner Hill to rejoin the Donner tracks on the high ground
north of present Hogle Zoo. This stretch of less than a half-mile was the
only piece of original road the Mormon pioneers were required to build

Utah's History by Campbell Page 123

Of the trip West, James Allen notes.

The company suffered little unusual hardship, and the journey some became
almost leisurely. This seemed to nurture an attitude of flippancy and light
mindedness, which Brigham Young abhorred. On one occasion he roundly
criticized the men for playing cards and dominoes and for boisterous
dancing, urging them to conduct themselves in a way more befitting their
serious mission. According to the camp diarist, there was some tearful
repentance, but after that "no loud laughter was heard, no swearing, no
quarreling, no profane language, no hard speeches to  man or beast "7

The Story of the Latter-day Saints, by Allen page 243

[It should be noted that diary entries for the first few years, remarked
favorably about the trek west.  Only after the disaster of the Willie and
Martin handcart companies did the journal entries take a more torturous
view of the trek.  This became such a common story telling them, that
latter reminiscences contained hardship language that was not contained in
the original diaries of those same people.]

The first group consisted of 144 Elders of Israel.  One turned back after a
few days because of illness. 3 women were also in the first group.  One of
the wives of Brigham Young, Heber C Kimball and one of the wives of Lorenzo
Snow.  Also in the group were 3 Negro slaves, (JFS in Essentials in church
History only referrers to them as coloreds, no indication of their current
free or slave state.)

Utah's History, by Campbell page 122  From his class I remember him
indicating that it was ironic that one of the 3 negroes was also an Elder
and they made up the Biblical number of 144 Elders, even though it was
Brigham Young that restricted the blacks use of the priesthood and not his
predecessor Joseph Smith.

Plague of the Crickets. -  The season was so far advanced when the pioneers
arrived in the summer of 1847 that little resulted from the planting,
except to obtain some seed potatoes. Their salvation depended on the
success of their crops in 1848. They had built three sawmills in the
mountains and one gristmill. Their planted fields consisted of five
thousand one hundred and thirty-three acres, of which nearly nine hundred
acres were planted in winter wheat.

With the aid of irrigation all things looked favorable and it appeared that
there would be a fruitful harvest.  The Saints were happy and their
prospects were bright. They gave thanks to the Lord and in humility desired
to serve him. In the months of May and June they were menaced by a danger
as bad as the persecution of mobs. Myriads of crickets  came down the
mountain sides into the valley, like a vast army marshaled for battle, and
began to destroy the fields. From one they would pass on to another, and in
a few moments leave a field as barren as a desert waste. Something had to
be done, or the inhabitants must perish. The community were aroused and
every soul entered the unequal conflict. Trenches were dug around the
fields and filled with water, in the hope of stopping the ravages of the
pest, but without result. Fire was equally unavailing. The attempt was made
to beat them back with clubs, brooms and other improvised weapons, but
nothing that man could do was able to stop the steady onward march of the
voracious crickets. The settlers were hapless before them.

The Miracle of the Gulls.- When all seemed lost, and the Saints were giving
up in despair, the heavens became clouded with gulls, which hovered over
the fields, uttering their plaintive scream. Was this a new evil come upon
them? Such were the thoughts of some who expected that what the crickets
left the gulls would destroy; but not so, the gulls in countless battalions
descended and began to devour the crickets, waging a battle for the
preservation of the crops. They ate, they gorged upon the pest, and then
flying to the streams would drink and vomit and again return to the battle
front. This took place day by day until the crickets were destroyed. The
people gave thanks, for this was to them a miracle. Surely the Lord was
merciful and had sent the gulls as angles of mercy or their salvation.1
Since that time the gull has been looked upon by the Latter-day Saints
almost as a sacred deliverer. Laws have been passed for the protection of
these birds, and the wanton killing of one would be considered a crime of
great magnitude.

1September 13, 1913, a monument commemorating this event, was unveiled on
the Temple Block, Salt Lake City. The "Seagull Monument," as it is called
is the work of Mahonri M. Young, grandson of President Brigham Young.

Essentials in Church History, By Joseph Fielding Smith, Page 384

"The chronicler of important events should not be deprived of his
individuality; but if he willfully disregards the truth, no matter what his
standing may be, or how greatly he may be respected, he should be avoided.
No historian has the right to make his prejudices paramount to the facts he
should record. For such a writer, to record as truth that which is false,
and to palm off as facts that which is fiction, degrades himself insults
his readers, and outrages his profession. "
Joseph Fielding Smith Jr. (1906)
The Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Church History 127 Knight Mangum
Building (KMB) Brigham Young University Provo UT 84602 (801) 3784023

Joseph Fielding Smith Jr. Born 19 July 1876, was sustained as Assistant
Church Historian 8 Apr. 1906; Apostle in 1910, sustained Church Historian
and General Church Recorder in 1921, and a
member of the first Presidency in 1969, released as Church Historian to
become Church President in Feb. 1970.  So he was either Assistant or Church
Historian for 63 years, most of which time he was also an Apostle.

The Mormons, after a fashion, prayed and fought, and fought and  prayed,
but to no purpose. The 'Black Philistines" mowed their way even with the
ground, leaving it as if touched with an acid or burnt by fire.43

Men and women alike fought the crickets with sticks, shovels, and brooms,
with gunny sacks and trenches, but with little avail.

Finally, just before the entire been eaten clean, came the announcement
from the president of the High Council: "Brethren, we do not want you to
part with your wagons and teams for we might need them," intimating that
they were considering moving on to California or some other gathering
place. But at the moment this announcement was being delivered, sea gulls
providentially moved in and began to devour the crickets,

"sweeping them up as they went along. "I guess," wrote Priddy Meeks, "this
circumstance changed our feeling considerable for the better." 44

Nevertheless, the combination of disasters discouraged many. One of the
settlers, a brother of  Brigham Young wanted to send an express to Brigham
telling him not to bring any more people to the valley, for "they would all
starve to death." John Neff, who was building a large gristmill, "left off
. . . for a while, as many expected there would be no grain to grind." 45
A few of the colonists went on to California and others returned to the
Missouri Valley.

43. Thomas L. Kane, The Mormons (Philadelphia, 1850), p. 66.

44."Journal of Priddy Meeks," p. 164; "History of Brigham Young,", 1848, p.
30. As a result of this "miracle" the seagull came to be held in sacred
remembrance in Utah. Laws were enacted prohibiting anyone from killing
them. Later a statue was erected on Temple Block in their honor. Finally,
in this century, the state legislature officially named the seagull to be
the state bird of Utah.

45 "History of Brigham Young,", 1848, p. 30

Great Basin Kingdom, Page 49 - 50 by Lenard J. Arrington. (Born 2 July
1917, at Twin Falls, Idaho.  Appointed Church Historian on 14 Jan 1972 at
the age of 54.  Joseph Fielding Smith was president at the time, all
previous Church Historians were sustained to such offices, rather than
"appointed".)

The Saints were baffled. All they could do was continue to pray. And so at
the point, after three weeks of invasion, when all seemed lost, the sea
gulls came. At first the Saints thought a new foe had come, but they soon
discovered the gulls were devouring only the crickets. They withdrew from
the fields and left the gulls at work; at the end of another three weeks
the gulls had consumed the crickets and left the fields.

Ensign to the Nations, A History of the LDS Church form 1846 to 1972.  By
Russell R. Rich.

The spring planting of grain and garden crops also showed promise.
Unfortunately, late frosts destroyed a con able portion of the spring wheat
and vegetables, and at the same time millions of crickets began to invade
the fields. Harriet Young wrote:

[May] 29th: Last night we had a severe frost. Today the crickets have
commenced on our corn and small grain. They have eaten off 12 acres for
Brother Rosacrants, 7 for Charles and are now taking Edmunds.

Today 29th: They have destroyed 3/4 of an acre of squashes, our flax, two
acres of millet and our rye, and are now to work in our wheat. What will be
the result we know not.

In the circumstances, some Saints despaired of surviving in the valley.
After two weeks of fighting the voracious insects, the pioneers somewhat
relieved to gain an ally in their battle when thousands of white-winged
gulls landed in the fields and began to devour the pests. The gulls helped
stem the tide of cricket devastations their coming been regarded as a
miracle by many, although little was said about it at the time. Perhaps the
fact that the frost had destroyed so much and that the gulls the gulls left
before the  crickets were eliminated muted the Saints' enthusiasm. Similar
aid by the sea gulls in subsequent years has all but been ignored in Utah
folklore.

Utah's History, by Richard D. Poll / Thomas G. Alexander / Eugene E.
Campbell / David E. Miller Brigham young University Press 1977. Page 126 - 127

But 1848 was a dry year, and late spring frosts damaged many crops. Late in
May the black crickets observed in the foothills the year before descended
in swarms upon the winter wheat and maturing spring crops. Efforts to
drown, mash, or burn the invading horde seemed futile. On Lorenzo Young's
farm, he wrote in his diary on May 29, they destroyed in one day "3/4 of an
acre of squashes, our flax, two acres of millet and our rye, and are now to
work in our wheat. What will be the result we know not." The was grim, but
it would have been much worse had it not been for the flocks of sea gulls
from the islands of the Great Salt Lake that swept in and began gorging
themselves on the crickets. The hungry gulls ate all they could,
regurgitated the indigestible portions, then ate again and again. This
continued for several weeks, and much of the crop was saved. Though the
harvest was greatly reduced, the Saints were grateful for what was spared
and for the proof that the untried soil of the valley could indeed produce
crops.

The winter of 1848-49 was especially severe, and both settlers and
livestock suffered heavily. Firewood was difficult to obtain and food
supplies dwindled. Some turned to boiling rawhide for nourishment "glue
soup," it was called by one family. Those who had surplus shared with those
who were less fortunate; and to prevent excess profit-making, voluntary
controls were established on the price of such necessities as beef and
flour. The colony survived, but empty stomachs, frostbitten feet, and an
unfamiliar environment discouraged many pioneers. For some, California's
milder climate became an increasingly attractive lure.

The Story of the Latter-day Saints, by James B. Allen and Glen M. Leonard.
Page 251
[Note no mention of miraculous answers to prayer.]

The crops planted on July 24th had barely sprouted before untended animals
grazed them to the ground.  Indians and wolves decimated the livestock herds.

Charles C. Rich, [the next apostle to be chosen in 1849] cautioned the
pioneers not to dismantle their wagons "for we might need them."  He may
have been contemplating a move to California.  At this point flocks of sea
gulls from the Great Salt Lake appeared over the fields and began devouring
the crickets.  Many witnesses saw the intervention as providential;...

The Mormon Experience, By Leonard J. Arrington and Davis Bitton, Knoff
1979, twenty one years after "Great Basin Kingdom". Page 104

[Many of the devout journal takers such as Wilfford Woodruff, made little
note of this.  The legend grew with time, and the common sense nature of
the event, faded from faithful history.]

[The did not pass on the legacy of the stupidity of not tending to the
livestock.]

[The Mormons laughed at the Indians that eagerly collected the crickets.
The Mormons saw the crickets as a bane, while the natives welcomed them as
a bountiful blessing.]

Also the new and succulent cultivated crops of the Mormons would have
attracted the majority of the crickets into one location, where normally
they would have been spread out across the whole valley searching for
isolated pockets of wild grain.

These locus like crickets, have a 7 year hibernation cycle, and the Mormons
unfortunately hit that same cycle at it's peak.

There is no stories of the "beneficial" late frost.

In conclusion, I think we should have a monument on temple square, rather
than to the Sea Gulls, we should have a monument to the Donner party.
After all many the Donner party died in part as a result of time spent
paving a new trail used a year later by the Mormons, and indicating what
canyon NOT to take, while all the Sea Gulls did was what comes natural to
them,  get a free lunch.

We should remember that people are more important than birds, even if they
are not LDS.



-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Perry L. Porter" <[e-mail]>
Subject: ---> Lesson 25
Date: 11 Jul 1997 18:52:43 -0700

Doctrine and Covenants 86-87; 88:86-1 1 6; 1 33
lesson 25

Scriptural Highlights

1. Interpretation of the parable of the wheat and tares
2. The American Civil War and other wars foretold
3. Events surrounding the Lord's second coming

Invite one or two class members to tell how these revelations strengthen
their testimony of Joseph
Smith's prophetic calling.

Discussion and Application Questions

* Ask a class member to review the parable of the wheat and tares. (Matthew
13:24-30, 36-43.) What insights does D&C 86 give into this parable? Why is
it important that the sequence of gathering the wheat (righteous) and tares
(wicked) is changed in D&C 86:5-7? What applications does this parable have
for us today?

* What did the Lord reveal about war in D&C 87? What evidence is there that
war has been "poured out upon all nations"? (D&C 87:3). What can we do to
enhance the cause of peace?

* What can we do to obey the Lord's command to "stand in holy places, and
be not moved"? (D&C 87:8; see D&C 45:32 and the quotation from President
Benson in lesson 14).

* What calamities will occur before the Lord's second coming? (D&C
88:87-94.) In what order will the dead be resurrected? (See D&C 88:95-102
and the additional idea for this lesson.)

* In D&C 133 the Lord emphasizes that we must prepare ourselves for his
second coming. (D&C 133:4 10-11, 17-19.) How can we do this? (D&C 88:86.)

* In D&C 133 the Lord-repeatedly commands, "Go ye out from Babylon" (D&C
133:5, 7 14). What does Babylon represent? (See D&C 1:16 and the quotation
from the Guide to the Scriptures.) What aspects of the world are especially
enticing to people today? How can we forsake the enticements of the world?

* The Lord revealed that in preparation for his second coming, we must make
a great missionary effort. (D&C 133:8-9 36-39, 58-59.) How has the Lord
prepared the way for the gospel to be taken to all nations? How can we
prepare to do our part? (See the quotation from President Kimball.)

* In D&C 133, what did the Lord reveal about his second coming? (D&C
133:17-35, 46-51, 56, 62-64.) How can information about the events
surrounding the Savior's second coming be useful to us today?

* What color will the Savior's clothing be when he appears at his second
coming? (D&C 133:46-51; Isaiah 63:1-4.) What will this color symbolize?

Quotations

Guide to the Scriptures ("Babel, Babylon"): "Babel was founded by Nimrod
and was one of the oldest cities in the land of Mesopotamia.... Babylon
became a very wicked city and has since come to symbolize the wickedness of
the world."

President Spencer W. Kimball: "I wonder if we are doing all we can. Are we
complacent in our approach to teaching all the world? . . . Are we prepared
to lengthen our stride? To enlarge our vision? . . .
"When I read Church history, l am amazed at the boldness of the early
brethren as they went out into the world. They seemed to find a way. Even
in persecution and hardship, they went and opened doors which evidently
have been allowed to sag on their hinges and many of them to close. l
remember that these fearless men were teaching the gospel in Indian lands
before the Church was even fully organized. As early as 1837 the Twelve
were in England fighting Satan, in Tahiti in 1844, Australia in 1851,
Iceland 1853, Italy 1850, and also in Switzerland, Germany, Tonga, Turkey,
Mexico, Japan, Czechoslovakia, China, Samoa, New Zealand, South America,
France, and Hawaii in 1850.... Much of this early proselyting was done
while the leaders were climbing the Rockies and planting the sod and
starting their homes. It is faith and super faith....

"Somehow, brethren, l feel that when we have done all in our power that the
Lord will find a way to open doors. That is my faith" (Ensign, Oct. 1974,
pp. 5-7).

Additional Idea

You might refer to the following explanation to help clarify the order of
the Resurrection:
The First Resurrection, or the resurrection of the just, will begin at the
Savior's second coming. Those who will receive a celestial inheritance will
come forth when the first trump sounds (see D&C 88:98). This is sometimes
called the morning of the First Resurrection. Those who will receive a
terrestrial reward will come forth when the second trump sounds (see D&C
88:99). This is the afternoon of the First
Resurrection.

The Second Resurrection, or the resurrection of the unjust, will begin at
the end of the Millennium. Those who will receive a telestial reward will
come forth when the third trump sounds (see D&C 88:100-101). The sons of
perdition will come forth when the fourth trump sounds (see D&C 88:102).
Next Week's Reading Assignment Doctrine and Covenants 88:1-85, 117-41

Class Member Study Guide
Lesson 25

The Prophet Joseph Smith received D&C 86 while he was working on the
inspired translation of the Bible. This section contains a latter-day
interpretation of the parable of the wheat and the tares (see Matthew
13:24-30, 36-43).

Doctrine and Covenants 87 is a prophecy on war revealed through Joseph
Smith on 25 December 1832. The prophecies in verses 1 and 3 were fulfilled
thirty years later in the United States Civil War. The revelation states
that this civil war would be a prelude to the other conflicts that would be
poured out upon all nations before the Savior's second coming (see D&C
87:1-3).

Verses 86-116 of D&C 88 contain information about the order in which the
righteous and the wicked will be resurrected. These verses also explain
events that will
accompany the Lord's second coming.

Sections 86-88 were given during December 1832. Section 133 had been given
a year earlier when Church leaders decided to publish the Book of
Commandments (see lesson 20). Like the other revelations discussed in this
lesson, D&C 133 contains prophecies of latter-day events.

As you study these sections, consider the following:

* What did the Lord reveal about war in D&C 87? What can we do to enhance
the cause of peace?
* In D&C 133, what did the Lord reveal about his second coming? How can
information about the events surrounding the Savior's second coming be
useful to you today?

A page from the Bible that Joseph Smith used while preparing the Joseph
Smith Translation. Notice the marks by the verses needing revision.
Courtesy Library-Archives, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints, the Auditorium, Independence, Missouri.

The manuscript of the Joseph Smith Translation: chapter 1 of Revelation.
Courtesy Library-Archives, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints, the Auditorium, Independence, Missouri.
A few weeks ago this was posted on the net. Not a scholarly post, but an
different point of veiw.
---------------------------
I was just trying to analyze just a bit how John the Beloved and the 3
Nephies work?

The scripture simply state.

John 21:23
 23 Then went this saying abroad among the brethren, that that disciple
should not die: yet Jesus said not unto him, He shall not die; but, If I
will that he tarry till I come, what [is that] to thee?

D&C 7:3
Thou shalt tarry until I come in my glory, and shalt prophesy before
nations, kindreds, tongues and people.

So how is this suppose to work.

He never dies?  Does he age?  If so at the same rate as us?

If he does not age at the same rate as us, he can not live among the same
set of people for more than 10 or 20 years or people will realize that he
doe not age normally.

Now I can see how you can do this for maybe 30 years, but beyond that, there
would be numerous stories and legends around the world about the ageless
man that lived in our village for 60 years.

Assume he would live in any given village for at lest 30 years without
being detected for aging.  He could have lived in at least 70 villages, fairly
undetected.

This brings up a point, if he has an uncorruptable body, does he have an
uncorruptable mind?

Can John never get sick?  Well he can not die, but he could have had 6000
colds, or the flew 900 times.  What about hey fever every spring for 2000
years?

If he does not get sick he is missing many of lifes experience, if he does
get sick, then he is trapped in a semi-fallible body for 2000 years, Oh how
those 2000 year old bones must ache in the morning.


In the span of history the wheel, so to speak, get's re-invented over and
over every year.  Progress marches forward 3 steps and back 2.

Yet John would not have "Dark ages" with his memory.  He would be able
to be the keeper of all advances, in Science, Medicine and of course Doctrine.

The thing he was suppose to be so knowledgable about and so good at,
he let get so degraded. i.e. "The Great Apostasy".

A lot of good he was, as a teacher, a prophet, an invincible being.

Let's look at what kind of life he would have.

He out lives his wife and children, he would see his great grand children
die of old age, and eventually have to see his posterity loose faith in the
true Christ and stand by and do nothing about it, even though he, himself
knew Jesus.

If he had stepped in and continued to teach the true gospel to his own
descendents, then we would have this unbroken chain of true believes that
have passed on numerous stores about the intervention of a semi-divine being.

Does John have traditional family values?

Did he ever mary again?  If so did he have children? and did these children
have any genetic effects of an immortal father?   Did he raise his children
in the church?  If so where are these children? He could have easily had 50
families, not including plural marriage, before they would have noticed
that he didn't die or age?

So if he didn't mary, does that mean he hasn't had sex for 2000 years?

If he can not hang around people long enough to develop relationships,
other than fixing a flat tire, here and there, what kind of life would that
be?

2000 years of life experience and all you can not sit at the dinner table and
discuss what you did this day. He can not lay in bed and discuss what he
would  want to accomplish in life.


If he has any long-term relationships at all, he must lie about his past,
or all relationships must be brief, and shallow, else it creates
complications beyond our imagination. i.e. he would disturb the
time space continum. ;)


John is like Bill Murry, in groundhogs day, except that instead of his
nightmare lasting a few months is lasts thousands of YEARS!!!!

Is the story of John the beLIVEed, or the 3 Neverdies, Probable, Plausible
or even Possible?

Is this a case of divine intervention or oversight?

3 Nephi 28:9
 9 And again, ye shall not have pain while ye shall dwell in the flesh,

If you have no pain, then it is logical that you would have no pleasure,
how can you know the one without the other.

No pleasure for 2000, what a gift from god?  ???

----------------------------
3 Nephi 28:6
 6 And he said unto them: Behold, I know your thoughts, and ye have desired
the thing which John, my beloved, who was with me in my ministry, before
that I was lifted up by the Jews, desired of me.

3 Nephi 28:7
 7 Therefore, more blessed are ye, for ye shall never taste of death; but
ye shall live to behold all the doings of the Father unto the children of
men, even until all things shall be fulfilled according to the will of the
Father, when I shall come in my glory with the powers of heaven.

3 Nephi 28:8
 8 And ye shall never endure the pains of death; but when I shall come in
my glory ye shall be changed in the twinkling of an eye from mortality to
immortality; and then shall ye be blessed in the kingdom of my Father.

3 Nephi 28:9
 9 And again, ye shall not have pain while ye shall dwell in the flesh,
neither sorrow save it be for the sins of the world; and all this will I do
because of the thing which ye have desired of me, for ye have desired that
ye might bring the souls of men unto me, while the world shall stand.


VVVVVV-----From: Stephen Ott <[e-mail]>------VVVVVVV
section 84
... parts of it may well have been received in conjunction with
the inspired translation of the Bible.  ... 22-23 September 1832....  It
is difficult to determine which verses were received on which day, but
some evidence suggests that verses 1-41 constitute parts of the revelation
received on 22 September, and that verses 42-120 were received on 23
September.  Whereas verse 1 indicates that the the revelation was received
in the presence of six elders (undoubtedly high priests), and unpublished
note (dated 23 September 1832) that appears in the "Kirtland Revelation
Book " after verse 42 affirms that that verse (42) was specifically
intended for ten high priests, then present.  It is also worthy of note
that there is a change of tense in verse 42 from the third to the first
person.

Verses 1-5 concern themselves with the building of the New
Jerusalem in Jackson County, Missouri (particularly the construction of a
temple).  The divine injunction was rescinded in 1841.  ...

Throughout the remainder of the revelation are found several
variations of biblical and Book of Mormon passages.  (For example, compare
verses 65-73 with Mark 16: 17-18, and compare verses 81-85 with Matthew 6
and 3 Nephi 13).  Verses 99-102 contain prophetic poetry regarding the
Millennium.

Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A
Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants,
(Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), p. 176-177.

Verse 42 speaks of those "who are present this day, " and the
"Kirtland Revelation Book " adds, "Viz 23d day of September AD 1832
Eleven High Priests save one "....

Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A
Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants,
(Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), p. 316.

Section 8, verses 6-14, gives the genealogy of Moses' priesthood
from Jethro to Melchizedek, indicating that each individual received this
authority "under the hand of "another who possessed it.  Verses 15-16,
however, do not mention each individual in the early portion of this
priesthood line, but simply testify that the priesthood was passed down
"through the lineage of their fathers " ... from dispensation to
dispensation.

... these last verses simply mention certain benchmark individuals
and recognize the position of Abel, who had received the birthright from
his father.  The line of authority given in section 107 serves a different
purpose.  Here the Lord states that the Twelve Apostles were to ordain
patriarchs ... throughout the Church and that anciently "the order of
this priesthood was confirmed to be handed down from father to son ... in
the following manner....

Richard O. Cowan, "Why is the priesthood lineage traced through
Abel in D&C 84:16 rather than through Seth, as recorded in D&C 107:42? ",
Ensign, December 1993.

There are a number of scriptures that show one doesn't have to
have the Melchizedek Priesthood or be a recipient of its ordinances in
order to see either the Father or the Son.
...

Apparently, then, the power God uses to quicken men and women
spiritually so that they can see is the priesthood....
...

Thus sanctified by the Spirit and endowed with the gift of the
Holy Ghost, Israel would have entered a heightened spiritual state in
which, through the ordinances of the Melchizedek Priesthood now administere
d in God's holy temples, they could have access to the "mysteries of
the kingdom, even the key of the knowledge of God. "
With that key, they would, in effect, have the key to eternal
life.  Eventually, they might have so risen in spiritual stature, going
"from grace to grace, from exaltation to exaltation, " that they could
enter into God's rest fully and forever to "dwell in everlasting
burnings, and to sit in glory, as do those who sit enthroned in everlasting
power. " ...  They would truly have come to know God, which the Savior
said is eternal life.

Melvin J. Petersen, "Does D&C 84:19-22 indicate that t person
has to have the Melchizedek Priesthood in order to see God?  Joseph Smith
didn't have the priesthood at the time of the First Vision, " Ensign,
December 1985.

He worked on the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and
Deuteronomy during the period of 20 July to 22 September 1832.  Is it any
surprise that he should receive a revelation on priesthood lineage and
other matters pertaining to Moses that is dated 22 and 23 September 1832?
The Joseph Smith Translation: The Restoration of Plain and
Precious Things, Edited by Monte S. Nyman and Robert L. Millet, (Religious
Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1985), p.*85.

The temporary transporting of an individual into the presence of
the Lord is a fundamental characteristic of the endowment....  "examples
follow"
Temples of the Ancient World, Edited by Donald W. Parry, (Deseret
Book Company, 1994), p. 61.

-------------------
Here are several reasons that I think D&C 84:33-39 are a reference to the
temple ordinances, and not necessarily the reception of the Melchizedek
Priesthood.  I am unconvinced with the common perception from these verses
that we are promised all that the Father has if we receive the Melchizedek
Priesthood and are worthy priesthood bearers.  I think the doctrine of the
church is clear that a celestial marriage is required.

Verses 1-41 were received on 22 September, and are they are more on the
same subject than the verses after 41.  Internally, these verses (1-41)
mention the priesthood and the temple frequently.

Verses 1-5 are about the building of the New Jerusalem in Jackson County,
and particularly about the construction of the temple.

Several words and phrases are symbolic references to temple ordinances,
such as "mysteries " and "the key of the knowledge of God. "
Remember that during the temple dialogue, the ordinances are referred to
as the mysteries of the kingdom.  After Joseph Smith's death, Brigham
Young stated that the 12 could lead the saints because they had the key of
the knowledge of God, which was to know the correct order of prayer so
that God would answer.

The "renewing of their bodies " even seems to me to be a reference to
the symbolic entrance into the celestial room.  Andrew Ehat agrees in
"Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord, " Temples of the Ancient
World, edited by Donald W. Parry, (1994, Deseret Book Company), note 10,
p. 61-62.

Verse 22 especially, where it refers to "see'Bing' the face of
God ", is a very common allusion to an individual's entrance into what
we would call the celestial room.  This is also frequently symbolically
identified as the presence of God.  Verse 22 especially must be interpreted
symbolically as meaning entering into the presence of the Lord by being
in the celestial room of the temple.  I've read all kinds of funny
explanations from church members who take this verse literally and then
try to explain why Joseph Smith could see God without having received the
priesthood.  To me, it makes sense if this is explained that the priesthood
is necessary to administer the temple ordinances.

The following verses (23-24) mention that Moses wanted the Israelites to
be able to come into God's presence, which is again an allusion to the
highest temple ordinances.

Verse 39 reads "according to the oath covenant of the which belongeth to
the priesthood. " It does not say that it _is_ the oath and covenant.  I
realize that I may be splitting hairs when I look at one word (
"according") to closely.

Another interesting reference to the oath and covenant of the priesthood:

Now Melchizedek was a man of faith, who wrought righteousness; and when
a child he feared God, and stopped the mouths of lions, and quenched the
violence of fire.
And thus, having been approved of God, he was ordained an high priest
after the order of the covenant which God made with Enoch,

It being after the order of the Son of God; which order came, not by
man, nor the will of man; neither by father nor mother; neither by
beginning of days nor end of years; but of God;

And it was delivered unto men by the calling of his own voice, according
to his own will, unto as many as believed on his name.

For God having sworn unto Enoch and unto his seed with an oath by
himself; that every one being ordained after this order and calling should
have power, by faith, to break mountains, to divide the seas, to dry up
waters, to turn them out of their course;
To put at defiance the armies of nations, to divide the earth, to break
every band, to stand in the presence of God; to do all things according to
his will, according to his command, subdue principalities and powers; and
this by the will of the Son of God which was before the foundation of the
world.

Genesis 14:26-31 JST.

Often, promises of control over nature are illusions to having one's
calling and election made sure.  That promise was very closely associated
with the reception of the fullness of the priesthood (the temple second
endowment) to Joseph Smith.  'S Ott'


Section 85
Section 85 consists of an extract from a letter written by Joseph
Smith to William W. Phelps on 27 November 1832.  Many of the instructions
found in this revelation were specifically intended for John Whitmer, the
Church historian.

Verses 5, 7, 8, and 11 make mention of the book of the law of God
or the book of remembrance.  This book, which was to have recorded in it
the law of the Lord (i.e., section 42 and possibly related revelations),
was to serve as a membership record for the Church.  No known record book,
kept in Missouri or Ohio, fits the description of the book mentioned in
section 85.  Moreover, in Nauvoo a record was commenced in 1841, called
the "Book of the Law of the Lord), " which seems to have served a
purpose similar to that specified in the Prophet's 1832 letter.
... the Prophet envisioned at least three levels at which the book
of remembrance would be kept (i.e., family, community, and general church)
....

...  I will say, however, that it is necessary to keep the names
of the Saints, & when a child is brought forward to be blessed by the
Elders, it is then necessary to take their name upon the Church Record.

...  The names of the Saints are to be kept in a book that contains the
law of God, this is what is meant in bro. Joseph's letter ....  Each
family will have its record with the law of the Lord in it; each branch of
the Church the same in every city; and each city one general record kept
by a general clerk

... verse 8, which traditionally has been thought to refer to
Edward Partridge: Brother Joseph says, that the item in his letter that
says, that the man that is called &c. and puts forth his hand to steady
the ark of God, does not mean that any one had at the time, but it was
given for a caution to those in high standing to be ware, lest they should
fall by the shaft of death.
Lyndon W. Cook, The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A
Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants,
(Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1985), p. 177-179.

Numerous documents affirm that the "Book of the Law of the
Lord " served as a multipurpose Church record book.  ...  Entries include
revelations, correspondence, minutes of important meetings (including the
organization of the City of Nauvoo, the Nauvoo Legion, and the Relief
Society), the laying of the cornerstones of the Nauvoo Temple and Nauvoo
House, biographical sketches of faithful Saints, and names of individual
donors of tithing and consecrations for the Nauvoo Temple.


^^^^^^-----From: Stephen Ott <[e-mail]>------^^^^^^^

http://gramercy.ios.com/~restemey/nc/dlinc.html

This is Not Church

All are welcome!

Quotes from Not Church member Abraham Lincoln

"My earlier views at the unsoundness of the Christian scheme of salvation
and the
human origin of the scriptures, have become clearer and stronger with
advancing
years and I see no reason for thinking I shall ever change them."

"The Bible is not my Book and Christianity is not my religion. I could
never give
assent to the long complicated statements of Christian dogma."

"I am for liberty of conscience in its noblest, broadest, and highest
sense. But I cannot
give liberty of conscience to the pope and his followers, the papists, so
long as they
tell me, through all their councils, theologians, and canon laws that their
conscience
orders them to burn my wife, strangle my children, and cut my throat when
they find
their opportunity."

"I see a very dark cloud on America's horizon, and that cloud is coming
from Rome."

"It will not do to investigate the subject of religion too closely, as it
is apt to lead to
infidelity."

"My husband is not a Christian but is a religious man, I think."
-- Mary Todd Lincoln